This compelling book explores the lived experience of empire in the Pacific, the last region to be contacted & colonized by Europeans following the great voyages of Captain Cook. Unlike conventional accounts that emphasize confrontation & the destruction of indigenous cultures, Islanders reveals there was gain as well as loss, survival as well as suffering, & invention as well as exploitation. Empowered by imaginative research in obscure archives & collections, Thomas rediscovers a rich & surprising history of encounters, not only between Islanders & Europeans, but among Islanders, brought together in new ways by explorers, missionaries & colonists. He tells the story of the making of empire, not through an impersonal survey, but through vivid stories of the lives of men & women
- some visionary, some vicious, & some just eccentric
- & through sensuous evocation of seascapes & landscapes of the Pacific. A fascinating re-creation of an Oceanic world, Islanders offers a new paradigm, not only for histories of the Pacific, but for understandings of cultural contact everywhere.

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” Islands” covers the first half-century or so of Dutch settlement at the Cape, opening with a view from the inside of a Khoi nation, the Goringhaicona, under the leadership of Autshumao, dubbed ”chief Harry” by early English visitors. For the indigenous people, it is the beginning of the end of a way of life in close interaction with the subcontinent, its seasons & rhythms, its harshness & abundance. It was during Autshumao`s time that the first key woman of South Africa`s post-colonisation story makes her appearance: she is Autshumao`s niece, Krotoa, brought into Commander Van Riebeeck`s household as Eva, go-between & interpreter between the Europeans & the Khoi. When she is drawn into the first `mixed` marriage of the new colony, one of her children is Pieternella, who becomes the pivot of all the action in this unforgettable epic. Each of the sections of the novel is focused on a man involved in one way or another with Pieternella. Through the life stories of these key figures
- all of them men, but all defined in one way or another by the central female character
- the reader is offered an understanding of the vast historical forces at work in the shaping of the world in the late 17th & early 18th centuries. Each of these brings a whole new geography, a new dimension of experience, into the novel. Behind these `little men`, who are not allowed any choice by history, loom the ones who apparently take the decisions, the commanders & governors & captains & the still greater, more shadowy, potentates, the Lords Seventeen who are in charge of the Dutch East India Company. For, it is the Company that ultimately decides the fate of all the millions ruled by it; it is as inexorable, & as mindlessly cruel, as Nature itself. ” Islands” is too crammed with characters & events, too gripping in its unpredictable turns & contortions, too rich with lived experience, too staggering in the scale of its adventures
- from the unimaginably cruel to the profoundly moving to the outrageously burlesque
- to let go for a moment.



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Like most journeys this book moves between light & shade, funny & deadly serious, mundane & inspirational. It reflects on some common themes, such as childhood, schooling, & the unique good fortune of the post war generation
- & how it played its h&.
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Peter Conrad, who was born in Tasmania, has produced an original & highly personal account of the role islands play in our dreams & nightmares. With his customary wide range of reference & quick wit, he visits every corner of the globe to explain why islands appeal to us, & on the way covers everything from the myth of Atlantis to Watteaus erotic Cytherea, from Prosperos magical kingdom to Nelson Mandelas prison. Whether we live on an island or merely fancy escaping to one, we can all learn something from this thought-provoking book. ...

Everyone has to learn to see the West Indies tropics for himself, wrote V.S. Naipaul in The Middle Passage. The landscape has never been recorded...the depth of sky, the brilliancy of light, the insubstantiality of colour in the tropics. The more gifted painters have ceased to record the landscape: the patterns of the leaves are too beguiling. The Islands & the Sea

Includes:: dozens of writers--poets & novelists, naturalists & explorers--who, like Naipaul help us to see the beguiling Caribbean through their eyes.
Editor John Murray opens this anthology, the first of its kind, with an informed essay that provides a perspective on the region in history & literature. Murray then presents writers ranging from Daniel Defoe to Barry Lopez, from Charles Darwin to Edward O. Wilson. In these selections, one can step ashore with Columbus on San Salvador Island in 1492, travel up the forbidding Orinoco River with Sir Walter Raleigh, & explore ancient Mayan ruins along the coast with swashbuckling John Stephens in 1843. Ernest Hemingway, writing to Maxwell Perkins from Key West, Florida, describes the aftermath of the famous Matecumbe hurricane: Indian Key absolutely swept clean, not a blade of grass, & over the high center of it were scattered live conchs that came in with the sea, craw fish, & dead morays. The whole bottom of the sea blew over it. Other contemporary writers include Barry Lopez, Derek Walcott, Rachel Carson, Jamaica Kincaid, & Roger Caras. With each selection Murray

