Lana'i History:

In ancient times, local islanders believed Lana'i to be inhabited by bands of cannibalistic, howling demons. Five hundred years after Polynesian colonizers had settled the other Hawaiian islands, Lana'i remained a silent, burning red island. Believing that no man who attempted to spend a night on Lana'i had lived to see dawn, even the fishermen gave the island a wide berth. According to legend, Chief Kaakalaneo of Maui, tried beyond all patience, exiled his rebellious son, Kaululaau, to Lanai with instructions to build a fire on the beach if he survived.

Rescued by Kaakalaneo and his warriors, Kaululaau later returned with many of those warriors to settle the island whose beauty had so impressed them. Their numbers grew to three thousand -- living mostly in fishing villages at Kaunolu, Naha, Keomoku as well as an inland village at the Palawai Basin -- before a vengeful old chief of the Big Island, Kalaniopuu, attacked the island in 1778. Striking back at their archenemy, the King of Maui, Kalaniopuu's forces killed almost every inhabitant of the island and burned everything in their path. Yet Kamehameha, then a young warrior in the raiding party, would one day be drawn back by the island's beauty and bountiful fishing. As a powerful chief in his own right, Kamehameha the Great later built a summer retreat at Kaunolu Village.

Come see the unspoiled paradise that is the "Secluded Island".