:Molokai

The island is known under several names by the local population: Molokaʻi ʻĀina Momona (land of abundance), Molokaʻi Pule Oʻo (powerful prayer), and Molokaʻi Nui A Hina (of the goddess Hina).

Both the form Molokai (without an {{okina}}okina) and Moloka{{okina}}i (with) have long been used by native speakers of Hawaiian, and there is debate as to which is the original form, with conflicting claims as to which the elders used.{{cite web |title=Hawaii Board on Geographic Names |url=http://planning.hawaii.gov/gis/hbgn/ |website=hawaii.gov |access-date=6 February 2020 |archive-date=26 February 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200226001549/http://planning.hawaii.gov/gis/hbgn/ |url-status=live }} This island name is often mispronounced without an ʻokina, but we know from listening to many kūpuna (or elders) recorded from the 1950s to 1970s, who were native speakers from Molokaʻi, that the name did indeed have an ʻokina in it. {{cite web |url=https://oleloonline.com/0403p-pronunciation-practice-okina/ |title=Pronunciation Practice: ʻOkina |website=ʻŌlelo Online |access-date=2020-04-23 |archive-date=2020-08-05 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200805135602/https://oleloonline.com/0403p-pronunciation-practice-okina/ |url-status=live }} For counter opinions see {{cite web |url=https://themolokaidispatch.com/so-it-molokai-or-moloka-i/ |title=So is it Molokai or Moloka{{okina}}i? |last=Aki |first=Catherine |date=15 October 2008 |website=The Molokai Dispatch |access-date=23 April 2020 |archive-date=19 July 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200719125241/https://themolokaidispatch.com/so-it-molokai-or-moloka-i/ |url-status=live }} and {{cite web |url=https://mauinow.com/2016/01/26/whats-in-a-name-is-it-molokai-or-moloka%CA%BBi/ |title=What's in a Name? Is it Molokai OR Molokaʻi? |last=Dudley |first=Malika |date=28 January 2016 |website=The Molokai Dispatch |access-date=23 April 2020 |archive-date=24 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210124081841/https://mauinow.com/2016/01/26/whats-in-a-name-is-it-molokai-or-moloka%CA%BBi/ |url-status=live }} The USGS and the Hawaiʻi Board on Geographic Names use the form with the ʻokina.{{Cite web |url=https://geonames.usgs.gov/apex/f?p=GNISPQ:3:::NO::P3_FID:362468 |title=Domestic Names |access-date=2020-07-02 |archive-date=2020-05-20 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200520053104/http://geonames.usgs.gov/apex/f?p=gnispq:3:::NO::P3_FID:362468 |url-status=live }}

File:East Molokai.jpg and Molokaʻi Forest Reserve]]

Moloka{{okina}}i developed from two distinct shield volcanoes known as East Moloka{{okina}}i and the much smaller West Moloka{{okina}}i. The highest point is Kamakou{{cite web |url=http://www.hawaii.gov/dbedt/info/economic/databook/db2004/section05.pdf |title=Table 5.11 – Elevations of Major Summits |work=2004 State of Hawaii Data Book |publisher=State of Hawaii |year=2004 |access-date=2007-07-23 |archive-date=2012-02-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120201054628/http://hawaii.gov/dbedt/info/economic/databook/db2004/section05.pdf |url-status=live }} on East Moloka{{okina}}i, at {{cvt|4970|ft|m}}. Today, East Moloka{{okina}}i volcano, like the Koʻolau Range on Oʻahu, is what remains of the southern half of the original mountain. The northern half suffered a catastrophic collapse about 1.5 million years ago and now lies as a debris field scattered northward across the bottom of the Pacific Ocean.{{cite web |url=http://www.mbari.org/volcanism/Hawaii/HR-Landslides.htm |title=Submarine volcanoes – MBARI |website=www.mbari.org |date=22 October 2015 |access-date=5 July 2008 |archive-date=27 May 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090527191642/http://www.mbari.org/volcanism/Hawaii/HR-Landslides.htm |url-status=live }} What remains of the volcano on the island include the highest sea cliffs in the world.Culliney, John L. (2006) Islands in a Far Sea: The Fate of Nature in Hawaii. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. p. 17. The south shore of Moloka{{okina}}i boasts the longest fringing reef in the U.S. and its holdings—nearly {{cvt|25|mi|km}} long.[http://bulletin.geoscienceworld.org/cgi/content/abstract/115/11/1344 "Quantitative morphology of a fringing reef tract from high-resolution laser bathymetry: Southern Molokaʻi, Hawaii"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090122210726/http://bulletin.geoscienceworld.org/cgi/content/abstract/115/11/1344 |date=2009-01-22 }}, Bulletin – Geo Science World

Moloka{{okina}}i is part of the state of Hawaii and located in Maui County, Hawaii, except for the Kalaupapa Peninsula, which is separately administered as Kalawao County. Maui County encompasses Maui, Lanai, and Kahoolawe in addition to Moloka{{okina}}i. The largest town on the island is Kaunakakai, which is one of two small ports on the island. Molokai Airport is located on the central plains of Moloka{{okina}}i.

