Bingham, Hiram

Bingham, Hiram, 1789–1869, American Congregationalist missionary

Bingham, Hiram, 1789–1869, American Congregationalist missionary, b. Bennington, Vt. In 1819 the American Board of Missions sent him, with others, to found the first Protestant mission in the Hawaiian Islands. Bingham adapted the Hawaiian language to writing, published Elementary Lessons in Hawaiian (1822), and, with his associates, translated the Bible into Hawaiian.

Bibliography

See his A Residence of Twenty-one Years in the Sandwich Islands (1847, 3d ed. rev. 1969).

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Bingham, Hiram, 1875–1956, American archaeologist, historian, and statesman

Bingham, Hiram, 1875–1956, American archaeologist, historian, and statesman, b. Honolulu; son of Hiram Bingham (1831–1908). He was educated at Yale (B.A., 1898), the Univ. of California (M.A., 1900), and Harvard (M.A., 1901; Ph.D., 1905) and later taught (1907–23) at Yale. Bingham headed archaeological expeditions sent from Yale in 1911, 1912, and 1914–15 to South America and investigated the Inca ruins of Vitcos and Machu Picchu in 1911 and 1912, bringing them to the attention of the outside world for the first time. Bingham incorrectly identified Machu Picchu as the "lost city" of Vilcabamba, the final stronghold of the Inca leader Manco Capac against the Spanish, which was finally destroyed in 1572. Ironically, Bingham was the first modern explorer to reach Espiritu Pampa, located c.60 miles (110 km) east of Machu Picchu, a site now recognized by most experts as the actual remains of Vilcabamba. His well-known books deal with these expeditions and with Machu Picchu—Journal of an Expedition across Venezuela and Colombia (1909), Across South America (1911), Inca Land (1922), Machu Picchu, a Citadel of the Incas (1930), and Lost City of the Incas (1948). In World War I he was notable as an aviator, heading an Allied flying school in France. After leaving Yale, he served as lieutenant governor (1923–24) and governor (1925) of Connecticut and as U.S. senator (1925–33). He also wrote about the Monroe Doctrine and other policies of state.

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Bingham, Hiram, 1831–1908, American Congregationalist missionary

Bingham, Hiram, 1831–1908, American Congregationalist missionary, b. Honolulu; son of Hiram Bingham (1789–1869). In 1857 he founded a mission on Abaiang in the Gilbert Islands (now part of Kiribati). Bingham adapted the language of the Gilbert Islands to writing. He translated the Bible and also prepared in Gilbertese a Bible dictionary, a hymnbook, and a commentary on the Gospels.

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Bingham, Hiram (1789–1869) missionary; born in Bennington, Vt. He was a missionary to the people of the Sandwich Islands (Hawaii) from 1819–40. He learned the Hawaiian language, devised a 12-letter alphabet and, with others, translated the Bible into Hawaiian.

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Bingham, Hiram (1875–1956) explorer, U.S. senator; born in Honolulu, Hawaii (son of an American missionary). Having taken a Ph.D. in South American history, he concentrated on exploring Latin and South America through the early 1920s while teaching at Yale (1907–24). He is noted for discovering the Inca ruins of Machu Picchu (1911) and for writing the first book on Bolivar's march across the northern coast of South America (1909). Earning his pilots wings (1917), he was chief of the Air Personnel Division of the Air Service in Washington during World War I, serving in the same position for the Allied Expeditionary Forces in France. As a senator from Connecticut (Rep., 1924–32) he served on the President's Aircraft Board (1925) and drafted the Air Commerce Act (1926), the first attempt at federal regulation of civil aviation. He later became a director of banks and corporations and president of the National Aeronautic Association (1928–34). Becoming ever more conservative over the years, he headed the Loyalty Review Board of the Civil Service Commission (1951–53) and forced the dismissal of many government employees.