Konohiki

A konohiki was the headman of an ahupuaʻa, a land division of the Kingdom of Hawaii, who administered the land on behalf of the aliʻi chief who ruled it. The islands were split into districts, or moku, running from the mountain tops down to the sea, and these into ahupuaʻa, named after the boundary altars where taxes were collected during the Makahiki. Usually a relative of the chief and of aliʻi rank, the konohiki oversaw water rights, the distribution and farming of land and its upkeep, and saw that gifts and tributes reached the chief at the right times. As capitalism entered the kingdom, the konohiki became tax collectors, landlords and wardens of the fisheries.