The United States Census Bureau divides the island into three census tracts, Census Tract 317 and Census Tract 318 of Maui County and Census Tract 319 of Kalawao County. The total 2010 census population of these was 7,345,{{cite web |url=http://files.hawaii.gov/dbedt/economic/databook/2010-individual/01/010510.pdf |title=Resident Population of Islands 1960 to 2010 |access-date=2014-10-29 |archive-date=2014-10-29 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141029083216/http://files.hawaii.gov/dbedt/economic/databook/2010-individual/01/010510.pdf |url-status=live }} living on a land area of {{cvt|260.02|sqmi|km2|2}}.[https://www.census.gov|b=50|l=en|t=4001|zf=0.0|ms=sel_00dec|dw=0.3235256323641746|dh=0.22787245954044197|dt=gov.census.aff.domain.map.EnglishMapExtent|if=gif|cx=-156.97355919130274|cy=21.202197799643404|zl=5|pz=5|bo=318:317:316:314:313:323:319|bl=362:393:358:357:356:355:354|ft=350:349:335:389:388:332:331|fl=381:403:204:380:369:379:368|g=15000US060750604002&-PANEL_ID=p_dt_geo_map&-_lang=en&-geo_id=14000US15005031900&-geo_id=14000US15009031700&-geo_id=14000US15009031800&-CONTEXT=dt&-format=&-search_results=14000US15009031800&-ds_name=DEC_2000_SF1_U Census Tracts 317 and 318, Maui County; and Census Tract 319, Kalawao County] {{Webarchive |url=https://archive.today/20200216143623/http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/DTTable?_bm=y&-show_geoid=Y&-tree_id=4001&-_caller=geoselect&-context=dt&-errMsg=&-all_geo_types=N&-mt_name=DEC_2000_SF1_U_P001&-redoLog=true&-transpose=N&-search_map_config=%7Cb=50%7Cl=en%7Ct=4001%7Czf=0.0%7Cms=sel_00dec%7Cdw=0.3235256323641746%7Cdh=0.22787245954044197%7Cdt=gov.census.aff.domain.map.EnglishMapExtent%7Cif=gif%7Ccx=-156.97355919130274%7Ccy=21.202197799643404%7Czl=5%7Cpz=5%7Cbo=318:317:316:314:313:323:319%7Cbl=362:393:358:357:356:355:354%7Cft=350:349:335:389:388:332:331%7Cfl=381:403:204:380:369:379:368%7Cg=15000US060750604002&-PANEL_ID=p_dt_geo_map&-_lang=en&-geo_id=14000US15005031900&-geo_id=14000US15009031700&-geo_id=14000US15009031800&-CONTEXT=dt&-format=&-search_results=14000US15009031800&-ds_name=DEC_2000_SF1_U |date=2020-02-16 }} United States Census Bureau Moloka{{okina}}i is separated from Oahu to the northwest by the Molokai Channel, from Maui to the southeast by the Pailolo Channel and from Lanai to the south by the Kalohi Channel.

The Kauhako Crater Lake is a soda lake.{{cite book |last1= Kempe |first1= Stephan |last2= Kazmierczak |first2= Józef |date= January 2011 |chapter= Soda Lakes |editor= Joachim Reitner and Volker Thiel |title= Encyclopedia of Geobiology |pages= 824-829 (see p. 825) |doi= 10.1007/978-1-4020-9212-1_192 |chapter-url= https://www.researchgate.net/publication/299748191_Soda_Ocean_Hypothesis }}

File:Halawa Molokai.jpg Beach Park, located at the extreme east end of Moloka{{okina}}i]]

Moloka{{okina}}i is split into two main geographical areas. The low western half is very dry and the soil is heavily denuded due to poor land management practices, which allowed over-grazing by deer and goats.{{Cite news |last=Boneza |first=Jenn |date=2021-01-24 |title=Lawmakers working to manage deer population in Maui County |url=https://www.khon2.com/local-news/lawmakers-working-to-manage-deer-population-in-maui-county/ |access-date=2021-01-25 |work=KHON2 |language=en-US |archive-date=2021-01-28 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210128102303/https://www.khon2.com/local-news/lawmakers-working-to-manage-deer-population-in-maui-county/ |url-status=live }} It lacks significant ground cover and virtually the entire section is covered in non-native kiawe (Prosopis pallida) trees. One of the few natural areas remaining almost intact are the coastal dunes of Moʻomomi, which are part of a Nature Conservancy preserve.

