page_title: Kalākaua's 1881 world tour
section_title: Kalākaua
hierarchical_section_title: Kalākaua's 1881 world tour / Aftermath / Kalākaua
caption_attribution_description: English: Kalakaua's Coronation from Illustrated London News, 1883. With Royal Coronation Pavilion.
context_page_description: The 1881 world tour of King Kalākaua of the Hawaiian Kingdom was his attempt to save the Hawaiian culture and population from extinction by importing a labor force from Asia-Pacific nations. His efforts brought the small island nation to the attention of world leaders, but sparked rumors that the kingdom was for sale. Critics in Hawaii believed the labor negotiations were just an excuse to see the world. The 281-day trip gave Kalākaua the distinction of being the first monarch to circumnavigate the globe; his 1874 travels had made him the first reigning monarch to visit America and the first honoree of a state dinner at the White House.
  Kalākaua met with heads of state in Asia, the Mideast and Europe, to encourage an influx of sugar plantation labor in family groups, as well as unmarried women as potential brides for Hawaii's existing contract laborers. While in Asia, he tried to forestall American ambitions by offering a plan to Emperor Meiji for putting Hawaii under the protection of the Empire of Japan with an arranged marriage between his niece Kaʻiulani and a Japanese prince.
context_section_description: Not everybody was enthusiastic about Kalākaua's journey. In Hawaii's Story, Liliʻuokalani defended her brother's efforts against those who she felt "grossly misjudged and even slandered" him. She gave no names, but said there were those who believed, or wanted to persuade others to believe, that Kalākaua was using labor immigration as a cover story to gratify his selfish desire to see the world.
  The 1881 year-end retrospective of the Pacific Commercial Advertiser was focused on Kalākaua's journey. The newspaper took a wait-and-see attitude about what the impact of the tour would be, but looked optimistically towards the kingdom having a more secure future as an independent nation. It gave much credit to Liliʻuokalani for rising to the occasion as a capable ruler who gained respect for her performance as temporary Regent. Kalākaua was acknowledged as having brought Hawaii to the forefront of the world's attention. He was praised for his personal qualities of leadership and personality, as well as for his positive interaction with global leaders. A smaller section in same day's newspaper noted that since the journey, there had been a global increase of literary publications pertaining to Hawaii.
  Thrum's Hawaiian Almanac and Annual for 1883 reported Kalākaua's tour expense appropriated by the government as $22,500, although his personal correspondence indicates he exceeded that early on, and exact tallies of the trip are not known. Any non-government private expenses or debts would not necessarily have become public. In a letter to Liliʻuokalani in June, the King stated they were already in danger of running out of funds to complete the trip, and that money was owed to Italy for the education of the young men who had been entrusted to Moreno. The many awards and decorations he bestowed during the trip cost the kingdom more money.
  The elaborate style of European monarchies left a favorable impression on Kalākaua. Construction on Iolani Palace had begun in 1879, and was ongoing when Kalākaua was touring the world, with an appropriation from the legislature of $80,000. Even though it was not fully completed until December 1882, the King was living there prior to his departure on his world tour. The influence of European palaces was reflected in the interior design and expensive furnishings. The final cost was $343,595. Immediately upon completion, the King invited all 120 members of Lodge Le Progres de L'Oceanie to the palace for a lodge meeting.
  Electric lighting did not come to Honolulu for another 3​¹⁄₂ years, when Iolani Palace led the way with the first electric lights in the kingdom. The monarchy invited the public to attend the first-night lighting ceremonies, and 5,000 people showed up. The Royal Hawaiian Band entertained, refreshments were served, and the King on horseback paraded his troops around the grounds.
  His expenditures in trying to remold Hawaii's monarchy into the European model added to the public debt, helping to increase the kingdom's expenditures on the monarchy by 50%. Kalākaua decided to have the coronation he had previously been denied due to the political climate when he was elected. On the 1883 anniversary of his 9th year in office, an elaborate public coronation ceremony was held at expenses exceeding $50,000. Kalākaua crowned himself. In 1886, Kalākaua's two-week 50th birthday Jubilee added more expense, reported by Harper's Weekly to be $75,000.
  These expenses were not the sole cause of the 1887 Constitution of the Hawaiian Kingdom, which Kalākaua was forced to sign, but representative of a pattern of excessive spending and grand schemes, under the helm of Walter Murray Gibson, that did lead to it. Gibson was appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs for two non-consecutive terms, on May 20, 1882, and again on October 13, 1886. He became Minister of the Interior and Prime Minister of Hawaii on June 30, 1886. Gibson encouraged and approved the King's excessive expenditures, and is thought to have been the driving force behind some of them, not the least of which was the $100,000 purchase of a state st
caption: The Illustrated London News engraving of Kalākaua's coronation
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