Talk:Kanaka

issue with description of item

Hi. I'm a little concerend by:

"a general term for Polynesian peoples, especially those used as laborers or indentured servants by the British Empire

Straightforward enough, but given the overall tone of the target article, which IMO needs to be split between the Oceanic context the North American one, this seems a little negative in description; Kanakas were not held in disregard in North America, rather the contrary. Maybe "used as indentured servants by the British Empire and hired as labourers by the Hudson's Bay Company" is a little more precise and doesn't "taint" the HBC legacy re Kanakas by association with the slave-labour menaing in the South Pacific. Again, the language is straightforward enough, I just think it has to be tweaked.Skookum1 (talk) 15:45, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

Kanaka placenames in California

I've already added the BC names, what ones there are articles for anyway. There are others in the Pacific Northwest states that may eventually qualify for articles; I just happened to find the following list of Californian Kanaka placenames so am posting it here for reference/research purposes; at least one Kanaka Creek (California) is a notable gold rush creek so likely should have an article; which one it is I'm not certain; it's what gave birth to Alleghany, California - ah, the one in Sierra County, it seems. I've redlinked things that seem like they will have history articles, there may be others of note (source was here:

Placename	Type	County or Region	Latitude DMS	Longitude DMS
Kanaka Bar	Bar	Butte	39 36 02 N	121 19 04 W
Kanaka Bar	Bar	Siskiyou	41 51 54 N	122 43 37 W
Kanaka Cemetery	Cemetery	Siskiyou	41 51 50 N	122 43 24 W
Kanaka Creek	Stream	Butte	39 56 34 N	121 34 35 W
Kanaka Creek	Stream	Butte	39 35 59 N	121 18 49 W
Kanaka Creek	Stream	Shasta	40 32 30 N	122 32 00 W
Kanaka Creek	Stream	Sierra	39 25 11 N	120 56 35 W
Kanaka Creek	Stream	Siskiyou	41 44 41 N	123 24 01 W
Kanaka Creek	Stream	Tuolumne	37 50 40 N	120 21 27 W
Kanaka Cutoff	Canal	Yolo	38 46 03 N	121 38 18 W
Kanaka Flat	Flat	San Diego	33 06 24 N	116 37 02 W
Kanaka Glade	Flat	Lake	39 12 26 N	122 34 48 W
Kanaka Gulch	Valley	Amador	38 25 18 N	120 48 51 W
Kanaka Gulch	Valley	El Dorado	38 59 47 N	120 47 57 W
Kanaka Gulch	Valley	Siskiyou	41 17 59 N	123 13 17 W
Kanaka Hill Mine	Mine	Siskiyou	41 44 37 N	123 24 01 W
Kanaka Mine	Mine	Tuolumne	37 52 13 N	120 09 42 W
Kanaka Peak (Butte County)	Summit	Butte	39 34 57 N	121 18 16 W
Kanaka Peak (Shasta County)	Summit	Shasta	40 33 42 N	122 33 18 W

Which like other placenames like Owyhee River underscore why I think there needs to be Kanaka (Oceania) and Kanaka (North America instead of the current Kanakas.Skookum1 (talk) 04:26, 3 June 2008 (UTC)