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Lānai, sometimes written Lanai, 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 plantation. 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; 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 by the Auau Channel to the east. The United States Census Bureau 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, Lānai High and Elementary School, serving the entire island from kindergarten 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. Lanai Community Hospital Retrieved 30 June 2017. Lanai Community Health Center Retrieved 30 June 2017. There are no on the island.
The Hawaiian-language name Lānai is of uncertain origin, but the island has historically been called Lānai o Kauluāau, 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, and 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 Basalt soil. 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
|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.
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 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. Time line of key events in Lanai's history Lānai Culture and Heritage Center. Retrieved 7 July 2017. A year later, James Dole, 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, 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.Shimogawa, Duane. "PBN confirms amount billionaire Larry Ellison paid for Hawaiian Island of Lanai" Pacific Business News, January 8, 2016 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.
Lānai was traditionally administered in 13 political subdivisions (Ahupuaa), grouped into two districts ( mokuoloko): kona (Leeward) and koolau (Windward). The ahupuaa are listed below, in clockwise sequence, and with original area figures in , starting in the northwest of the island.
| 207 |
| 147 |
| 1 |
| 0 |
| 1 |
| 3 |
| 1 |
| 0 |
| 1 |
| 2 |
| 2 |
| 1 |
| 2804 |
| 3170 |
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, 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 .
, the two resort 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.
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 built during the war. Shipwreck Beach, Lanai Hawaii Travel Guide | To-Hawaii.com
Lānai is served by Lanai Airport, which offers air taxi and scheduled commercial operations to other Hawaiian islands.
The Hawaii State Public Library System operates the Lanai Public and School Library.
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