Lānai is the sixth-largest of the
Hawaiian Islands and the smallest publicly accessible inhabited island in the chain. It is colloquially known as the Pineapple Island because of its past as an island-wide
pineapple
The pineapple (''Ananas comosus'') is a Tropical vegetation, tropical plant with an edible fruit; it is the most economically significant plant in the family Bromeliaceae.
The pineapple is indigenous to South America, where it has been culti ...
plantation
Plantations are farms specializing in cash crops, usually mainly planting a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. Plantations, centered on a plantation house, grow crops including cotton, cannabis, tob ...
. The island's only settlement of note is the small town of
Lānai City. The island is 98% owned by
Larry Ellison, cofounder and chairman of
Oracle Corporation
Oracle Corporation is an American Multinational corporation, multinational computer technology company headquartered in Austin, Texas. Co-founded in 1977 in Santa Clara, California, by Larry Ellison, who remains executive chairman, Oracle was ...
;
the remaining 2% is owned by the state of Hawaii or individual homeowners.
Lānai has a land area of , making it the
43rd largest island in the United States.
It is separated from the island of
Molokai by the
Kalohi Channel to the north, and from
Maui
Maui (; Hawaiian language, Hawaiian: ) is the second largest island in the Hawaiian archipelago, at 727.2 square miles (1,883 km2). It is the List of islands of the United States by area, 17th-largest in the United States. Maui is one of ...
by the
Auau Channel to the east. The
United States Census Bureau
The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...
defines Lānai as
Census Tract 316 of
Maui County. Its total population rose to 3,367 as of the
2020 United States census,
up from 3,193 as of the
2000 census and 3,131 as of the
2010 census. As visible via satellite imagery, many of the island's landmarks are accessible only by dirt roads that require a
four-wheel drive vehicle.
There is one school,
Lānaʻi High and Elementary School, serving the entire island from
kindergarten
Kindergarten is a preschool educational approach based on playing, singing, practical activities such as drawing, and social interaction as part of the transition from home to school. Such institutions were originally made in the late 18th cen ...
through
12th grade. There is also one hospital, Lanai Community Hospital, with 24 beds, and a community health center providing primary care, dental, behavioral health and selected specialty services in Lānai City. There are no
traffic light
Traffic lights, traffic signals, or stoplights – also known as robots in South Africa, Zambia, and Namibia – are signaling devices positioned at intersection (road), road intersections, pedestrian crossings, and other locations in order t ...
s on the island.
History
Lānai has been under the control of nearby
Maui
Maui (; Hawaiian language, Hawaiian: ) is the second largest island in the Hawaiian archipelago, at 727.2 square miles (1,883 km2). It is the List of islands of the United States by area, 17th-largest in the United States. Maui is one of ...
since before recorded history. Its first inhabitants may have arrived as late as the 15th century.
The Hawaiian-language name is of uncertain origin, but the island has historically been called , which can be rendered in English as "day of the conquest of Kauluāau". This epithet refers to a legend about a Mauian prince who was banished to Lānai because of his wild pranks at his father's court in Lāhainā. The island was said to be haunted by Akua-ino,
ghost
In folklore, a ghost is the soul or Spirit (supernatural entity), spirit of a dead Human, person or non-human animal that is believed by some people to be able to appear to the living. In ghostlore, descriptions of ghosts vary widely, from a ...
s and
goblin
A goblin is a small, grotesque, monster, monstrous humanoid creature that appears in the folklore of multiple European cultures. First attested in stories from the Middle Ages, they are ascribed conflicting abilities, temperaments, and appearan ...
s that Kauluāau chased away, bringing peace and order to the island and regaining his father's favor as a consequence.
The first people to migrate here, most likely from Maui and Molokai, probably established fishing villages along the coast at first, and then spread into the interior, where they raised
taro in the fertile
volcanic soil
Soil, also commonly referred to as earth, is a mixture of organic matter, minerals, gases, water, and organisms that together support the life of plants and soil organisms. Some scientific definitions distinguish dirt from ''soil'' by re ...
. During most of this period, the
Mōī of Maui had control over Lānai, but generally left its inhabitants alone. However, at some point, King
Kamehameha I or
Kalaniōpuu-a-Kaiamamao invaded and killed many of them. The population must have been mostly eradicated by 1792, because in that year
Captain George Vancouver reported that he had ignored the island during his voyage because of its apparent lack of inhabitants or villages. Lānai is said to have been Kamehameha's favorite fishing spot among Hawaii's main eight islands.
The history of sugar cultivation in Hawaii begins in Lānai, when in 1802 a farmer from China, Wong Tse Chun, produced a small amount there. He used a crude stone mill that he had brought with him to crush the cane.
In 1854 a group of members of the
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints were granted a lease in the
ahupuaa of Pālāwai. In 1862
Walter M. Gibson arrived on Lānai to reorganize the settlement. A year later he bought the ahupuaa of Pālāwai for $3000; he used money of the church but titled the land in his own name. When the members of the Church found this out they excommunicated him, but he was still able to retain ownership of the land.
