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Molokai
- "The Friendly Isle"
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| Molokai
is home to the world's highest sea cliffs and is aptly named with
its west end, dry and barren or "molo" in Hawaiian, and
its east end, with steep-walled valleys and lush green jungles, facing
the sea or "kai". |
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The
army of Kamehameha the Great conquered the island on the Pakuhiwa
Battleground on the South Shore but, other than that, the history
of Molokai is generally one of quiet solitude. Even when missionary
families began arriving in the early 19th century, Molokai remained
overlooked by most of the world. The Meyer and Cooke families, which
came to control the island, continued to preserve the natural wonders
that its isolation previously had protected.
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| In
the 1850s, Kamehameha V formed Molokai Ranch, which encompassed nearly
40 percent of the island and was the second largest cattle ranch in
the islands. The ranch was sold after his death and was later acquired
by Honolulu businessmen in 1897. During the era when pineapple was
the king of island exports, Del Monte leased fields from the company
for pineapple cultivation. But it wasn't until the mid-1970s that
the company initiated the island's first steps toward tourism by selling
about 14,000 acres of west end beach and hill land for resort and
residential development. |
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island of Molokai is rarely mentioned without a reference to Father
Damien, Joseph Damien de Veuster, a Belgian priest who arrived in
1873. Father Damien worked for 16 years among those who were sent
by Kamehameha V to be isolated at the leper colony he established
in Kalawao on the island's north peninsula. The disease, which was
believed to have entered Hawaii with immigrants from China, claimed
the life of Father Damien as well. During his last days, the colony
was moved to the western side of the peninsula called Kalaupapa. |
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