It used to be thought that Molokaʻi 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 1025–1120, four centuries later than previously assumed; then after 70 to 265 years, dispersal continued in one major pulse to all remaining islands 1190–1290." Later migrants likely came from
Tahiti and other south Pacific islands. , Kalaupapa Peninsula, northern shore of Molokaʻi. It is listed on the
National Register of Historic Places. Although Captain
James Cook recorded sighting Molokaʻi in 1778, the first European sailor to visit the island was
Captain George Dixon of the British Royal Navy in 1786. 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 Molokaʻi 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 Molokaʻi 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. 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. The Malaysian businessman, Quek Leng Chan, possesses one-third of Molokai Island, previously known for its leprosy settlement, via his conglomerate, Hong Leong Group. Quek managed a large ranch on the island, which included a golf course and a hotel, until 2008 when he ceased operations after the state denied his development requests; the residents of the island are now attempting to repurchase the property.
Leper colony 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. 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 Molokaʻi, 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 declared
legally 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.
Arthur Albert St. Mouritz served as a physician to the leper settlement from 1884 to 1887. He explained how leprosy was spread.
Pater Damiaan de Veuster (Father Damien), 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 Molokaʻi in 1886 to help Father Damien and the rest of the population who suffered from leprosy. Father Damien 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 Molokaʻi. Both Father Damien 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. In the 1920s, people confined in the leper colony were treated with a new method devised by
Alice Ball and involving
chaulmoogra oil. In the 1940s,
sulfonamide drugs were developed and provided a more effective treatment. Antibiotic
Dapsone has been used for leprosy since 1945. Modern Multidrug therapy (MDT) remains highly effective, and people are no longer infectious after the first monthly dose. 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. 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. ==Economy==