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Timeline / Defining Rights and Responsibilities / 1868: Kamehameha V issues licenses to Native healers

1868: Kamehameha V issues licenses to Native healers

In an attempt to regulate them, King Kamehameha V orders government licensing of Native Hawaiian healers known as kahuna. Though healing practices of Native peoples “go underground” when discouraged, they persist and are preserved.

Theme
Medicine Ways
Region
Hawai‘i

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Certificate for Native healer

Courtesy Hawai‘i State Archives

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King Kamehameha V

Courtesy Hawai‘i State Archives