Science, Empire and the European Exploration of the Pacific

Tony Ballantyne, University of Otago, New Zealand O.H.K Spate, W.A.R. Richardson, Dennis Reinhartz, Harry Kelsey, J.C. Beaglehole, William T. Stearn, Richard Sorrenson, David Mackay, Barbara G. Beddall, Iris H. Wilson Engstrand, Alexei V. Postnikov, David Turnbull, Tom Ryan, Glyndwr Williams, Nicholas Thomas, Tony Ballantyne, Jonathan Lamb.

• Contents: Introduction. Part 1 Visions of the Pacific: 'South Sea' to 'Pacific Ocean', O.H.K Spate; Mercator's southern continent: its origins, influence and gradual demise, W.A.R. Richardson; Shared vision: Herman Moll and his circle and the Great South Sea, Dennis Reinhartz. Part 2 The Imperial Sciences Of Exploration: Finding the way home: Spanish exploration of the round-trip route across the Pacific Ocean, Harry Kelsey; 18th century science and the voyages of discovery, J.C. Beaglehole; A Royal Society appointment with Venus in 1769: the voyage of Cook and Banks in the Endeavour, 1768-71 and its botanical results, William T. Stearn; The ship as a scientific instrument in the 18th century, Richard Sorrenson; Banks, Bligh and breadfruit, David Mackay; Scientific books and instruments for an 18th-century voyage around the world: Antonio Pineda and the Malaspina expedition, Barbara G. Beddall; Of fish and men: Spanish marine science during the late 18th century, Iris H. Wilson Engstrand; The search for a sea passage from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific via North America's coast: on the history of a scientific competition, Alexei V. Postnikov. Part 3 Cultural Contact, Comparison And Classification: (En)-countering knowledge traditions: the story of Cook and Tupaia, David Turnbull; 'Le Président des Terres Australes': Charles de Brosses and the French enlightenment beginnings of oceanic anthropology, Tom Ryan; Seamen and philosophers in the South Seas in the age of Captain Cook, Glyndwr Williams; Melanesians and Polynesians: ethnic typifications inside and outside anthropology, Nicholas Thomas; The 'oriental renaissance' in the Pacific: orientalism, language and ethnogenesis in the British Pacific, Tony Ballantyne; Minute particulars and the representation of South Pacific discovery, Jonathan Lamb. Index.

'... the introduction provides a welcome synthesis...' Archives of Natural History 'This volume of reprinted essays serves as an excellent sampling of the historiography of Pacific science and its development from the late 1960s to the present... This collection holds together very successfully and is introduced excellently; it will be an important resource for all historians of science and empire.' British Journal for the History of Science