Lanai is the sixth-largest of the Hawaiian Islands and the smallest publicly accessible inhabited island in the chain. As of 2012, the island was 98% owned by Larry Ellison, founder and chairman of Oracle Corporation. Lanai is a roughly apostrophe-shaped island with a width of 18 miles in the longest direction.
About Lanai in brief
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. As of 2012, the island was 98% owned by Larry Ellison, founder and chairman of Oracle Corporation. Lanai is a roughly apostrophe-shaped island with a width of 18 miles in the longest direction. Its total population shrank from 3,193 as of the 2000 census to 3,131 as of 2010. Many of the island’s landmarks are accessible only by dirt roads that require a four-wheel drive vehicle. There is one hospital, Lanai Community Hospital, with 24 beds, and a community health center providing primary care, dental, behavioral health and selected specialty services in Lanai City. There are no traffic lights on the island. The land area is 140. 5 square miles, making it the 42nd largest island inthe United States. The island was under the control of nearby Maui before recorded history.
Its first inhabitants may have arrived as late as the 15th century. The first people to migrate here, most likely from Maui and Molokaʻi, probably established fishing villages along the coast initially but later branched out into the interior where they raised taro in the fertile volcanic soil. In 1802, a farmer from China, Wong Tse Chun, produced a small amount of sugar on Lanai. He used a crude stone mill that he had brought with him to crush the cane. In 1862 Walter M. Gibson bought the ahupuaʻa of Pālāwai for USD 3000. In 1899, Maunalei’s daughter and son-in-law formed the Keomalei Sugar Company, headquartered on the windward coast. By 1890, the population of Lānai was reduced to 200, with the population for the island being about 3,000. The population of Lanai was about 2,000 by the end of the 20th century, with most of the land for ranching and ranching being sold off.
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This page is based on the article Lanai published in Wikipedia (as of Dec. 20, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
