WI: King of Hawai'i bans foreigners from buying land

In the 18th century the most complex societies in the Pacific were that of Hawai'i, in the north, and Tonga, in the south. Even their initial trajectories after European arrival were similar; Hawai'i was unified by Kamehameha I and Tonga by George Tupou I.

But Hawai'i allowed foreigners to buy land in the Alien Land Ownership Act of 1850, while Tupou I resolutely banned foreigners from purchasing land.

End result: Hawaiians have lost both their majority status in the archipelago and control over their own country. The number of (native) Hawaiians now is similar to the population in the late 18th century. By contrast, Tonga is 97% Tongan, Tupou's dynasty still exists, and the native Tongan population has doubled in the past two hundred years despite the catastrophic epidemics of the 19th century.

So what if Hawai'i had refused to allow foreigners to buy land? Could they pull off a 'Tupou'?
 
What is to stop sufficient foreigners from renting land then getting their governments to bring in gunboats to enforce their "rights"? There is more than one way to obtain land than just buying it.
 
What is to stop sufficient foreigners from renting land then getting their governments to bring in gunboats to enforce their "rights"? There is more than one way to obtain land than just buying it.
That didn't happen in Tonga, and really with an intransigent government opposed to cash cropping Hawai'i is probably too irrelevant for the Great powers to care much.
 
Work with the Great Mahele.

They started working on the plan in 1830, and put it into place in 1848.
It's fundamentally a good plan: Put land aside for the Chefs, put land aside for the royals, and let the natives buy up the remainder, thus ensuring it remains with them.

The problem here is that the Kanaka Maoli didn't understand that they would now have to claim and buy their lands in the Western/European fashion, thus left the door open to let foreigners move in.

Educating the people may help, but it won't solve all the problems.

I feel like the biggest problem here is size.

Put together, Tonga is what, 750 square Kilometers? A bit larger than Molokai, the fifth largest islands.

Tonga can get away with it because of size, but for Hawaii that is more difficult.
 
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