Drawing on archaeological and ethnohistorical sources, this book redefines the study of primary states -- "cradles of civilization" from which all modern nation states ultimately derive -- by arguing for the inclusion of Polynesia, which witnessed the development of primary states in both Hawai'i and Tonga. Robert Hommon offers us not only a comprehensive description of the ancient Hawaiian state, but a model for state emergence that draws upon a wealth of comparative data from other Polynesian societies. Hommon moves longstanding debates over the nature of Polynesian political organization to a new level of understanding.