The eastern half of the island is a high plateau rising up to an elevation of {{cvt|4900|ft|m}} on Kamakou peak and includes the {{cvt|2774|acre|km2 sqmi|}} Molokai Forest Reserve.{{cite web |url=http://hawaii.gov/dlnr/dofaw/forestry/FRS/reserves/mauinuifr/molokai-forest-reserve |title=Division of Forestry and Wildlife |website=Division of Forestry and Wildlife |access-date=2011-09-27 |archive-date=2011-11-15 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111115010823/http://hawaii.gov/dlnr/dofaw/forestry/FRS/reserves/mauinuifr/molokai-forest-reserve |url-status=live }} The eastern half is covered with lush wet forests that get more than {{cvt|300|in|mm}} of rain per year. The high-elevation forests are populated by native ʻōhiʻa lehua (Metrosideros polymorpha) trees and an extremely diverse endemic flora and fauna in the understory. Much of the summit area is protected by the Nature Conservancy's Kamakou and Pelekunu valley preserves.

Below {{cvt|4000|ft|m|}}, the vegetation is dominated by introduced and invasive flora, including strawberry guava (Psidium littorale), eucalyptus (Eucalyptus spp.), and cypress (Cupressus spp.). Introduced axis deer (Axis axis) and feral pigs (Sus scrofa) roam native forests, destroying native plants, expanding spreading invasive plants through disturbance and distribution of their seeds, and threatening endemic insects. Near the summit of Kamakou is the unique Pēpēʻōpae bog, where dwarf ʻōhiʻa and other plants cover the soggy ground.

Moloka{{okina}}i is home to a great number of endemic plant and animal species. However, many of its species, including the olomaʻo (Myadestes lanaiensis), kākāwahie (Paroreomyza flammea), and the Bishop's ‘ō‘ō (Moho bishopi) have become extinct. Moloka{{okina}}i is home to a wingless fly among many other endemic insects.

It used to be thought that Moloka{{okina}}i was first settled around AD 650 by indigenous peoples most likely from the Marquesas Islands. However, a 2010 study using revised, high-precision radiocarbon dating based on more reliable samples has established that the period of eastern Polynesian colonization of the Marquesas Islands took place much later, in a shorter time frame of two waves: the "earliest in the Society Islands {{circa}} 1025–1120, four centuries later than previously assumed; then after 70–265 years, dispersal continued in one major pulse to all remaining islands {{circa|lk=no}} 1190–1290."{{cite journal |author1=Janet M. Wilmshurst |author2=Terry L. Hunt |author3=Carl P. Lipo |author4=Atholl J. Anderson |title=High-precision radiocarbon dating shows recent and rapid initial human colonization of East Polynesia |journal=PNAS |year=2011 |volume=108 |issue=5 |pages=1815–20 |doi=10.1073/pnas.1015876108 |pmid=21187404 |pmc=3033267|doi-access=free}} Later migrants likely came from Tahiti and other south Pacific islands.

File:Molokai_Light_Moloka`i_(Kalaupapa),_HI_Light_House_-_Molokai_from_sea_-_Sailing_2011_Puanani_IMG_0769.jpg, Kalaupapa Peninsula, northern shore of Moloka{{okina}}i. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.{{Cite web |date=March 3, 2014 |title=Molokai Light Station |url=https://historichawaii.org/2014/03/03/molokai-light-station/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180506004020/https://historichawaii.org/2014/03/03/molokai-light-station/ |archive-date=May 6, 2018 |access-date=February 1, 2024 |website=Historic Hawaii Foundation}}]]

Although Captain James Cook recorded sighting Moloka{{okina}}i in 1778, the first European sailor to visit the island was Captain George Dixon of the British Royal Navy in 1786.{{cite web |url=http://visitmolokai.com/history.php |title=Molokai History |access-date=2014-10-29 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141029154254/http://visitmolokai.com/history.php |archive-date=2014-10-29 |url-status=dead}} The first significant European influence came in 1832 when a Protestant mission was established at Kaluaʻaha on the East End of the island by the Reverend Harvey Hitchcock. The first farmer on Moloka{{okina}}i to grow, produce and mill sugar and coffee commercially was Rudolph Wilhelm Meyer, an immigrant from Germany who arrived in 1850. He built the first and only sugar mill on the island in 1878, which is now a museum.

Ranching began on Moloka{{okina}}i in the first half of the 19th century when King Kamehameha V set up a country estate on the island, which was managed by Meyer and became what is now the Molokai Ranch.[https://plus.google.com/+PeterTYoung/posts/9uCvxbhL7rr Meyer Sugar] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190912184947/https://accounts.google.com/ServiceLogin?passive=1209600&osid=1&continue=https%3A%2F%2Fplus.google.com%2F+PeterTYoung%2Fposts%2F9uCvxbhL7rr&followup=https%3A%2F%2Fplus.google.com%2F+PeterTYoung%2Fposts%2F9uCvxbhL7rr |date=2019-09-12 }} Hookuleana LLC 2013. Retrieved 10 July 2017. In the late 1800s, Kamehameha V built a vacation home in Kaunakakai and ordered the planting of over 1,000 coconut trees in Kapuaiwa Coconut Grove.{{cite web |url=http://www.gohawaii.com/molokai/about/history |title=Molokai History |website=www.gohawaii.com |date=14 February 2017 |access-date=29 October 2014 |archive-date=16 April 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170416220313/https://www.gohawaii.com/molokai/about/history/ |url-status=live }}

Leprosy (also known as Hansen's disease) was introduced to the Hawaiian Islands by traders, sailors, workers and others who lived in societies where it was endemic. Sugar planters were worried about the effects on their labor force and pressured the government to take action to control the spread of leprosy.

