Lāna i or Lanai ( in English and or in Hawaiian) is the sixth-largest of the Hawaiian Islands. It is also known as the 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 comma-shaped, with a width of in the longest direction. The land area is , making it the 42nd largest island in the United States. 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. The United States Census Bureau defines Lāna i as Census Tract 316 of Maui County. Its total population was 3,193 as of the 2000 census. Many of the island's landmarks and sites are located off of dirt roads where four-wheel drive is required.

History

Lāna i has been under the control of nearby Maui since before recorded history. The first inhabitants of this island may have arrived as late as the 15th century. According to the Hawaiian legends, man-eating spirits occupied the island before that time. For generations, Maui chiefs believed in these man-eating spirits. Depending on which legend one follows either the prophet Lanikāula drove the spirits from the island or the unruly Maui prince Kauluā au accomplished that heroic feat. The more popular myth is that the mischievous Kauluā au pulled up every ulu (Artocarpus altilis) tree he could find on Maui. Finally his father, Kaka alaneo had to banish him to Lāna i, expecting him not to survive in that hostile place. However Kauluā au was able to outwit the spirits and drive 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 Lāna i to bring the prince, redeemed by his courage and his cleverness, back home to Maui. As a reward, Kauluā au was given control of the island and he encouraged immigration from other islands. True to himself Kauluā au had, in the meantime, pulled up all the ulu trees on Lāna i, accounting for the lack of ulu on that island. The name Lāna i is of uncertain origin, but the island has historically been called Lāna i o Kauluā au. One theory is that the phrase means "day of the conquest of Kauluā au."''

The first people to migrate here, most likely from Maui and Moloka i, probably established fishing villages along the coast initially but later branched out into the interior where they raised taro in the fertile volcanic soil. During most of those times, the Mo i of Maui held dominion over Lāna i. Even today, Lāna i is part of the County of Maui, but apparently the Maui leaders primarily left the people of Lāna i to their own devices. Life on Lāna i remained relatively calm until King Kamehameha I or Kalani ōpu u-a-Kaiamamao came over to take control, slaughtering people on every part of the island. So many were killed that when Captain George Vancouver sailed past the island in 1792, he didn't bother to land because of Lāna i's apparent lack of villages and population. It is mentioned that Lāna i was the favorite fishing spot of Kamehameha out of all the eight islands.