Before western contact, Maui had three major population centres: the southeast coast around Hana, the Wailuku area and the district of Lele (present-day Lahaina). In the 14th century, Pi'ilani, the chief of the Hana district, conquered the entire island and went on to accomplish some impressive engineering feats. He built Maui's largest temple, Pi'ilanihale Heiau, which still stands today, and an extensive island-wide road system.The last of Maui's ruling chiefs was the powerful Kahekili. During the 1780s, he brought O'ahu and Moloka'i under Maui's rule. In 1790, while Kahekili was in O'ahu, Kamehameha the Great launched a bold naval attack on Maui and defeated Maui's warriors in a fierce battle at Iao Valley. He was eventually forced to withdraw eventually, but the battles continued over the years. When Kahekili died in 1794, his kingdom was divided. In 1795, Kamehameha invaded once again and this time brought the whole island under his rule. He established Lahaina as his home in 1800, and it remained Hawaii's capital until 1845. Whalers and missionaries arrived in Lahaina in the early 1820s, but they were soon at odds with one another. Shortly after arriving in 1823, William Richards, Lahaina's first Protestant missionary, converted Maui's governor, Hoapili, to Christianity. Under Richards' influence, Hoapili passed laws prohibiting drunkenness and debauchery. The whalers looked forward to indulging in grog and women after spending months at sea, and didn't take kindly to the missionaries' puritanical influence. In 1826, when English captain William Buckle reached port, he was outraged to discover Lahaina had a new 'missionary taboo' against womanising. Buckle's crew came to shore seeking revenge against Richards, but a group of Hawaiian Christians came to Richards' aid and chased the whalers back to their boat. In 1827, Governor Hoapili arrested the captain of the John Palmer for allowing women to board his ship, and the crew retaliated with a round of cannonball shots at Richards' house. The captain was released, but the laws - and tensions - remained. After Governor Hoapili's death, laws against liquor and prostitution were less strictly enforced, and whalers again flocked to Lahaina. By the mid-19th century, two-thirds of the whalers entering Hawaii landed in Lahaina, which replaced Honolulu as the new favourite harbour. The whaling industry began to fizzle out by the 1860s, as the depletion of the last Arctic hunting grounds and the emergence of the petroleum industry spelled the end of an era. After the whalers left, Lahaina became all but a ghost town.As whaling was declining, however, sugar was on the rise. In 1870, Samuel Alexander and Henry Baldwin, sons of prominent missionaries, began growing sugarcane on small plots in Haiku. The following year, they added hundreds of acres of the crop marking the beginning of Hawaii's biggest sugar company. In 1876, the Alexander & Baldwin company began construction of the Hamakua Ditch, which carried water from the mountainous interior to the Haiku plantation. This system transformed Wailuku's dry central plains into green sugar land.

Sugar remained the backbone of the economy until tourism took over in the 1960s. Meanwhile, statehood was the dominant issue in local politics for most of the first half of the twentieth century. Hawaii's role in the Pacific theatre of WWII brought the cause of statehood forward, and in 1959 a once remote territory became the 50th state. With the advent of jet propulsion and mass tourism, Maui went on to become the most visited and most developed of the Neighbor Islands.

In recent years, especially during the 1990s, the Maui economic success story has soured somewhat. The growth of Maui's tourist sector, heavily dependent on investment and visitation from East Asia, has slowed with the downturn in that region's fortunes, as well as with the collapse of the world sugar and pineapple markets. Recent advances in the Japanese economy, however, have revived much of the tourist trade. While tourism still accounts for the bulk of the island's revenues, these events have triggered attempts to diversify into sectors such as science and technology, ocean research and film and television production.

People come to Maui for the beaches and watersports - the island has some of Hawaii's (and the world's) best windsurfing and board-surfing, as well as plenty of good swimming, snorkelling and body-surfing. For a quiet swim, try Slaughterhouse Beach (aka Mokule'ia Bay) in the north or Charley Young Beach in Kihei.

Kihei is Maui's fastest-growing development. Its entire length is fringed with sandy beaches, and populated with sunbathers, boogie boarders, windsurfers and picnickers. South Kihei Rd is a congested and haphazard jumble of condos, gas stations, shopping centres and fast-food joints.

Although the sheer abundance of condos means Kihei won't win any prizes for aesthetics, you will get some of the cheapest room rates in Maui here.Surfers and windsurfers will be in their element on Ma'alaea Bay, where strong midday gusts are funnelled between the mountains. For swimming, try Kama'ole Beach Park, where the bodysurfing is also good. Keawakapu Beach is more scenic and less crowded than the others, and its artificial reef has fairly good snorkelling. In winter you can spot whales from here. If you need a diversion from the sun and the sand, try the Kealia Pond National Wildlife Refuge.

Hana Hwy, on the northeastern coast of Maui between Kailua and Hana, ranks as the most spectacular coastal drive in Hawaii. A cliff-hugger, it winds its way deep into lush valleys and back out above the rugged coastline, snaking around more than 600 twists and turns along the way.

