File:"Khanakha” is the Chinuk Wawa word for “Hawaiians.” It is pronounced “kuh-NAH-kuh,” and comes from the Hawaiian language word (78711a6c-9d71-4b8d-b77a-fc40017d2186).jpg

Photo of a piece of coral, accompanied by the word "khanakha" and its translation.

"Khanakha” is the Chinuk Wawa word for “Hawaiians.” It is pronounced “kuh-NAH-kuh,” and comes from the Hawaiian language word “kanaka,” which means “person.” In the 1840s, Fort Vancouver was home to a large population of Native Hawaiians, who joined the Hudson’s Bay Company at the Company’s Oahu post and came to the Northwest to work as sailors, gardeners, soldiers, cooks, coopers, shepherds, sawyers, mill workers, and woodcutters. In addition to workers, HBC ships arriving from Hawai’i also brought coral, like this fragment found by archaeologists in the area where the employee village once stood. At Fort Vancouver, Hawaiian coral was used to make mortar. Learn more about Hawaiians at Fort Vancouver at https://www.nps.gov/articles/hawaiiansatfortvancouver.htm