Circa 400 A.D.
People of the South Pacific sail to Hawaiʻi and begin to settle the Hawaiian archipelago.

1027
Earliest existing radiocarbon date for a Hawaiian presence on Kaho‘olawe.

1150–1400
Kaho‘olawe figures prominently in voyages between Hawai‘i and the islands of Southern Polynesia.

1600
A thriving Hawaiian community is established on Kaho‘olawe by this date.

1778
Kalaniʻōpuʻu and his forces invade Maui in an attempt to usurp Kahekili. Kalaniʻōpuʻu's forces are repelled and they retreat to Lānaʻi and Kahoʻolawe for respite.

1778
British ships under the command of Captain James Cook enter Hawaiian waters.

1779
Following Captain Cookʻs death, his ships sail past the southwestern tip of Kaho‘olawe but sight, “neither houses, trees, nor any cultivation.”

1793
Maui chief Kamohomoho informs British Captain Vancouver that Kalani‘ōpu‘uʻs wars of conquest have left Lāna‘i and Kaho‘olawe “nearly overrun with weeds, and exhausted of their inhabitants."

1813
The merchant ship Lark runs aground on Kaho‘olawe. Surviving crew members are thought to be the first foreigners to set foot on the island.

1819
Kamehameha I dies. Liholiho, his son and successor, abolishes the ‘Ai Kapu, the traditional system of social and religious laws.

1824
Ka‘ahumanu, a favored wife of Kamehameha I, proclaims a missionary-inspired code of laws with punishment for crimes including threat of “banishment to Tahoorawe (Kaho‘olawe).”

1826
The first criminals are exiled to Kaho‘olawe.

1831
Missionary census estimates a total of 80 inhabitants on Kaho‘olawe.

1841
Boats from a U.S. exploring expedition become wrecked near the western tip of Kaho‘olawe. Castaways hike to penal settlement at Kaulana and report, “a collection of 8 huts and an unfinished adobe church housing 15 male convicts.”

1848
The institution of the Māhele replaces traditional land stewardship with the western concept of private ownership. Kaho‘olawe is among former crown lands transferred to the Hawaiian government.

1850
Landing at Hakioawa Bay, adventurer Edward Perkins notes a large herd of wild goats and the damange done to native plants.

1852
Last prisoner on Kaho‘ōlawe is removed due to serious illness.

1857
Government inspection finds, “some fishermen living on Kaho‘olawe, maybe not over fifteen.”

1858
Boats from a U.S. exploring expedition become wrecked near the western tip of Kaho‘olawe. Castaways hike to penal settlement at Kaulana and report, “a collection of 8 huts and an unfinished adobe church housing 15 male convicts.”

1858
The Hawaiian government leases Kaho‘olawe to R.C. Wyllie, Chancellor of the Kingdom, and Elisha H. Allen, Minister of the Interior, for a period of 20 years at $505 per year for ranching purposes. Their surveyor finds 50 Hawaiians in part-time residence on the island.

1859
Approximately 2,000 sheep are shipped to and released on Kaho‘olawe.

1864
Elisha H. Allen and C.G. Hopkins obtain a new lease for 50 years at $250 per year.

1866
Hawaiian government census records 11 males and 7 females on Kaho‘olawe, with 16 of these individuals being Hawaiian or part-Hawaiian. All appear to be employed by the ranch.

1875
King Kalākaua and his entourage visit the island, noting the presence of, “20,000 sheep, 10 horses, 6 native men, 2 full-Hawaiian women, 2 small children, 4 houses, 2 dogs, and a few hundred goats.” The writer also notes the growth of māmane, ‘ākia nene‘e, wiliwili, māniania, pili, and other native flora. (Ka Lāhua Hawai‘i, 30 December 1875.)

1879
Reports of severe overgrazing with “the upper plains entirely denuded of top soil...the whole interior plain has been so swept by wind and floods, that nothing but a very hard red grit is left.”

1880
Elisha H. Allen transfers lease title to Albert D. Courtney and William H. Cummins.

1884
Kaho‘olawe Stock Ranch is listed as possessing, “9,000 goats, 2,000 sheep, 200 head cattle, and 40 horses.”

1893
On January 17, Queen Lili‘uokalani and the Hawaiian government is illegally overthrown by a group of American businessmen.