File:Molokai coast with a view of the federal leprosarium.jpg

The legislature passed a control act requiring quarantine of people with leprosy. The government established Kalawao located on the isolated Kalaupapa peninsula on the northern side of Moloka{{okina}}i, followed by Kalaupapa as the sites of a leper colony that operated from 1866 to 1969. Because Kalaupapa had a better climate and sea access, it developed as the main community. A research hospital was developed at Kalawao. The population of these settlements reached a peak of 1,100 shortly after the beginning of the 20th century.

In total over the decades, more than 8,500 men, women and children living throughout the Hawaiian islands and diagnosed with leprosy were exiled to the colony by the Hawaiian government and legally declared dead. This public health measure was continued after the Kingdom became a U.S. territory. Patients were not allowed to leave the settlement nor have visitors and had to live out their days here. {{cite web |url=http://visitmolokai.com/kala.html |title=Kalaupapa, Molokai, Hawaii – Father Damien |access-date=2009-09-29 |publisher=VisitMolokai.com web site |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140630141656/http://visitmolokai.com/kala.html |archive-date=2014-06-30 |url-status=dead}}

Arthur Albert St. Mouritz served as a physician to the leper settlement from 1884 to 1887.Wade, H. W. (1951). [http://ila.ilsl.br/pdfs/v19n2a11.pdf/ Human Inoculation Experiments in Hawaii Including Notes On Those of Arning and Of Fitch]. International Journal of Leprosy. Volume 19 Number 2. Retrieved April 5, 2020Amundson, Ron (2010). [https://dsq-sds.org/article/view/1270/1300/ A Wholesome Horror: The Stigmas of Leprosy in 19th Century Hawaii] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200606202816/https://dsq-sds.org/article/view/1270/1300/ |date=2020-06-06 }}. Disability Studies Quarterly. Volume 30 Number 3/4. Retrieved April 5, 2020.{{cite book |last=Greene |first=Linda W. |date=1985 |url=https://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/kala/pdf/Kalaupapa.pdf |title=Exile in Paradise, the isolation of Hawaii's leprosy victims and development of Kalaupapa settlement, 1865 to the present |department=Kalaupapa Historical Park |work=Historic resource study |page=11 |section=III Leprosy in Hawaii |location=Molokai, Hawaii |publisher=National Park Service |access-date=April 5, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190615175545/https://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/kala/pdf/Kalaupapa.pdf |archive-date=2019-06-15 |language=en-US |url-status=dead}} He explained how leprosy was spread.Mouritz, Arthur Albert St. M. (1916). [https://archive.org/details/pathofdestroyerh00mour/page/n6/mode/2up/ The Path of the Destroyer] Retrieved April 5, 2020.

File:The Kalaupapa Leper Settlement.jpg

Pater Damiaan de Veuster, a Belgian priest of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary served as a missionary for 16 years in the communities of sufferers of leprosy. Joseph Dutton, who served in the 13th Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry Regiment during the American Civil War and converted to Roman Catholicism in 1883, came to Moloka{{okina}}i in 1886 to help Pater Damiaan and the rest of the population who suffered from leprosy. Pater Damiaan died at Kalaupapa in 1889 while Joseph Dutton died in Honolulu in 1931 at the age of 87. Mother Marianne Cope of the Sisters of Saint Francis of Syracuse, New York, brought six of her Sisters to work in Hawaiʻi with leprosy sufferers in the late 19th century, also serving on Moloka{{okina}}i.

Both Father Damiaan and Mother Marianne have been canonized as Saints by the Roman Catholic Church for their charitable work and devotion to sufferers of leprosy. In December 2015, the cause of Joseph Dutton was formally opened, obtaining him the title Servant of God.{{cite web |title=Bishop Silva moves forward with Joseph Dutton's canonization cause |url=https://hawaiicatholicherald.com/2021/06/09/bishop-silva-moves-forward-with-joseph-duttons-canonization-cause/ |website=Hawaii Catholic Herald |access-date=11 April 2024 |date=9 June 2021}}

