Pacific Empires
348 pages, 6 x 9
Paperback
Release Date:01 Oct 1999
ISBN:9780774807586
Hardcover
Release Date:01 Oct 1999
ISBN:9780774807579
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Pacific Empires

Essays in Honour of Glyndwr Williams

By Alan Frost; Edited by Jane Samson
UBC Press

A new interest in European maritime exploration was aroused with thepublication of the first volume of J.C. Beaglehole's edition of TheJournals of Captain James Cook in 1955. In the forty-odd years sincethen, our knowledge of this exploration -- and of the imperialism ofwhich it was a part -- has expanded enormously.

We now recognise that the scientific endeavours, once seen asdisinterested manifestations of the Enlightenment, actually had bothstrategic and commercial implications. And today much greater emphasisis given to the meanings of early encounters for both the Natives ofthe Pacific islands and the Strangers from the European world.

Glyndwr Williams has played a leading role in the development ofthese new insights. Always at the forefront of new historiographicaldevelopments, his interests range from North America to the Pacific toAsia, encompassing historical, geographical, cartographical,ethnographic, artistic, and literary perspectives.

In addition to his own mature overview of British maritimeexploration, Pacific Empires offers stimulating contributionsby a number of Williams' colleagues, all authorities in theirrespective fields. They cover such themes as science and expansion, andculture contact in North American and the Pacific, and they reflect onthe nature of history and historiography. Glyndwr Williams hasprofoundly influenced the development of new understandings of Europeanexploration and imperialism. Pacific Empires is a fittingtribute to his achievements and to the esteem in which his colleagueshold him. It is also a timely examination of historical understandingsat the end of the twentieth century

It is a pleasure to review an old-fashioned book, free of modish interpretations and experimental methodologies. Overall, this is an interesting and readable collection of essays, honestly researched and faithfully written ... a fitting tribute to the life and work of Glyndwr Williams. I.C. Campbell, The International History Review
Alan Frost is professor of history at La TrobeUniversity, Australia. Jane Samson is professor ofhistory at the University of Alberta.

Part 1: Explorations, Imperial and ScientificVentures

To Make Discoveries of Countries Hitherto Unknown: The Admiralty andPacific Exploration in the Eighteenth Century / GlyndwrWilliams

The Spanish Yoke: British Schemes to Revolutionize Spanish America1739-1807 / Alan Frost

Alexander Dalrymple and the Hydrographic Office / AndrewCook

An Empire of Science: The Voyage of HMS Herald 1845-1851 / JaneSamson

John Lort Stokes and the New Zealand Survey 1848-1851 / RJBKnight

A Warrant Officer in the Arctic: The Journal of George Ford1850-1854 / William Barr

Part 2: Encounters and Transformations

The Hegemony of Laughter: Purea’s Theatre / GregDening

Vancouver’s Vision of Native Peoples: The Northwest Coast andHawai’i / Robin Fisher

Whose Scourge? Smallpox Epidemics on the Northwest Coast /Christon I. Archer

The Career of William Ellis: British Missions, the Pacific, and theAmerican Connection / Andrew Porter

Colonised Lives: The Native Wives and Daughters of Five FoundingFamilies of Victoria / Sylvia Van Kirk

Part 3: Reflections

The Great Map of Mankind: The British Encounter with India /P.J. Marshall

Exploring the Pacific, Exploring James Cook / DavidMackay

The Works of Glyndwr Williams

Abbreviations

Notes

Index

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