Book contents
- The Cambridge History of the Pacific Ocean
- The Cambridge History of the Pacific Ocean
- The Cambridge History of the Pacific Ocean
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Contributors to Volume I
- Frontispiece
- General Editor’s Introduction
- Preface to Volume I
- Part I Rethinking the Pacific
- Part II Humans and the Natural World in the Pacific Ocean
- 6 Indigenous Knowledge/Science of Climate and the Natural World
- 7 The Birth and Development of Pacific Islands to 1800 ce
- 8 Atolls, Experiments, and the Origin of Islands
- 9 Natural Hazards, Risks, and Peoples in the Pacific World
- Part III Deep Time: Sources for the Ancient History of the Pacific
- Part IV The Initial Colonization of the Pacific
- Part V The Evolution of Pacific Communities
- Part VI Europe’s Maritime Expansion into the Pacific
- References to Volume I
- Index
7 - The Birth and Development of Pacific Islands to 1800 ce
from Part II - Humans and the Natural World in the Pacific Ocean
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 11 November 2022
- The Cambridge History of the Pacific Ocean
- The Cambridge History of the Pacific Ocean
- The Cambridge History of the Pacific Ocean
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Contributors to Volume I
- Frontispiece
- General Editor’s Introduction
- Preface to Volume I
- Part I Rethinking the Pacific
- Part II Humans and the Natural World in the Pacific Ocean
- 6 Indigenous Knowledge/Science of Climate and the Natural World
- 7 The Birth and Development of Pacific Islands to 1800 ce
- 8 Atolls, Experiments, and the Origin of Islands
- 9 Natural Hazards, Risks, and Peoples in the Pacific World
- Part III Deep Time: Sources for the Ancient History of the Pacific
- Part IV The Initial Colonization of the Pacific
- Part V The Evolution of Pacific Communities
- Part VI Europe’s Maritime Expansion into the Pacific
- References to Volume I
- Index
Summary
If we turn GoogleEarthTM to maximize the view of the Pacific, we see a planet quite different from the familiar depiction with the Americas or Eurasia-Africa dominating, a view almost as strange as the dark side of the moon. The continents are slipping away over the edges of the view and we see a blue expanse of ocean, the Pacific islands mostly so small as to be invisible from this perspective. There are more islands in the Pacific than all the rest of the oceans put together and more water surface in the Pacific than in all the dry land of Earth.1 These islands show a wide range of geology and ecology.
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- The Cambridge History of the Pacific Ocean , pp. 149 - 173Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2023