[''Time line of key events in LĀNA‘I's history''](_blank)
Lānai Culture and Heritage Center. Retrieved 7 July 2017.archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170610035204/https://www.lanaichc.org/historic-summary.html , archive-date=June 10,2017 , url-status=dead By the 1870s, Gibson, then the leader of the colony on the island, had acquired most of the island's land, which he used for ranching.
By 1890, the population of Lānai had been reduced to 200. In 1899, Gibson's daughter and son-in-law formed Maunalei Sugar Company, headquartered in Keomuku, on the windward (northeast) coast, downstream from Maunalei Valley. The company failed in 1901. However, between 1899 and 1901 nearly 800 laborers, mostly from Japan, had been contracted to work for the plantations. Many
Native Hawaiians continued to live along the less arid windward coast, supporting themselves by
ranching and
fishing
Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment (Freshwater ecosystem, freshwater or Marine ecosystem, marine), but may also be caught from Fish stocking, stocked Body of water, ...
.
By 1907, approximately half of the island was owned by cattle rancher Charles Gay. Backed by sugar planter
William G. Irwin, Gay worked to acquire the remaining land. While the
Hawaiian Organic Act would have made it illegal for the territorial government to sell such a large portion of land to Gay, a land exchange deal circumvented that law. Gay transferred several acres of land of what is now downtown Honolulu in exchange for the rest of the land on Lānai. The transfer was completed on April 10, 1907 and Gay mortgaged the land the very same day to Irwin for $200,000. By 1909, Gay had defaulted on the mortgage and officially conveyed the land to Irwin for a
rebuttable presumption of consideration of $1. From this conveyance comes the common myth that the land was bought for a mere $1, when the true cost of the land included the $200,000 mortgage.
In 1921, Charles Gay planted the first pineapple plant on Lānai. The population had decreased again - to 150 - most of whom were the descendants of the traditional families of the island. A year later,
James Dole
James Drummond Dole (September 27, 1877 – May 20, 1958), the "Pineapple King", was an American industrialist who developed the pineapple industry in Hawaii. He established the Hawaiian Pineapple Company (HAPCO) which was later reorganized to ...
, the president of Hawaiian Pineapple Company (later renamed
Dole Food Company), bought the island and developed a large portion of it into the world's largest pineapple plantation.
Upon
Hawaii statehood in 1959, Lānai became part of the
Maui County.
In 1985, Lānai passed into the control of
David H. Murdock as a result of his purchase of
Castle & Cooke, which was then the owner of Dole. High labor and land costs led to a decline in Hawaii pineapple production in the 1980s, and Dole phased out its pineapple operations on Lānai in 1992.
In June 2012,
Larry Ellison, then
CEO of
Oracle Corporation
Oracle Corporation is an American Multinational corporation, multinational computer technology company headquartered in Austin, Texas. Co-founded in 1977 in Santa Clara, California, by Larry Ellison, who remains executive chairman, Oracle was ...
, purchased Castle & Cooke's 98 percent share of the island for $300 million. The state and individual homeowners own the remaining 2 percent, which includes the harbor and the private homes where the 3,000 inhabitants live. Ellison stated his intention to invest as much as $500 million to improve the island's infrastructure and create an environmentally friendly agricultural industry. Ellison had spent an estimated $450 million to remodel his
Four Seasons Resort Lanai, which reopened in April 2016. He would also remodel his other resort in 2020 and has explained plans for further green energy projects by buying out diesel-powered utility assets, though he has since ended this plan.
Legends
According to
Hawaiian legends, man-eating spirits have occupied the island. For generations, Maui chiefs believed in these man-eating spirits. Differing legends say that either the prophet Lanikāula drove the spirits from the island or the unruly Maui prince Kauluāau accomplished that heroic feat. The more popular myth is that the mischievous Kauluāau pulled up every
breadfruit
Breadfruit (''Artocarpus altilis'') is a species of flowering tree in the mulberry and jackfruit family ( Moraceae) believed to have been selectively bred in Polynesia from the breadnut ('' Artocarpus camansi''). Breadfruit was spread into ...
tree (''ulu'') he could find on Maui. Finally his father,
Kakaalaneo had to banish him to Lānai, expecting him not to survive in that hostile place. However, Kauluāau outwitted the spirits and drove them from the island. The chief looked across the channel from Maui and saw that his son's fire continued to burn nightly on the shore, and he sent a canoe to Lānai to bring the prince back, redeemed by his courage and cleverness. As a reward, Kakaalaneo gave Kauluāau control of the island and encouraged emigration from other islands. Kauluāau had, in the meantime, pulled up all the breadfruit trees on Lānai, accounting for the historic lack of them on that island.
Geography
The highest point in Lānai is Mount Lānaihale. It is an inactive
volcano
A volcano is commonly defined as a vent or fissure in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface.
On Earth, volcanoes are most oft ...
near the center of the island and to the east of Lānai City. The elevation of Mount Lānaihale is .
Lānai was traditionally administered in 13 political subdivisions (
Ahupuaa), grouped into two districts (''mokuoloko''): ''kona'' (
Leeward) and ''koolau'' (
Windward
In geography and seamanship, windward () and leeward () are directions relative to the wind. Windward is ''upwind'' from the point of reference, i.e., towards the direction from which the wind is coming; leeward is ''downwind'' from the point ...
