Author Description

list of maps and figures, list of contributors, introduction, 1. The Pacific Islands and their Prehistoric Inhabitants by j. Golson; 2. The Alien and the Land of Wceania by Bryan H. Farreell; 3. Vegetation and Man in the South-West Pacific and New Guinea by R. G. Robbins; 4. The Pacific Beche-de-mer Trade with Special Reference to Fiji; 5. The Labour Trade by Owne W. Parnaby; 6. trade and Plantations in Eastern Polynesia: The Emergence of a Dependent Economy by Colin Newbury; 7. The Makatea Phosphate Concession by Colin Newbury; 8. Population Growth in the Pacific Islands: The Example of Western Samoa by Peter Pirie; 9. Land Tenure in the South Pacific by R. G. Crocombe; 10. Indigenous Horticulture in Melanesia; Some Recent Changes in Eastern New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, and the New Hebrides by David A. M. Lea; 11. Urbanization in the South Pacific [and] the Case of Noumea by W. D. McTaggart; index. "These essays are concerned with aspects of the inter-related processes through which the life and landscapes of the Pacific Islands have been reshaped during two centuries of contact with the technological world. A general view of the whole region is followed by a detailed study of a particular territory or island. The contributors include an archaeologist, a botanist, three historians, and five geographers, and their contributions deal with the settlement of the islands, the impact of early trading, labour recruiting, mining, and the establishment of commercial agriculture." from the jacket flap.