Voyagers : the settlement of the Pacific Cover Image

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Voyagers : the settlement of the Pacific / Nicholas Thomas.

Thomas, Nicholas, 1960- (author.).

Summary:

"The islands of Polynesia, Melanesia, and Micronesia stretch across thousands of miles of ocean and encompass a multitude of different peoples. Starting with Captain James Cook, the earliest European explorers to visit the Pacific were astounded and perplexed to find populations thriving thousands of miles from continents. Who were these people? From where did they come? And how were they able to reach islands dispersed over such vast tracts of ocean? In Voyagers, the distinguished anthropologist Nicholas Thomas charts the course of the seaborne migrations that populated the islands between Asia and the Americas from late prehistory onwards. Drawing on the latest research, including insights gained from genetics, linguistics, and archaeology, Thomas provides a dazzling account of these long-distance migrations, the sea-going technologies that enabled them, and the societies that they left in their wake"-- Provided by publisher.

Record details

ISBN: 9781541619838
ISBN: 1541619838
Physical Description: vii, 203 pages : illustrations, maps ; 22 cm
Edition: First US edition.
Publisher: New York, NY : Basic Books, 2021.
Copyright: ©2021

Content descriptions

Bibliography, etc. Note:	Includes bibliographical references and index.
Formatted Contents Note:	'The same nation' : theories and myths of Pacific settlement -- First crossings : from Suda to Sahul -- Making connections : Lapita and beyond -- 'The best of any boats in the world' -- Knowing the ocean -- Epilogue: On Tupaia Street.