Honuaʻula, Maui

The moku of Honuaʻula is located on the southwestern side of Maui. Honuaʻula was never one of Maui’s population centers, but because of its excellent fishing grounds, it sustained smaller settlements of Hawaiians throughout its history. The people who called Honuaʻula home were respected as hard workers, toiling in the sun and wind to grow what they could from the dry kula land and traveling great distances to gather the things they lacked.

Read through some of Hawaiʻi's rare and historic books, nūpepa, or curated cultural impact assessments and reports that collect hundreds of resources and data into a cohesive review of ʻāina in Honuaʻula.

There have been well over 50 archaeological studies completed with Mākena. By teaching the extensive history of this ʻāina, including agriculture, fishing, and ceremonial traditions, the impact of Western trade, commercial agriculture, and Christianity, we are better equipped to understand the historic sites and resources we find in this landscape.

These different eras are represented and found in the several hundred historic properties and archaeological sites and features in the current modern landscape. Some sites and features are preserved in various aspects and some were not preserved. All that is recorded helps to tell the story of this moku.

Prior to human modification, the lower slopes of Mākena would have supported pili (Heteropogon contortus) and kawelu (Eragrostis variabilis) grasslands with the shrublands of ʻaʻali ʻi (Dodonaea variabilis), koʻokoʻolau (Bidens spp.), ʻūlei (Osteomeles anthyllidifolia), and other shrubs. The dry and mesic forests would have included ʻohi ʻa, koa, lama (Diospyros sandwicensis), wiliwili (Erythrina sandwicensis), olopua (Nestegis sandwicensis), along with rarer tree species including halapepe and olopua in the gulches and areas that are less disturbed.

During traditional Hawaiian times, pili would have been a source of thatch material with the grasslands maintained by fire. The hardwoods and medicinal plants would have been also gathered for household purposes with some mesic areas converted from forest to ʻuala (sweet potato) and dryland kalo (taro) fields (Pratt and Gon 1998:127).

During the mid-19th century, however, much of the inland areas had been in use for commercial sugar and potato ventures and by the late 19th most of the lands above the Makena to Keoneʻoʻio Road had been given over to cattle ranching, which resulted in a change in the dominant plant community.

As of 2014, the naturally occurring vegetation in the is dominated by non-native grasses and weeds, kiawe (Prosopis pallid), haole koa (Leucaena glauca), and klu (Acacia farnesiana) interspersed with small stands of wiliwili, ʻaʻaliʻi, ʻilima (Sidafallax), and ʻuhaloa (Waltheria indica).

Our research (2022) affirmed the presence of these species above and additional findings of native species such as ʻakoko (Euphorbia cf. celastroides), ʻape (Alocasia macrorrhiza), ʻāheahea (Chenopodium oahuense), niu (Cocos nucifera), naio (Myoporum sandwicense), kuluʻī (Nototrichium cf. sandwicense), and kōpiko (cf. Psychotria sp.). Non-native species were also found including mango (Mangifera), buffel grasses (Cenchrus ciliaris), and lantana shrubs (Lantana camara).

Walk through an Introduction to Archaeology and revisit tutorials on how to use mapping tools like an engineer scale or compass.