Paao is a figure from Hawaii. He is most likely a Hawaiian historical character retold through Hawaiian legend. According to Hawaiian tradition and folklore, he is said to have been a high priest from Kahiki, specifically "Wewaʻu" and "ʻUpolu." In Hawaiian prose and chant, the term "Kahiki" is applied in reference to any land outside of Hawaii, although the linguistic root is conclusively derived from Tahiti. "Wewaʻu" and "Upolu" point to actual places in the Society Islands, Samoa, and Hawaiian scholars and royal commentators consistently claim Paao came from Samoa; he was a Samoan priest with properties in both Tonga and Samoa. He arrived on the north shores of the Big Island and named it "Upolu" after Samoa main village (also known as "Western Samoa"). Scholars of Hawaiian lore including David Malo, Samuel M. Kamakau, John Papa ʻĪʻī, Solomon Peleioholani, Teuira Henry, and Stephen L. Desha support the notion that Pili and Pa'ao immigrated from the Society Islands of Samoa. King Kalākaua, in his Legends and Myths of Hawai'i, theorized that the lineage of "Tahitian" chiefs and their aristocrats and priests descended from Samoa (i.e. Paao and Pilikaaiea). Accounts recorded by custodians of Hawaiian lore such as Mary Kawena Pukui, Abraham Fornander, and Kanuikaikaina argue that Pili and Pa'ao both came from the islands known today as Samoa. ʻUpolu (ʻUporu) is one of the main islands of Samoa; and Vavaʻu (Wewaʻu) is the northern group of Tongan islands, which are geographically closer to Samoa than to Tongatapu, and were linguistically and politically closer to Samoa in the past. Legends suggest that Paao introduced certain customs (such as human sacrifice, primary worship of the god Kū, red feathered girdles "Kāʻei", Kāʻeke drums and veneration of the bonito fish) to Hawaii. He is also said to have brought a "pure" chief to rule over Hawai'i Island, deposing the tyrant and highest ranking chief, Kapawā. At this time in Hawai'i's history, the four island kingdoms were Kauaʻi (Kauaʻi and Niʻihau), Oʻahu, Maui (Maui, Molokaʻi, Lānaʻi, and Kaho'olawe), and Hawai'i. After the overthrow by Pāʻao and Pili, Kapawā fled to the Island Kingdom of Maui where his royal relatives, through the ancient ʻUlu bloodlines, provided him with shelter and protection. The two bloodlines between Hawai'i (Pili) and Maui (ʻUlu) would often go to war, with Maui usually remaining victorious. It wasn't until the time of King Kamehameha the Great, who was a direct descendant