In the 1920s, people confined in the leper colony were treated with a new method devised by Alice Ball and involving chaulmoogra oil.{{cite journal |last1=Wermager |first1=Paul |last2=Carl |first2=Heltzel |date=1 February 2007 |editor1-last=Heltzel |editor1-first=Carl |editor2-last=Tinnesand |editor2-first=Michael |editor3-last=Kanaskie |editor3-first=Leona |editor4-last=Harris |editor4-first=Cornithia |editor5-last=Barlow |editor5-first=Sandra |editor6-last=Taylor |editor6-first=Terri |editor7-last=Isikooff |editor7-first=Peter |title=Alice A. Ball: Young Chemist Gave Hope to Millions |url=http://www.acs.org/content/dam/acsorg/education/resources/highschool/chemmatters/chemmatters-february-2007.pdf |url-status=dead |journal=ChemMatters |language=English |publication-place=Washington, D.C., United States of America |volume=25 |issue=1 |pages=17–19 |issn=0736-4687 |oclc=9135366 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140713035905/http://www.acs.org/content/dam/acsorg/education/resources/highschool/chemmatters/chemmatters-february-2007.pdf |archive-date=13 July 2014 |access-date=22 June 2021 |display-editors=2}}{{cite news |last=Cederlind |first=Erika |date=29 February 2008 |title=A tribute to Alice Bell: A Scientist whose Work with Leprosy was Overshadowed by a White Successor |newspaper=The Daily of the University of Washington |url=http://dailyuw.com/archive/2008/02/29/imported/tribute-alice-bell-scientist-whose-work-leprosy-was-overshadowed-white-s |url-status=dead |access-date=19 May 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140806162033/http://dailyuw.com/archive/2008/02/29/imported/tribute-alice-bell-scientist-whose-work-leprosy-was-overshadowed-white-s |archive-date=2014-08-06 |id=[Note: Headline has: Alice {{sic|Bell|expected=Ball}}; rest of article correctly names "Alice Ball"]}} In the 1940s, sulfonamide drugs were developed and provided a more effective treatment. Antibiotic Dapsone has been used for leprosy since 1945.{{cite journal | vauthors = Zhu YI, Stiller MJ | title = Dapsone and sulfones in dermatology: overview and update | journal = Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology | volume = 45 | issue = 3 | pages = 420–434 | date = September 2001 | pmid = 11511841 | doi = 10.1067/mjd.2001.114733 | s2cid = 39874987 }} Modern Multidrug therapy (MDT) remains highly effective, and people are no longer infectious after the first monthly dose.{{cite web |title=Leprosy |url=https://www.who.int/en/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/leprosy |publisher=World Health Organization (WHO) |access-date=10 February 2020 |archive-date=31 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210131111807/https://www.who.int/en/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/leprosy |url-status=live }}

In 1969, the century-old laws of forced quarantine were abolished. Former patients living in Kalaupapa today have chosen to remain here, most for the rest of their lives."[https://www.nps.gov/kala/learn/historyculture/a-brief-history-of-kalaupapa.htm Kalaupapa National Historical Park – A Brief History of Kalaupapa] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190723105708/https://www.nps.gov/kala/learn/historyculture/a-brief-history-of-kalaupapa.htm |date=2019-07-23 }} (U.S. National Park Service)." U.S. National Park Service – Experience Your America. Web. 19 Nov. 2009. In the 21st century, there are no persons on the island with active cases of leprosy, which has been controlled through medication, but some former patients chose to continue to live in the settlement after its official closure."[http://www.nps.gov/kala/historyculture/patients.htm Kalaupapa National Historical Park – Hansen's Disease Patients at Kalawao and Kalaupapa] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130516002307/http://www.nps.gov/kala/historyculture/patients.htm |date=2013-05-16 }} (U.S. National Park Service)." U.S. National Park Service – Experience Your America. Web. 19 Nov. 2009.

Over the years Molokai Ranch has also acted as a developer, establishing hotels and related amenities for resort tourists on their property.{{Cite web |url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/why-molokai-least-developed-hawaiis-islands-180973019/ |title=Why Molokaʻi, With All Its Wonders, Is the Least Developed of Hawai'i's Islands |last=Graham |first=Wade |date=August 30, 2019 |website=Smithsonian.com |language=en |access-date=2019-08-31 |archive-date=2019-08-31 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190831152731/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/why-molokai-least-developed-hawaiis-islands-180973019/ |url-status=live }} The local indigenous community fought for many decades to inhibit the development by Molokai Ranch in order to preserve their community and unique way of life. In some cases, protests have become violent, such as fence cutting, poisoning of the Ranch's exotic African Safari animals in 1994, an arson attack in Kaupoa in 1995, and the destruction of {{cvt|5|mi}} of Ranch water pipes in 1996.[http://www.hawaiifreepress.com/ArticlesMain/tabid/56/ID/1711/Molokai-Ranch-Protesters-to-Cash-in-with-Takeover-Plan.aspx Molokai Ranch: Protesters to Cash in with Takeover Plan?] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170911024909/http://www.hawaiifreepress.com/ArticlesMain/tabid/56/ID/1711/Molokai-Ranch-Protesters-to-Cash-in-with-Takeover-Plan.aspx |date=2017-09-11 }} Hawai'i Free Press, 22 March 2008. Retrieved 10 September 2017.[http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2008/Mar/26/ln/hawaii803260432.html Molokai Ranch Timeline] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170912055133/http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2008/Mar/26/ln/hawaii803260432.html |date=2017-09-12 }} Honolulu Advertiser, 26 March 2008. Retrieved 11 September 2017.

