Dream islands and island dreams (4)

Hawaiʻi and Berlin

Fading dreams and new recollections

Dreams and reality are usually seen as opposites. However, a closer look reveals that our own ideas, preconceptions and dreams also influence our perception of reality. The more distant things, processes and people are from us in space or time, the more difficult it becomes to distinguish facts from ideas.

Hula noho

Dream islands and island dreams (3)

Hawaiʻi and Berlin

Island paradise Peacock Island

Johann Gottfried Schadow (1764–1850): “Harry of the Sandwich Islands, en face and in profile to the left”

On October 18, 1824, the “Royal Privileged Berlin Newspaper of State and Scholarly Matters” reported on the voyage of the Prussian merchant ship “Mentor” under the heading “Science and art news”:  

For an ethnographic museum, the construction of which we are still awaiting, many a curious thing has also come along; we only noticed a light dance dress of the Chileans made of bear guts, stuff made of tree bark from the Sandwich Islands, drinking vessels made of gourds, fans made of peacock feathers, helmets made of rushes, weapons, fishing rods and household utensils of various kinds.

However, the “volunteer from the Sandwich Islands” that the mentor had also brought from Hawaiʻi aroused particular interest:

Henry, as he is called, or rather that is what he calls himself, came on board when the mentor docked there and begged to be taken along. They inquired about his family circumstances, he had neither father nor mother, nor anyone else who made claims on him; so he went with them to China, and has now become completely accustomed to the European way of life. Henry may be about 15 to 18 years old, [...] he has tattoos on his arm and face. He is very eager to learn, friendly, lively and hard-working. He speaks German words fluently, if they do not have too many consonants, especially the r seems to be missing completely.

Dream islands and island dreams (2)

Hawaiʻi and Berlin

Dream islands of the South Seas and Prussian trading dreams

Knowledge about the dream islands of the South Seas had already reached German-speaking countries in the last quarter of the 18th century through Georg Forster and Heinrich Zimmermann. The natural scientist and poet Adelbert von Chamisso also came to Hawaiʻi during the Rurik expedition under the command of Otto von Kotzebue in November 1816 and September 1817. Even before his “Remarks and Opinions of the Naturalist of the Expedition” were printed in Weimar in 1821, his observations had already spread in Berlin and his friend E. T. A. Hoffmann published his epistolary novella “Haimatochare” in Berlin in 1819, the first European work of prose set on the Hawaiian island of Oʻahu. Hawaiʻi was therefore not only no longer terra incognita, but already a literary setting when the “Mentor” set sail from Bremen in December 1822.

Dream islands and island dreams (1)

Hawaiʻi and Berlin

Voyages to the islands of dreams

200 years ago, on October 26, 1824, the Berlin sculptor and draughtsman Johann Gottfried Schadow wrote under one of his drawings: “Harry Sandwich Islands. 26. octob. 1824.” Who was this “Harry” and where are the “Sandwich Islands” actually located? So much can already be revealed: Harry was the first Hawaiian who arrived in Prussia and his home islands are known today as Hawaiʻi – not to be confused with Haiti in the Caribbean.

Invitation

Terms are fascinating. If we know a term, we have access to its various meanings in different correlations. When I detect an unknown term, I enjoy consulting Wikipedia, and usually this is the beginning of a wonderful expedition in the world of context.

As a matter of fact, histories is an ambiguous term itself, and therefore this word describes the different and changing views on the past quite perfectly. For many people it is important to know where we come from and why we became who we are – as individuals, families, and societies. Besides other interests, history has always been fascinating for me, not only the dates, facts, and players, but the methods to explore history as well.

So it was quite consequential that my first use of a PC 1715 computer at the University of Halle-Wittenberg was just the beginning, and soon I wanted to know more. In face of the intriguing assignment as curator in a museum, information technology also became an important part of my academic life.

You are invited to join me while I reflect on my thoughts and views in this blog.