The story of a young Hawaiian who taught himself four languages and built the first written system for his own — a legacy that reshaped the islands for better and worse.

• ʻŌpūkahaʻia fled the wars on Hawaiʻi Island as a boy by swimming out to an American merchant ship.
• He landed in Connecticut unable to read English, then mastered English, Latin, Greek, and Hebrew.
• His native language was spoken only, so he created the first Hawaiian grammar and dictionary himself.
• He died of typhoid at 26, just before he could carry the work home.
• His memoirs drove the 1820 missionary voyage to Hawaiʻi, bringing writing and Christianity and permanently changing island life.

Outlook: His name still anchors debates over how the written word and the missionaries remade Hawaiian culture.