In 2007, community residents organized the "Save Laʻau Point" movement to oppose Molokai Ranch's attempt to expand its resort operation.{{cite web |url=http://archives.starbulletin.com/2007/01/14/business/story01.html |title=starbulletin.com – Business – /2007/01/14/ |first=Honolulu |last=Star-Bulletin |website=archives.starbulletin.com |access-date=2011-05-10 |archive-date=2011-11-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111114214043/http://archives.starbulletin.com/2007/01/14/business/story01.html |url-status=live }} As a result, on March 24, 2008, Molokai Ranch, then the island's largest employer, decided to shut down all resort operations, including hotels, movie theater, restaurants, and golf course, and dismiss 120 workers.[http://www.mauinews.com/page/content.detail/id/517428.html "Molokai Ranch: A year after closure, times are hard but spirit is alive"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110617042510/http://www.mauinews.com/page/content.detail/id/517428.html |date=2011-06-17 }}, Maui News In September 2017 the company that owns Molokai Ranch, Singapore-based Guoco Leisure Ltd, put this {{cvt|55,575|acre}} property, encompassing 35% of the island of Moloka{{okina}}i, on the market for $260 million.[https://www.bizjournals.com/pacific/news/2017/09/07/hawaiis-molokai-ranch-on-the-market-for-260.html Hawaii's Molokai Ranch on the market for $260M] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170909190342/https://www.bizjournals.com/pacific/news/2017/09/07/hawaiis-molokai-ranch-on-the-market-for-260.html |date=2017-09-09 }} Pacific Business News, 7 September 2017. Retrieved 9 September 2017.

Due to the fight against development and tourism, Moloka{{okina}}i has Hawaii's highest unemployment rate. The residents have fought hard to maintain a lifestyle based on indigenous subsistence practices. This lifestyle is not without challenges, however, and many live below the federal poverty line. One third of its residents use food stamps.{{cite web |url=http://www.civilbeat.com/2014/07/molokai-has-the-most-to-lose-but-least-say-in-gmo-debate/ |title=Molokai has the Most to Lose but the Least Say in the GMO Debate |date=14 July 2014 |access-date=29 October 2014 |archive-date=29 October 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141029131203/http://www.civilbeat.com/2014/07/molokai-has-the-most-to-lose-but-least-say-in-gmo-debate/ |url-status=live }} {{As of|2014}}, the largest industry on the island is seed production for Monsanto and Mycogen Seeds, including GMO seeds.{{r|monsanto}}

File:Molokai Waterfall.jpg

File:Molokai hello.jpg

The tourism industry on Moloka{{okina}}i is relatively small, compared to the other islands in Hawaiʻi. Only 64,767 tourists visited Moloka{{okina}}i in 2015.[http://www.hawaiitourismauthority.org/default/assets/File/HTA%20Annual%20Report%202016%20FINAL.pdf Visitor Statistics] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170220215158/http://www.hawaiitourismauthority.org/default/assets/File/HTA%20Annual%20Report%202016%20FINAL.pdf |date=2017-02-20 }} Hawaii Tourism Authority. Retrieved 16 June 2017. For decades, residents of Moloka{{okina}}i have resisted private developers' attempts to increase tourism because of the irreparable changes to community and culture that are associated with a tourism industry. Accommodations are limited; as of 2014, only one hotel was open on the island. Most tourists find lodgings at rental condos and houses.

National Geographic Traveler magazine and the National Geographic Center for Sustainable Destinations conduct annual Destination Scorecard surveys, aided by George Washington University. In 2007, a panel of 522 experts in sustainable tourism and destination stewardship reviewed 111 selected human-inhabited islands and archipelagos around the world. Moloka{{okina}}i ranked 10th among the 111 destination locales. The survey cited Moloka{{okina}}i's undeveloped tropical landscape, environmental stewardship, and rich, deep Hawaiian traditions (the island's mana). The neighbor islands of Hawai{{okina}}i, Kaua{{okina}}i, Maui and O{{okina}}ahu, ranked 50, 61, 81 and 104, respectively.{{cite journal |url=http://traveler.nationalgeographic.com/2007/11/nd07placesratedislands.pdf |first=Jonathan B. |last=Tourtellot |title=Destinations Rated: Islands |journal=National Geographic Traveler |date=November–December 2007 |pages=108–127 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111005181844/http://traveler.nationalgeographic.com/2007/11/nd07placesratedislands.pdf |archive-date=2011-10-05}}

Moloka{{okina}}i is believed to be the birthplace of the hula. The annual Molokaʻi Ka Hula Piko festival is held on this island.[http://www.aloha-hawaii.com/molokai/things-to-do/attractions/molokai-ka-hula-piko/ Molokaʻi Ka Hula Piko] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140210103404/http://www.aloha-hawaii.com/molokai/things-to-do/attractions/molokai-ka-hula-piko/ |date=2014-02-10 }}, Aloha-Hawaii website