1898
Hawai‘i becomes a territory of the United States

1906
After passing through numerous hands, lease to Kaho‘olawe is acquired by Eben P. Low.

1910
To prevent further environmental degradation, Gov. Walter F. Frear declares Kaho‘olawe a forest reserve under the contol of the Board of Agriculture and Forestry.

1913
A scientific expedition from the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum spends two weeks exploring Kaho‘olawe, collecting biological samples and locating a number of ancient Hawaiian sites. John F.G. Stokes, an expedition archaeologist, returns to conduct excavations at a fishing shrine in Kamohio Bay.

1918
Kaho‘olawe is withdrawn from forest reserve and leased to rancher Angus MacPhee for 21 years at $600 per year.

1920
H.A. Baldwin joins MacPhee to form Kaho‘olawe Ranch Company.

1931
Bishop Museum mounts a one-week scientific expedition to Kaho‘olawe. Archaeologist Gilbert McAllister subsequently publishes, Archaeology of Kaho‘olawe, describing 50 early Hawaiian sites.

1933
Baldwin and MacPhee obtain a second 21-year lease at a rent of $100 per year.

1941
U.S. Army signs a sublease with Kaho‘olawe Ranch Company, acquiring bombing rights for $1 per year. The Honolulu Advertiser reports the goat population on Kaho‘olawe at 25. On December 8, 1941, Kaho‘olawe is sequestrated by the U.S. Navy for use as a live ordnance training area.

1942–1945
Kaho‘olaweʻs southern and eastern cliffs serve as targets for torpedo bomb testing. Its west end beaches serve as dress rehearsal landing areas for Tarawa, Okinawa, and Iwo Jima.

1953
President Eisenhower signs Executive Order 10436, reserving Kaho‘olawe, “for the use of the United States for naval purposes,” and placing the island under jurisdiction of the secretary of the U.S. Navy. The order also stipulates that the Navy, when it no longer needed Kaho‘olawe, would return the island in a condition, “suitable for human habitation.”

1959
Hawai‘i becomes a U.S. state.

1965
The U.S. Navy detonates 500 tons of TNT near the bay of Honokanai‘a to simulate an atomic blast and observe its effect on ships offshore.

1969
The discovery of an unexploded 500 lb. bomb in a west Maui field prompts U.S. Representative Patsy Mink to call for a halt to U.S. Navy bombing of Kaho‘olawe.

1976 – January 4, 1976
First Landing at Kūheʻia, Kanaloa
Protect Kahoʻolawe ʻOhana formed
Ceremony held to recognize the spirit of the land and receive permission for contemporary use
Kūʻula protocols begin
Civil Suit filed Aluli vs. Brown
Kohemālamalama o Kanaloa incorporated

1977
George Helm addresses Legislature & travels to Washington DC

March 9, 1977
George Helm and Kimo Mitchell disappear at sea
Occupations continue through the summer
27 arrested for trespassing, 4 go to jail.
Partial summary judgement
In civil suit Navy mandated to do EIS

1978
Constitutional Convention
Recognizes Hawaiian language, culture, & access and gathering rights
Hoʻoʻuluʻulu Lāhui in Keanae, Maui

1979
Negotiations with the US Navy under the American Indian Religious Freedom Act
First Legal Access
Kealaikahiki Ceremony

1980
ʻOhana Lāhui in Waiālua, Molokaʻi and approves Consent Decree between U.S. Navy and the PKO begins a period of joint governance/use of island

1981
Documentation of more than 540 traditional sites results in the entire island being placed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Construction of the first modern traditional hale in Hakioawa begins

1982
The Protect Kaho‘olawe ‘Ohana conducts the first Makahiki on Kaho‘olawe since the early 1800s

1982–1990
Monthly access to island and annual Makahiki
1st public religious Makahiki to honor Lono since 1819
Negotiations with the Navy every 6 months

1986
Opened ceremonies for Kanaloa

1987
Memorial services held for George Helm and Kimo Mitchell whom were officially declared deceased after missing for 10 years. Plaques placed in their honor in Hakioawa.
Dedication of pā hula, Ka ʻIeʻie, in Hakioawa

1990
U.S. President George Bush issues a memorandum temporarily halting the bombing.
Bombings stopped on October 22, 1990
Congress appoints KICC (Kahoʻolawe Island Conveyance Commission_
KICC conducts 21 studies