Includes:: an informative introduction.
A Republic of Rivers, John Murray's anthology of nature writing on Alaska & the Yukon, was hailed for its judicious selections, deft editing, &, most importantly, its ability to capture & communicate a sense of place. In The Islands & the Sea, he once again gathers an enthralling collection of writings that convey the beauty Caribbean's luminous waters, its rich, green hillsides, teeming reefs, & remarkable varied people.





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Thailand’s 13 island destinations, from Phuket & Samui to less well known islands, presented on a double-sided map from Thinknet highlighting sights, accommodation & other tourist facilities, plus ferry timetables, etc. The map presents each island as a separate panel, covering: Samet (1:29, 000), Lan (1:30, 000), Chang (1:100, 000), Kood (1;90, 000), Mak (1:50, 000), Phuket (1:100, 000), Phiphi Don (1:40, 000), Phi Phi Islands (1:150, 000) Lanta (1:140, 000), Yao Noi & Yao Yai (1:200, 000), Tao (1:48, 000) Phangan (1:100, 000) & Samui (1:57, 000). Each map shows the island’s road network & highlights local sights, tourist accommodation & restaurants, public institutions & various facilities, etc. A separate index lists selected locations on each isl&. Also provided are information/timetables for ferry services between the mainland & the islands or within island groups, accompanied by an overview map of the Thai coast & insets for various groups. All the information is in Thai & English. PLEASE NOTE: print size, of both names & symbols, is smaller than usually found on maps. ...

This is the last book Hemingway wrote before he died, the story of Thomas Hudson, an artist & adventurer. Living a bacherlor`s life on an island in the Gulf Stream during the thirties, Hudson`s existence is dictated by the waves & tides. But when his sons come to visit, Hudson must grapple with the role of father & the unfamiliar demands of family. A late work by one of America`s greatest writers. ...

Islands of the Galician Coast National Park (PN Marítimo-Terrestre de las Islas Atlánticas de Galicia) at 1:25, 000 on a contoured & GPS compatible map from IGN/CNIG with cartography from their topographic survey of Spain. The four groups of islands which form this national park are presented as a separate panel: Illa de Cortagada with the adjoining mainland around O Carril, Illa de Ons, Illa de Sálvora with the surrounding smaller islands, & Illas Cíes (Monte Agudo, Faro & San Martino). Also provided is a panel with a road map of the adjoining mainland around Pontevedra & Vigo. The map is accompanied by a 58-page Spanish language guide with general information, notes on access from the mainl&, details of accommodation facilities, as well as descriptions of recommended walks. The mapping at 1:25, 000 has contours at 10m intervals enhanced by relief shading, plus colouring & graphics to show different types of vegetation, a 1km UTM grid & margin ticks for latitude & longitude. Map legend is in Spanish only. To see other titles in this series please click on the series link. ...

This eleventh edition of Islas Baleares, covering Ibiza, Formentera, Mallorca, Cabrera & Menorca, has been revised & updated for the RCC Pilotage Foundation by David & Susie Baggaley, whose Beneteau 42, Kookaburra has been based in Addaya, Menorca for several years. In their research for this edition, over two seasons, the authors confess to having enjoyed a new purpose to their cruising in the islands, & they share their knowledge enthusiastically & authoritatively. A selection of completely new plans is included, & pre-existing plans have been updated throughout. There are also many attractive new photographs which are informative to the navigator. The only fully comprehensive pilot guide to the islands in English, Islas Baleares remains the best-selling RCC Pilotage Foundation cruising guide, which is testament to the lasting appeal of this popular cruising ground, both to those cruising their own boats & to those who are visiting the islands on a yacht charter. ...

This is the only fully comprehensive pilot guide in English to Spain's Balearic Islands. This new edition of Islas Baleares
- Ibiza,
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