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Paradise Past: The Transformation of the South Pacific, 1520-1920
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Paradise Past: The Transformation of the South Pacific, 1520-1920 Paperback - 2012

by Robert W. Kirk


From the jacket flap

In the 400 years from Magellan's entrance into Pacific waters to 1920, the lives of the people of the South Pacific were utterly transformed. Exotic diseases from Europe and America, particularly the worldwide influenza pandemic, were deadly for islanders. Ardent missionaries changed the belief systems and lives of nearly all Polynesians, Aborigines, and those Papuans and Melanesians living in areas accessible to westerners. By 1920 every island and atoll in the South Seas had been claimed as a colony or protectorate of a power such as Britain, France or the United States. Factors aiding this imperial sweep included European outposts such as Sydney, advances in maritime technology, the work of missionaries, a desire to profit from the area's relatively sparse resources, and international rivalry that led to the scramble for colonies. The coming of westerners, as this book points out, was not entirely negative, as head-hunting, cannibalism, chronic warfare, human sacrifice, and other practices were diminished--but whole cultures were irreversibly changed or even eradicated.

Details

  • Title Paradise Past: The Transformation of the South Pacific, 1520-1920
  • Author Robert W. Kirk
  • Binding Paperback
  • Pages 296
  • Volumes 1
  • Language ENG
  • Publisher McFarland & Company
  • Date 2012-10
  • Illustrated Yes
  • Features Bibliography, Illustrated, Index, Maps, Table of Contents
  • ISBN 9780786469789 / 0786469781
  • Weight 1.15 lbs (0.52 kg)
  • Dimensions 9.9 x 6.9 x 0.9 in (25.15 x 17.53 x 2.29 cm)
  • Ages 18 to UP years
  • Grade levels 13 - UP
  • Themes
    • Cultural Region: Oceania
  • Library of Congress subjects Oceania - Social conditions, Oceania - Colonization - History
  • Library of Congress Catalog Number 2012034746
  • Dewey Decimal Code 995

About the author

The late Robert W. Kirk wrote on South Pacific history, World War II and travel. He earned a doctorate in history at the University of California, Davis and was a retired professor of history. He lived in Santa Rosa, California.
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Paradise Past : The Transformation of the South Pacific, 1520-1920
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Paradise Past : The Transformation of the South Pacific, 1520-1920

by Kirk, Robert W

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Paradise Past : The Transformation of the South Pacific, 1520-1920
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Paradise Past : The Transformation of the South Pacific, 1520-1920

by Kirk, Robert W

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ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
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Paradise Past: The Transformation of the South Pacific, 1520-1920
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Paradise Past: The Transformation of the South Pacific, 1520-1920

by Kirk, Robert W

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ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
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Paradise Past: The Transformation of the South Pacific, 1520-1920
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Paradise Past: The Transformation of the South Pacific, 1520-1920

by Kirk, Robert W.

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