The "Great Mahele" was supposed to give Native Hawaiians the ability to have their own land! However, as we all know, after the Mahele, 90% of the land offered was owned by FOREIGNERS! The Monarchy kept their land, it was NOT part of the "Great Mahele" . . . if ALL of the land had been divided equally among the Monarchy and their "subjects", most of the land would have been owned by "Native Hawaiians" . . . Monarchy or otherwise! When the US "annexed" the Islands, the only land taken where the "CEDED LANDS" of the Monarchy! Other landowners, including those who benefited from the Great Mahele, retained the ownership to "their land"! The majority of Native Hawaiians were left with nothing . . . unlike their cousins, the Tahitians and Samoans to the south!