Moloka{{okina}}i can be reached by plane. Planes fly into Molokaʻi daily from other Hawaiian islands including Oʻahu (Honolulu and Kalaeloa), Maui (Kahului) and Hawaii (Kona), operated by Mokulele Airlines, Paragon Air and Hawaiian Airlines.{{cite web |url=http://hawaii.gov/mkk |title=Molokaʻi Airport |access-date=2014-10-29 |archive-date=2014-08-28 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140828051139/http://hawaii.gov/mkk |url-status=live }}{{cite web |url=http://www.mokuleleairlines.com/flight-schedule.php |title=Mokulele Airlines Schedule |access-date=2014-10-29 |archive-date=2015-06-27 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150627182904/http://www.mokuleleairlines.com/flight-schedule.php |url-status=dead }}{{cite web |url=http://visitmolokai.com/transport.php |title=Getting to Molokaʻi |access-date=2014-10-29 |archive-date=2015-05-12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150512073951/http://visitmolokai.com/transport.php |url-status=dead }}

A ferry that formerly sailed between Moloka{{okina}}i and Lāhainā Harbor, Maui closed operations on October 27, 2016. Sea Link President and Senior Capt. Dave Jung attributed the closure to competition from federally subsidized commuter air travel and declining ridership.{{cite web |url=http://www.mauinews.com/news/local-news/2016/10/molokai-ferry-sets-sail-one-last-time/ |title=Molokai Ferry |access-date=2017-04-20 |archive-date=2017-04-20 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170420234811/http://www.mauinews.com/news/local-news/2016/10/molokai-ferry-sets-sail-one-last-time/ |url-status=live }}[http://www.staradvertiser.com/2016/10/21/business/business-breaking/molokai-ferry-ends-service-this-month/ Ferry service ended] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170910221054/http://www.staradvertiser.com/2016/10/21/business/business-breaking/molokai-ferry-ends-service-this-month/ |date=2017-09-10 }} Honolulu Star Advertiser. Retrieved 16 June 2017.

The island of Moloka{{okina}}i is served by Molokaʻi General Hospital, which operates all day, every day. It is also serviced by Molokai Community Health Center and Molokai Family Health Center.

The island public school system includes four elementary schools, one charter school, one middle school, and one high school. There is also a community college.{{cite web |url=http://visitmolokai.com/schools.php |title=Molokai Schools |access-date=2014-10-29 |archive-date=2015-05-12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150512071908/http://visitmolokai.com/schools.php |url-status=dead }} The island has one private middle/high school.{{cite web |url=http://akaulaschool.org/ |title=Akaula School |access-date=2014-10-29 |archive-date=2016-10-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161001175336/http://akaulaschool.org/ |url-status=dead }}

File:Molokai Sea Cliffs.jpg

The island contains many parks and other protected areas, but most parks do not have service staff, potable water, or restroom facilities. Parks within the Maui County parks jurisdiction include Palaʻau State Park, Kiowea Beach Park, Kakahaiʻa National Wildlife Refuge, Molokaʻi Forest Reserve, Pelekunu Preserve, George Murphy Beach Park, Hālawa Beach Park, and Papohaku Beach Park (with a {{cvt|3|mi}} beach) in the portion within Maui County. Today Kalawao County is preserved by the Kalaupapa National Historical Park (accessible by guided mule or hiking tour).{{cite web |url=http://www.gohawaii.com/molokai/regions-neighborhoods/central-molokai/kalaupapa-national-historic-park |title=Kalaupapa National Historic Park |access-date=2014-10-29 |archive-date=2014-12-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141206082845/http://www.gohawaii.com/molokai/regions-neighborhoods/central-molokai/kalaupapa-national-historic-park |url-status=dead }}{{cite web |url=http://www.gohawaii.com/molokai/regions-neighborhoods/west-end/papohaku-beach |title=Papohaku Beach Park |date=14 February 2017 |publisher=Go Hawaii |access-date=29 October 2014 |archive-date=28 January 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170128095738/http://www.gohawaii.com/molokai/regions-neighborhoods/west-end/papohaku-beach/ |url-status=live }}

The island can be traversed by a two-lane highway running east to west (highways 450 and 460). Highway 470 is a spur up to the barrier mountains of Kalawao County and the Kalaupapa peninsula. By land this area (Kalaupapa) can only be reached by a hiking trail. Mule rides on the trail were suspended in 2018 when the trail temporarily closed due to a landslide and bridge damage. Most access to the Kalaupapa peninsula is by sea.

