Defining the Pacific

Opportunities and Constraints

Fred Spier author Paul W Blank editor

Format:Hardback

Publisher:Taylor & Francis Ltd

Published:11th Nov '02

Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back

Defining the Pacific cover

This volume lays the physical and conceptual groundwork for the Pacific World series, exploring both the constraints imposed and the opportunities offered to humanity by the physical environment of the Pacific region. Organized from the perspectives of "Big History" and macro-geography, the volume presents a series of major studies and surveys by authors from a range of disciplines. It opens with perspectives on the ocean, and closes with questions of human settlement, diffusion, and trans-Pacific contacts. Geologists write of the origins of the Pacific, its geological structure, and the problem of tsunamis; climatologists and oceanographers discuss the El Niño Southern Oscillation and the ocean waters; biologists and biogeographers find patterns in the life of the Basin - as is shown, all these have their impact on the potential of the region for human use and settlement. Finally, geographers, anthropologists, and archaeologists deal with the peopling of the Pacific islands, the settlement of the Americas, and the incidence and importance of pre-modern links across the Pacific.

'The purpose of this volume is [...] to praise classic scholars and introduce them to a fresh audience. For this service they deserve the gratitude of a new generation of readers.' Bulletin of the Pacific Circle

ISBN: 9780754606475

Dimensions: unknown

Weight: 816g

382 pages