One-lane bridges mark dozens of waterfalls, some tiny and Zenlike, others sheer. The valleys drip with vegetation: think dense rainforests and African tulip trees. You can get from Kahului to Hana in two hours, but it's better to give yourself a day to enjoy its pools, trails and historic sites.

The first place of interest heading out from Kailua is the Waikamoi Ridge Trail, a peaceful short loop through eucalyptus and philodendrons. Haipua'ena Falls is a gentle little waterfall with a wonderful pool deep enough for swimming. Keanae is a quiet little village where goats and colts roam freely. It's home to a 19th-century church made from lava rocks and coral mortar. Another good spot for a swim is Pua'a Ka'a State Wayside Park, where a tranquil waterfall empties into a pool before flowing down a ravine. Just after the 51km (32mi) marker, a road heads off into the Wai'anapanapa State Park, where there are cabins, camping and showers.

Ka'anapali, just north of Lahaina, is a high-rise resort community. Despite the incidental opulence, the overall development is rather generic - the influence is as much southern Californian as Hawaiian. The resort includes golf courses, 40 tennis courts, a shopping centre and a number of ocean front hotels.

It's no surprise that the most interesting things to see are the resorts themselves. The Hyatt Regency Maui Resort & Spa has millions worth of art in its lobby, which masquerades as a tropical jungle, complete with cockatoos, while the gardens include waterfalls and ponds filled with swans and flamingos.

The Westin Maui has free-form pools, rushing waterfalls and water slides; garden statuary is big here, with lots of Buddhas, vases and pairs of scowling stone animals.Perhaps more worthwhile is the Whaling Museum in the shopping centre, a small but top-notch collection of period photos, whaling paraphernalia, models of whales and detailed interpretive boards. There's some good snorkelling in the waters out front of the Hyatt. The best and safest spot is at Black Rock, the rocky lava promontory that protects the beach in front of the Sheraton, where you'll find pristine coral, abundant tropical fish and eagle rays.

This 818-hectare (2045-acre) reserve is a distinctive marine life habitat with unique geological features, including anchialine pools and kipuka (mounds of earth encircled by lava from Maui's last flow in 1790). The remains of a coastal Hawaiian village - its old sites marked by walled and terraced platforms - sit between lava flows at 'Ahihi Bay. Snorkellers at 'Ahihi Cove are treated to dazzling coral, parrotfish and sea turtles.

Makena Rd

Keoneoio

5km beyond Makena Beach

prices:

'Iao Needle, the rock pinnacle that rises straight up 2250ft, takes its name from 'Iao, the beautiful daughter of Maui. 'Iao Needle is said to be 'Iao's clandestine lover, captured by Maui and turned to stone. A monument to love, this is truly the big kahuna, the ultimate phallic symbol.

Central Maui

'Iao Valley Rd

Get ready for an otherworldly experience at Haleakala National Park. It's astonishing volcanic landscape so resembles a lunar surface that astronauts practiced mock lunar walks here before landing on the moon.

Hwy 378

Kipahulu

telephone or fax: 

Web: http://www.nps.gov/hale

open hours:08:00-16:00

Ho'okipa Beach Park reigns supreme as the world's premier windsurfing beach, with strong currents, dangerous shorebreaks and razor-sharp coral offering the ultimate challenge. Ho'okipa is to topnotch windsurfers what Everest is to mountain climbers.

East Maui

Wai'anapanapa means 'glistening waters', and the clear mineral waters in the cave pools here will leave you feeling squeaky clean. There's a natural lava arch on the right side of Pailoa Bay, bordered by low rocky cliffs and a coastal trail with ancient lava stepping stones. Two impressive lava-tube caves are just a five-minute walk from the parking lot.

off Hwy 360

51km SE of Huelo

East Maui

Many Hawaiians still believe that Pu'u Keka'a, or Black Rock, at the westernmost point of Maui, is a place where the spirits of the dead jump off and fall away to join their ancestors in some other world.

The island's main airport is in Kahului. Hawaiian Airlines and Aloha Airlines fly direct to Kahului from O'ahu, Kaua'i and the Big Island. Maui also has two smaller commuter airports with scheduled air services, Kapalua West Maui Airport and Hana Airport.A 65ft catamaran ferry runs five times daily between Lahaina on Maui, Kahului and Lana'i. Not only is it a much cheaper option than flying, but if you take the boat in winter, you'll have a fair chance of seeing whales along the way. A one-way trip takes about an hour.

Kahului, just outside the town of the same name, is Maui's main airport. Shuttle buses run between the airport and town on the hour, and from there you can connect to Kihei-Wailea or Lahaina-Ka'napali.Maui has a limited public shuttle-bus service which runs between the airport and the main seaside resorts, but no public bus service. Tourist shuttle buses connect Wailea, Kihei and Ka'napali's Whalers Village shopping centre.The Maui Shopping Express stops at many of the island's largest shopping centres, and runs six times a day. The double-decker Lahaina Express shuttles between Ka'napali and Lahaina. Most resorts have shuttles that zip between various hotels. Car-rental prices are competitive and most of the big agencies have a booth at the airport. Taxis travel all over the island.