Maui Economic Opportunity operates public transportation on Moloka{{okina}}i.{{Cite web |title=Transportation Services, Schedules & Applications |access-date=2018-12-02 |url=http://www.meoinc.org/content/5334a7b3be304/Transportation_Services.html |archive-date=2018-12-02 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181202155101/http://www.meoinc.org/content/5334a7b3be304/Transportation_Services.html |url-status=live }}

• Mother Marianne Cope, 19th-century nun and saint
• Father Damien de Veuster, 19th-century Catholic priest and saint
• Joseph Dutton, Catholic missionary who worked with Father Damien
• Peter Johnson Gulick, Protestant missionary
• Harvey Rexford Hitchcock, Protestant missionary
• Harvey Rexford Hitchcock, Jr., 1913 College Football All-America Team
• John S. K. Kauwe III – Biologist and president of Brigham Young University–Hawaii
• Melveen Leed, singer
• Linda Lingle, 6th Governor of Hawaiʻi
• Keith Luuloa, professional baseball player (Anaheim Angels)
• Rudolph Wilhelm Meyer, politician and agricultural businessman in Hawaiʻi
• William Ragsdale, popular Hawaiian attorney and politician, who served as superintendent at Kalaupapa for four years (1874–1878){{cite book |last=Daws |first=Gavan |title=Holy Man: Father Damien of Molokai |url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=98yOX2tDGicC |page=89}}|year=1984|pages=89–92|publisher=University of Hawaii Press|isbn=978-0-8248-0920-1}}
• Arthur Albert St. Mouritz, physician to the leper settlement in Moloka{{okina}}i from 1884 to 1887.{{r|ijl|Amundson 2010|NPS Chap III}} He explained how leprosy was spread.{{r|potd}}
• Kirby Wright, poet and writer
• Lois-Ann Yamanaka, poet and novelist

• Nuʻakea, High Chieftess of Molokaʻi
• Hualani, High Chieftess of Molokaʻi
• Keʻoloʻewa, High Chief of Molokaʻi
• Kapau-a-Nuʻakea, Chieftess of Molokaʻi
• Kamauliwahine, Lady of Molokaʻi
• Kanipahu, High Chief of Molokaʻi
• Kamauaua, High Chief of Molokaʻi
• Kaupeepeenuikauila, Prince of Molokaʻi
• Kahokuohua, High Chief of Molokaʻi
• Kalanipehu, High Chief of Molokaʻi
• Kanealai, High Chieftess and Queen Regnant of Molokaʻi in the 18th century

• Ho{{okina}}olehua
• Kalaupapa
• Kalawao
• Kaunakakai
• Kualapu{{okina}}u
• Maunaloa
• {{okina}}Ualapu{{okina}}e
• Hālawa

• Alii Aimoku of Molokai
• Father Damien of Molokai
• National Register of Historic Places listings in Hawaii#Molokai
• Koolau the Leper, a short story by Jack London

{{reflist|30em}}

• {{cite book |last=Coffman |first=Tom |title=The Island Edge of America: A Political History of Hawai'i |url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=bulWp_Gk9JwC}}|year=2003|publisher=University of Hawaii Press|isbn=978-0-8248-2662-8}}
• {{cite journal |url=http://www.nokaoimagazine.com/Features/v.11n.2/Where_Tradition_Holds_Sway.html |first=Jill |last=Engledow |title=Where Tradition Holds Sway |journal=Maui Nō Ka ʻOi Magazine |volume=11 |issue=2 |date=March 2007 |access-date=2008-05-20 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090720094036/http://www.nokaoimagazine.com/features/v.11n.2/Where_Tradition_Holds_Sway.html |archive-date=2009-07-20 |url-status=dead}} Article about traditional hula halau on Molokaʻi
• {{cite book |last=Farber |first=Joseph M. |title=Ancient Hawaiian Fishponds: Can Restoration Succeed on Molokaʻi? |url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=fvFJAAAAYAAJ}}|year=1997|publisher=Neptune House Publications|isbn=978-0-9659782-0-0}}
• {{cite book |last=Lee |first=Pali Jae Kealohilani |title=Moʻolelo O Na Po Makole |url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=kZh8rgEACAAJ}}|year=1984|publisher=Paia-Kapela-Willis, ʻOhana}}
• {{cite journal |url=http://www.hanahou.com/pages/magazine.asp?Action=DrawArticle&ArticleID=526&MagazineID=33 |first=Catharine |last=Lo |title=On the Rocks |journal=Hana Hou! |volume=9 |issue=6}} Article about Hawaiian limpets, a traditional delicacy known locally as {{okina}}opihi.
• {{cite book |last=Tayman |first=John |title=The Colony: The Harrowing True Story of the Exiles of Molokai |url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=rKUaLE6s1lgC}}|date=11 May 2010|publisher=Simon and Schuster|isbn=978-1-4165-5192-8}}

• {{cite magazine |title=Molokai—Forgotten Hawaii |magazine=National Geographic |first=Ethel A. |last=Starbird |pages=188–219 |volume=160 |issue=2 |date=August 1981 |issn=0027-9358 |oclc=643483454}}

{{commons category|Molokaʻi}}

• {{wikivoyage-inline|Molokaʻi}}
• [http://www.gohawaii.com/molokai Official Molokaʻi Visitors Association website]
• [http://www.themolokaidispatch.com/ The Molokaʻi Dispatch], weekly print community newspaper

{{Hawaii}}

{{Kalawao County, Hawaii}}

{{Maui County, Hawaii}}

{{Hawaiian volcanism}}

{{Authority control}}

Molokai

Category:Islands of Hawaii

Category:Kalawao County, Hawaii

Category:Maui County, Hawaii