Science, Empire and the European Exploration of the Pacific

This collection of essays assesses the interrelationship between exploration, empire-building and science in the opening up of the Pacific Ocean by Europeans between the early 16th and mid-19th century. It explores both the role of various sciences in enabling European imperial projects in the region and how the exploration of the Pacific in turn shaped emergent scientific disciplines and their claims to authority within Europe. Together with the introductory essay, the studies included constitute a significant body of scholarship that offers many important insights for anthropologists and geographers, as well as for historians of science and European imperialism.