Lanai
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
| Lana‘i | ||||||||||||
 |
||||||||||||
|
Lāna‘i is the sixth-largest of the Hawaiian Islands. It is also known as Pineapple Island because of its past as an island-wide pineapple plantation. The only town is Lāna‘i City, a small settlement.
The island is somewhat circular in shape, with a width of 18 miles in the longest direction. The land area is 140 square miles (367 km²). It is separated from the island of Moloka‘i by the Kalohi Channel to the north, and from Maui by the ‘Au‘au Channel to the east.
History
Lāna‘i was first seen by Europeans on February 25, 1779, when Captain Clerke sighted the island from aboard James Cook's HMS Resolution. Clerke had taken command of the ship after Cook was killed at Kealakekua Bay on February 14, and was leaving the islands for the North Pacific.
In 1922, James Dole, the president of Hawaiian Pineapple Company later the Dole Food Company, bought the entire island of Lāna‘i, and developed a large portion of it into the world's largest pineapple plantation.
Tourism
- Main article: Tourism in Hawaii
Tourism on Lāna‘i started more recently as the pineapple industry was phased out in the islands.
There are two resort hotels on Lāna‘i: Manele Bay and the Lodge at Koele, the latter a rather unique resort in Hawai‘i in that it is in the cool hills nowhere near the beach. There is also a small hotel in Lāna‘i City used primarily for people visiting Lāna‘i residents. Both resorts have golf courses.
In 2004, travel to and from Lāna‘i became very difficult due to problems with inter-island airlines. With Hawaiian Airlines threatening to cease its daily service to the island, the smaller Island Air became set to control all flights to and from the island on small turbo-prop aircraft.
 |
State of Hawaii |
|---|---|
| State capital: | Honolulu |
| Largest communities: | Hilo | Honolulu | Kahului | Waipahu | Lihue |
| Islands: | Hawaii | Kahoolawe | Kauai | Lanai | Maui | Molokai | Niihau | Northwestern Hawaiian Islands | Oahu |
| Counties: | Hawaii | Honolulu | Kalawao | Kauai | Maui |
