Asia in the Pacific Islands

Asia in the Pacific Islands

Author: R. G. Crocombe

Publisher: [email protected]

Published: 2007

Total Pages: 652

ISBN-13: 9789820203884

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"A spectacular transition is under way in the Pacific Islands, as a result of which all our lives will be radically different. In the last fifty years or so, Asia has begun to play a bigger and bigger role in all aspects of Islands life - migration, trade and investment, aid and development, information and media, religion, culture and sport. It is replacing the West. The process is irreversible. With his trademark breadth and depth of knowledge and understanding of the region, based on over half a century of experience, study and deliberation, Ron Crocombe documents the early connections between Asia and the Pacific, details recent and continuing changes, and poses challenging theories about the future."--Publisher.


The China Alternative

The China Alternative

Author: Graeme Smith

Publisher: ANU Press

Published: 2021-03-01

Total Pages: 520

ISBN-13: 1760464171

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In this collection, 17 leading scholars based in Solomon Islands, Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Timor-Leste, Australia, New Zealand, the United States and China analyse key dimensions of the changing relationship between China and the Pacific Islands and explore the strategic, economic and diplomatic implications for regional actors. The China Alternative includes chapters on growing great power competition in the region, as well as the response to China’s rise by the US and its Western allies and the island countries themselves. Other chapters examine key dimensions of China’s Pacific engagement, including Beijing’s programs of aid and diplomacy, as well as the massive investments of the Belt and Road Initiative. The impact of China’s rivalry for recognition with Taiwan is examined, and several chapters analyse Chinese communities in the Pacific, and their relationships with local societies. The China Alternative provides ample material for informed judgements about the ability of island leaders to maintain their agency in the changing regional order, as well as other issues of significance to the peoples of the region. ‘China’s “discovery” of the diverse Pacific islands, intriguingly resonant of the era of European explorers, is impacting on this too-long-overlooked region through multiple currents that this important book guides us through.’ —Rowan Callick, Griffith University ‘The China Alternative is a must-read for all students and practitioners interested in understanding the new geopolitics of the Pacific. It assembles a stellar cast of Pacific scholars to deeply explore the impact of the changing role of China on the Pacific islands region. Significantly, it also puts the Pacific island states at the centre of this analysis by questioning the collective agency they might have in this rapidly evolving strategic context.’ —Greg Fry, The Australian National University


South Pacific

South Pacific

Author: Celeste Brash

Publisher:

Published: 2012

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781741797749

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The South Pacific isn't just a homogenous spread of palm trees and warm ocean escape your resort and you'll find cultures and experiences as rich as coconut cream. Celeste Brash, Lonely Planet Writer.


The Growth and Collapse of Pacific Island Societies

The Growth and Collapse of Pacific Island Societies

Author: Patrick Vinton Kirch

Publisher: University of Hawaii Press

Published: 2007-04-30

Total Pages: 410

ISBN-13: 0824831489

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Were there major population collapses on Pacific Islands following first contact with the West? If so, what were the actual population numbers for islands such as Hawai‘i, Tahiti, or New Caledonia? Is it possible to develop new methods for tracking the long-term histories of island populations? These and related questions are at the heart of this new book, which draws together cutting-edge research by archaeologists, ethnographers, and demographers. In their accounts of exploration, early European voyagers in the Pacific frequently described the teeming populations they encountered on island after island. Yet missionary censuses and later nineteenth-century records often indicate much smaller populations on Pacific Islands, leading many scholars to debunk the explorers’ figures as romantic exaggerations. Recently, the debate over the indigenous populations of the Pacific has intensified, and this book addresses the problem from new perspectives. Rather than rehash old data and arguments about the validity of explorers’ or missionaries’ accounts, the contributors to this volume offer a series of case studies grounded in new empirical data derived from original archaeological fieldwork and from archival historical research. Case studies are presented for the Hawaiian Islands, Mo‘orea, the Marquesas, Tonga, Samoa, the Tokelau Islands, New Caledonia, Aneityum (Vanuatu), and Kosrae.


Pacific Island Landscapes

Pacific Island Landscapes

Author: Patrick D. Nunn

Publisher: [email protected]

Published: 1998

Total Pages: 336

ISBN-13: 9789820201293

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"Pacific island landscapes explores the origin and physical history of one of the least known regions of the Earth's surface - the Pacific Islands. Never before has such a systematic account of the island groups been compiled. In this volume, Patrick Nunn outlines how each of the main island groups originated then gives detailed accounts - much from his own research -- - of islands in Fiji, Samoa and Tonga. A final substantive chapter treats the interaction of early human settlers of Pacific Islands and their environments."--Back cover


Reptiles and Amphibians of the Pacific Islands

Reptiles and Amphibians of the Pacific Islands

Author: George R. Zug

Publisher: Univ of California Press

Published: 2013-06-28

Total Pages: 388

ISBN-13: 0520955404

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The Pacific is not only the world’s largest body of water; its vast expanse also includes an extraordinary number and diversity of oceanic islands, from Palau and the Marianas east of the Philippines to Cocos Island and the Galápagos west of the Americas. The isolation of these islands and the extreme distances between them long prevented scientists from studying their floras and faunas in a comparative context. But now George R. Zug, one of the world's foremost experts on the diverse reptiles and amphibians of the Pacific Basin, offers the first such systematic overview in more than half a century. Reptiles and Amphibians of the Pacific Islands is a compendium of frogs, lizards, snakes, and turtles living on these lands and in the adjacent waters of the oceanic islands in the tropical Pacific. The means to identify each species is included, along with entries that describe each animal's form, coloration, habitat, distribution, reproductive biology, and natural history. Color plates of more than 75 percent of the species also help to facilitate visual identification. This accessible and informative guide is the most comprehensive field guide available and will appeal to both novice sightseers and professional naturalists.


Vegetation of the Tropical Pacific Islands

Vegetation of the Tropical Pacific Islands

Author: Dieter Mueller-Dombois

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2013-11-26

Total Pages: 905

ISBN-13: 1441986863

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Written by the leading authorities on the plant diversity and ecology of the Pacific islands, this book is a magisterial synthesis of the vegetation and landscapes of the islands of the Pacific Ocean. It is organized by island group, and includes information on geography, geology, phytogeographic relationships, and human influences on vegetation. Vegetation of the Tropical Pacific Islands features over 400 color photographs, plus dozens of maps and climate diagrams. The authors’ efforts in assembling the existing information into an integrated, comprehensive book will be welcomed by biogeographers, plant ecologists, conservation biologists, and all scientists with an interest in island biology.