The Pacific Islands: An Encyclopedia

The vast geographic expanse of the Pacific–with its elaborate geological history, the mysteries surrounding its settlement, the diversity of its cultures, its long and varied colonial histories–has been the subject of countless books and articles, but few attempts have been made to produce a comprehensive compendium of this remarkable region in all its variety and complexity. The Pacific Islands: An Encyclopedia brings together in one place for the first time information on major aspects of Pacific island life (the physical environment, peoples, history, politics, economy, society, and culture) compiled by some of the world's leading scholars from the Pacific, the United States, Canada, Europe, and Japan.

Unlike conventional encyclopedias, which present objective, uncontroversial facts, this work acknowledges the complex dialectics between the past and the present and the politics of representing other people and cultures and reflects these new intellectual developments, particularly in the longer essays. In addition, The Pacific Islands is organized according to broad subject areas to avoid the fragmentation that arises from an alphabetical arrangement and to furnish readers with more richly contextualized information.

The accompanying CD-ROM version of the encyclopedia allows readers to exploit the search and navigation potentials of the medium. It contains hyperlinks between cross-referenced section titles and sections, a library of all the maps reproduced in the encyclopedia, and a photo library.

• Brij V. Lal, Editor

  Brij Vilash Lal was professor emeritus of Pacific and Asian history at the Australian National University and adjunct professor of the University of Queensland, Australia.

• Kate Fortune, Editor