DK Travel : Maui : History & Culture

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Queen Ka’ahumanu

Born in Hāna, this favorite wife of King Kamehameha I is unrivaled in Hawai’i’s feminist history.
Queen Liliu’okalani

Hawai’i’s last and one of its most beloved monarchs, her government was overthrown in 1893.
Quilting

Among the many traditions brought by the missionaries was quilting. Not surprisingly, Hawaiian women took to the art form and made it their own, replacing New England designs with gorgeous renderings of local flora and fauna.
Seed Lei

Simple, single-stranded Job’s Tears and intricately crafted wiliwili-seed lei are popular examples of this type.
Statehood

Following several failed attempts, Hawai’i became the 50th state in the union on August 21, 1959. William F. Quinn and James K. Kealoha were sworn in as the first elected governor and lieutenant governor of the new state. The occasion is marked each year by a state holiday, Admission Day, celebrated on the third Friday in August.
Stonework

Stones are an important part of Hawaiian cultural life, used in practical situations (such as building) and for spiritual needs (such as the fertility and birthing stones found on all the islands). Because stones are so highly regarded, visitors are asked not to remove them from their habitat.
Sugar Cane Train

Railroads traversed the landscape of Hawai’i during the plantation era, with steam locomotives pulling trains that hauled sugar cane from the fields to the mills. The first of these in West Maui began operating around 1890 and continued until 1950, when it was replaced by trucks. The Lahaina Kā’anapali & Pacific Railroad (affectionately called the Sugar Train) is an authentic reproduction of the trains that ran through the fields of West Maui, but these days it carries passengers instead of sugar. Its six-mile route runs between Lahaina and Kā’anapali, crossing a curved wooden viaduct that offers panoramic views.
The Overthrow of the Hawaiian Monarchy

On January 17, 1893, Hawai’i’s last Queen, Liliu’okalani, was forcefully removed from her throne and placed under house arrest in ’Iolani Palace. The coup was the work of American businessmen based in Hawai’i, yet, despite this, U.S. President Grover Cleveland was unable to persuade the provisional government, led by Sanford P. Dole, to restore the monarchy.
The Plantation Era

Beginning in the mid-1800s, the American businessmen who first set up sugar cane production on the Hawaiian islands started importing contract laborers to work the plantations. Chinese workers were followed by Portuguese, Japanese, Latin American, Korean, and Filipino immigrants. The immigration of those groups led to the diverse ethnic mix found in the islands today.
Tourism

They came first by ship and then by airplane, and by the late 1950s tourists were coming in increasing numbers, seeking the warmth and exotic beauty of Hawai’i, a place within easy reach of the U.S. mainland’s West Coast. Today, the islands host more than seven million visitors each year, arriving from every corner of the globe.