 Offshore are
four junior islands, all part of Maui County.
Sleepy Moloka'i struggles to maintain its
rural character. Lana'i was recently transformed
from a pineapple plantation to an exclusive
private resort. Kaho'olawe was a U.S. Navy
bombing target for many years. And Molokini,
a tiny crescent-shaped volcanic cone, is very
popular as a snorkeling destination.
Together with the Big Island of Hawai'i.
Maui was the stage for ancient Hawai'i's
most important events and wars. An era of
peace between the rival chiefs of Maui and
Hawai'i gave way in the 1600s to two centuries
of endless bloodshed. The Maui dynasty of
Kekaulike and his son Kahekili was finally
defeated in 1790 by the powerful chief from
the Big Island, Kamehameha the Conqueror.
By 1802, Kamehameha had unified all the Hawaiian
Islands except Kaua'i (which he obtained peacefully
in 1810). As the first king of a united Hawai'i,
he established his royal capital at Lahaina
on Maui's leeward coast.
 To
show his respect for the superior Maui bloodlines,
and to secure those bloodlines for his royal
heirs, Kamehameha married two of Maui's
most chiefly women: Ka'ahumanu and the sacred
princess Ke'opuolani. After his death, his
Maui queens retired the old Hawaiian gods
and, at the urging of their Protestant missionary
advisors, led the Hawaiian conversion to
Christianity. Heiau, the simple stone temples
of Hawaiian worship, were torn down and
replaced by churches and schools, where
texts printed in the Hawaiian language taught
spiritual and practical learning.
Whales put Maui on the map 150 years ago,
when whalers from the eastern U.S. and Europe
used the safe and convenient anchorage at
Lahaina for a central provisioning stop
in the whale-rich northern Pacific. As many
as 400 ships dropped anchor there every
year during the 1840s. Grog shops and lawlessness
proliferated, along with commerce and growth.
At the time, Lahaina's native and foreign
population was about 3,500 people and 528
dogs.
 The
discovery of petroleum in Pennsylvania in
1871 put an abrupt end to the whale oil
business and the whaling fleets. The royal
seat of the kingdom was moved to the larger
commercial port at Honolulu on O'ahu. Lahaina
was all but deserted.
For the next century, Maui slumbered as
its vast lands were consolidated into sugar
cane and pineapple plantations, and its
mountain streams were tapped for irrigation
water. Until the early 1960s, Maui was little
more than a few plantation camps, cattle
ranches, isolated fishing villages, a half-dozen
spartan hotels and plenty of space. The
sugar fields spread uninterrupted like rich
lawns from the foot of the mountains to
the beaches.
The tourist boom began at Ka'anapali in
1960. For the next 25 years, and continuing
today, resort hotels, golf courses and vacation
condominiums have seemed to sprout up wherever
there is a sunny swimming beach. Little
Kahului airport, long accustomed to a few
inter-island flights daily, found itself
welcoming nonstop flights direct from mainland
cities.
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Like its namesake, the island of Maui revels in the sun and devotes its long days to playful
and athletic pleasures. It is the most glamorous and flamboyant of all the Hawaiian Islands.
With miles of swimming beaches, two perpetually sunny coasts, awesome mountains and calm,
leeward seaways ringed by a scenic fleet of lesser islands, Maui has every right to its gilded
reputation, its international allure, and the phrase used to describe it: "Maui no ka 'oi"
Maui is the best!