1991
KICC conducts studies and holds public meetings on all islands to receive input for the future uses of the islands

1992
August 16, 1992
E Kahoʻolawe E, Hoʻomau ana i ka Mauli Ola: Healing Ceremony with kūpuna and decision makers
Dedication of Mua Haʻi Kūpuna Kahualele at Hakioawa
KICC Final Report:
Recommends that the island be returned to the people of Hawaiʻi as a Cultural Reserve

1993
Senator Daniel K. Inouye (D-Hawai‘i) sponsors Title X of the 1994 Department of Defense Appropriations Act, which authorizes conveyance of Kaho‘olawe and its surrounding waters back to the State of Hawai‘i.
Congress votes to end military use of Kaho‘olawe and authorizes $400 million for ordnance removal.
HRS 6-K Establishes the Kahoʻolawe Island Reserve (KIR) and Kahoʻolawe Island Reserve Commission (KIRC) to manage the island as a trust for the eventual transfer to the Sovereign Hawaiian Governing Entity
Congress sets the island aside under Title X for

1. Cultural;

2. Historical;

3. Archaeological; and

4. Educational Purposes

First Hōkūleʻa navigators visit to affirm island as good place for navigation training

1994
May 6, 1994 MOU
Navy agrees to clear ordinances for:
A) Grassland or other Veg.
B) Trail or Road
C) Historial/Cultural/Arch Site
D) Reservoir
E) Heliport
F) Suitable Human Habitation
May 7, 1994
Transfer of the island from the U.S. Navy to the State of Hawaiʻi at Palauea, Maui
Clean up of ordnance begins as a pilot project and continues as the Omnibus clean up through 2004

1995
ʻAha Pawalu, a protocol book written by the Edith Kanakaʻole Foundation, introduces additional protocols for stewardship of cultural sites
Vision approved and adopted by KIRC

1997–1998
The U.S. Navy awards contracts for the removal of unexploded ordnance (UXO) on Kaho‘olawe.

1997
Rain koʻa built at Moaʻulanui with itʻs counterpart built in Ulupalakua, Maui for Kāne

2001
Joint 25th anniversary of the Protect Kahoʻolawe ʻOhana and the Polynesian Voyaging Society in Honokanaiʻa
First gathering of waʻa kaulua at Kealaikahiki

2003
November 11, 2003
Transfer of access control is returned from the U.S. Navy to the State of Hawaiʻi ceremonies at Hakioawa and ʻIolani palace grounds
He ʻUla Hou o Kahoʻolawe
Rebirth of a Sacred Island

2004
April 2004
UXO clearance ends
Navy departs from island
2,647 acres cleared to a depth of 4 feet (9% of island), 66% surface cleared, 25% un-cleared, including the surrounding ocean
October 2004
Hoʻi Hou: gathering of early island warriors and navigation schools.
Dedication of Kuhikeʻe: navigational observation platform at Kealaikahiki

2008
Training of Moʻopapa to open ceremonies for Papa

2009
February 2009
Kūkulu ke Ea a Kanaloa Cultural Plan for Kahoʻolawe
November 11, 2009
Dedication of Nāmakapili Hale Hālāwai in Hakioawa

2011
Launching of Faʻafaite from Kealaikahiki for her return voyage to Tahiti. The first launch of a waʻa kaulua from Kealaikahiki in contemporary modern history

2013
An audit conducted by the State of Hawai‘i determines that the Kaho‘olawe Rehabilitation Trust Fund, indicating that 13% of the island has been restored in 18 years with a budget of $51 million. It is recommended that the KIRC creates a comprehensive and measurable plan for the island that includes areas to be restored, scope of work, estimated costs, and timeframes for completion. The audit also urges the KIRC to focus on fundraising.
Base camp in Kūheʻia Established

2013–2026
I Ola Kanaloa: A Plan for Kanaloa Kahoʻolawe created and enacted

2014
Hāweoikeaopili pavilion & water filtration system established at Hakioawa
August 2014
premier of “Standing on Sacred Ground: Islands of Sanctuary”

2015–2016
Collaboration and exchange with Māori Matariki practitioners on Kahoʻolawe and Aotearoa

2019
Base camp in Ahupū Established

2022
Solar system at Hāweoikeaopili Established

2024
First documented Honu nesting at Honokanaiʻa
​
2026
Dedication of complementary Mua Haʻi Kūpuna at Honokanaiʻa