). The ''ahupuaa'' are listed below, in clockwise sequence, and with original area figures in
acre
The acre ( ) is a Unit of measurement, unit of land area used in the Imperial units, British imperial and the United States customary units#Area, United States customary systems. It is traditionally defined as the area of one Chain (unit), ch ...
s, starting in the northwest of the island.
Kamoku hosts the largest share of population, because the bigger part of Lānai City falls into it. Parts of Lānai City stretch to Kaā and Paomai. , the remaining ''ahupuaa'' were virtually uninhabited. According to the census of 2020, Lānai City accounts for 99 percent of the island population (3332 of 3367). As a
census-designated place
A census-designated place (CDP) is a Place (United States Census Bureau), concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only.
CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the counte ...
, Lānai City is defined solely for statistical purposes, and not by administrative boundaries.
A volcanic collapse in Lānai 100,000 years ago generated a
megatsunami that inundated land to elevations higher than .
Tourism
Tourism
Tourism is travel for pleasure, and the Commerce, commercial activity of providing and supporting such travel. World Tourism Organization, UN Tourism defines tourism more generally, in terms which go "beyond the common perception of tourism as ...
on Lānai began to be prominent in more recent history as the pineapple and
sugarcane
Sugarcane or sugar cane is a species of tall, Perennial plant, perennial grass (in the genus ''Saccharum'', tribe Andropogoneae) that is used for sugar Sugar industry, production. The plants are 2–6 m (6–20 ft) tall with stout, jointed, fib ...
industries were phased out in the islands. The number of visitors coming to the island is still relatively small, however, with around 59,000 arrivals forecast for 2016. Of all the publicly accessible Hawaiian islands, only
Molokai attracts fewer visitors.
, the two
resort
A resort (North American English) is a self-contained commercial establishment that aims to provide most of a vacationer's needs. This includes food, drink, swimming, accommodation, sports, entertainment and shopping, on the premises. A hotel ...
hotel
A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. Facilities provided inside a hotel room may range from a modest-quality mattress in a small room to large suites with bigger, higher-quality beds, a dresser, a re ...
s on Lānai were managed by
Four Seasons Hotels; the Four Seasons Resort Lanai in
Manele Bay at Hulupoe Beach. The Hotel Lanai in Lānai City was built in 1923 by James Dole of the Hawaiian Pineapple Company as a lodge to house the executives overseeing the island's pineapple production. It was the island's only hotel until 1990.

Lānai is also home to three golf courses, one at each Four Seasons resort and a third, free course.
* ''The Challenge at Manele'' borders the ocean and was designed by
Jack Nicklaus
Jack William Nicklaus (; born January 21, 1940), nicknamed "the Golden Bear", is an American retired professional golfer and List of golf courses designed by Jack Nicklaus, golf course designer. He is widely considered to be one of the greate ...
.
Bill Gates was married on the 12th hole tee-box at The Challenge at Manele.
* ''The Experience at Koele'' is located in the mountains of Lānai and was designed by noted Southern California golf course architect Ted Robinson Sr, with input from
Greg Norman.
* ''The Cavendish'' is a public golf course designed by E.B. Cavendish in 1947. It is a nine-hole course surrounded by Norfolk pines.
''Shipwreck Beach'' on the north shore of the island is so named because of the remains of a wrecked vessel aground a short distance offshore. This is popularly referred to as a WW II
Liberty Ship, although it is
YOG-42, one of several
concrete barges built during the war.
Shipwreck Beach, Lanai
Hawaii Travel Guide , To-Hawaii.com
Transportation
In Lānai City, there are no traffic lights. Public transportation is supplied by the hotels. Most attractions outside of the hotels and town can be visited only via dirt roads that require an off-road vehicle, bicycle or walking.
Lānai is served by Lanai Airport, which offers air taxi and scheduled commercial operations to other Hawaiian islands.
Notable people
* Danny Lockin, actor, dancer, born in Lānai in 1943. Best known for his role as Barnaby Tucker in the 1969 movie '' Hello, Dolly!'', he played the same role in the Broadway play when it went on tour across the United States.
Gallery
File:Lanai city houses.jpg, Housing in Lānai City
File:Garden of the Gods2.jpg, Keahiakawelo
File:Mountains lanai.jpg, Mountains on Lānai
File:Starr 060406-7121 Asclepias curassavica.jpg, Kaneapua Rock
File:Heiau-walls.JPG, Walls of Halulu Heiau at Kaunolu Village Site
File:Stars from Dole Park, Lanai, Hawaii.jpg, View of the night sky from inside of Dole Park
See also
* National Register of Historic Places listings in Lānai
References
External links
Lānai Culture & Heritage Center
*
*
*
{{Authority control
Islands of Hawaii
Maui County, Hawaii
Hawaiian–Emperor seamount chain
Private islands of the United States
Volcanoes of Maui Nui
Pleistocene shield volcanoes
Pleistocene Oceania
Cenozoic Hawaii
Shield volcanoes of the United States
Polygenetic shield volcanoes
Private islands of Oceania
Larry Ellison