Early Mapping of the Pacific: The Epic Story of Seafarers, Adventurers and Cartographers Who Mapped the Earth's Greatest Ocean

by Thomas Suarez

Overview

Take a journey back to the uncharted oceans with the most celebrated European explorers!

Interest in Southeast Asian history and culture is higher than ever before. Ancient cartography of Oceania holds mysteries as old as time--were these early ocean maps molded as much by fantasy as fact? Early Mapping of the Pacific bravely delves into all the questions surrounding the history of maps.

The Pacific Ocean remained a mystery to mapmakers until the latter part of the eighteenth century. This book traces the European exploration and charting of the vast ocean through a cornucopia of beautiful maps stretching from Japan on the northwest, through Juan Fernandez Island on the southeast, with the various islands of Oceania the primary focus. It follows the history of mapmaking from Classical times up to the turn of the twentieth century. The ancient seafarers who ventured eastward from Asia, and were the Pacific's true pioneers, left no maps. They still helped make cartography history, thanks to the navigational genius their descendants passed to European visitors. Thus, the Pacific as we now know it was formally born when the colonization of America partitioned the seas between Europe and Asia into two.

This gorgeous edition presents nearly 300 rare Asia maps and early prints, compiled by expert Thomas Suarez.

Topics addressed include:

• The Pacific Islands and Their People
• Mariners, Mapmakers and the Great Ocean
• The Pacific Evolves after Magellan
• In the Wake of the Solomon Islands
• Earliest Mapping of Australia and New Zealand
• The Age of Enlightenment
• The Three Voyages of James Cook
• The Discovery of Tahiti and Hawaii
• Micronesia, the Elusive Isles
• Surveyors, Whalers, and Missionaries

You, too, can share in the wonder of these explorers' vast geographical and cultural discoveries, and the voyages that led to them, in this comprehensive cartography book.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781462906970
Publisher:	Periplus Editions
Publication date:	01/29/2013
Series:	NONE
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	224
File size:	48 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Thomas Suarez is a well-known authority on early maps whose previous books include Early Mapping of Southeast Asia (Periplus,2000), which has become a standard work in the field. He has served as curator and advisor for collections and exhibitions dealing with the history of cartography, and has been an important source for early maps for the past twenty-five years.

Table of Contents

	Introduction	12
Chapter 1	The Pacific Islands and Their People	14
	Human Settlers
	The European Record
	Pacific Settlement: Deliberate or Accidental?
	Cosmology
	Indigenous Maps
	Pacific Regions
Chapter 2	Mariners, Mapmakers, and the Great Ocean	26
	Early Cartographic Traces
	The Discovery of America Defines the Pacific
	Two Patterns of Early Pacific Mapping
	On the Eve of Magellan
	The Pacific's East-West Breadth
	The Pacific's North-South Limits
	Terra Australis and Other Enticements
Chapter 3	The Pacific Evolves after Magellan	48
	Medieval Lore Mixes with New Discoveries
Chapter 4	In the Wake of the Solomon Islands	60
	The Solomons on Printed Maps
	Francis Drake's Circumnavigation
	The Marquesas: Mendana's Second Expedition
	Quiros and Torres
Chapter 5	Earliest Mapping of Australia and New Zealand	78
	Mapping the Dutch Discovery of Australia
	The "Pacific" Land of Beach
	Jacob Le Maire
	Abel Tasman
Chapter 6	The Age of Enlightenment	106
	The English Map Trade
	Scientists and Buccaneers
	Literary Pacific Landscapes
	Further Searches for Terra Australis
	The European Discovery of Easter Island and Samoa
	A Renaissance of English Voyages
	Bougainville Follows the English Lead
	Thomas Forrest in the Western Pacific
Chapter 7	The Three Voyages of James Cook	128
	The First Voyage
	The Second Voyage
	The Third Voyage
Chapter 8	The Discovery of Tahiti and Hawaii	140
	Tahiti and the Mapping of the Cosmos
	The Tahitian Navigator, Tupaia
	Later Explorers and Missionaries Map Tahiti
	The European Discovery of Tahiti
	Do Maps Record Hawaii before Cook?
	Missionaries and the Mapping of Hawaii
Chapter 9	The Eighteenth Century after Cook	168
	La Perouse
	The Rediscovery of the Solomon Islands
	William Bligh
Chapter 10	Micronesia, the Elusive Isles	178
	Missionaries Question Islanders to Construct Maps
	The Methodical Mapping of Micronesia
Chapter 11	Surveyors, Whalers, and Missionaries	194
	The Marquesas
	The London Missionary Society
	Russian Expeditions Combine Science and Commerce
	The French Expeditions
	Mapping below the Surface
	The United States Exploring Expedition
	Thematic and Oceanographic Mapping
	Bibliography	218
	Index	220

Editorial Reviews

"An oversized presentation allows for good-sized color reproductions of many of these early maps, while accompanying discussion of everything from explorer challenges and mapping efforts to the publishers of sea-atlases in Europe provides a well-rounded history of individuals, companies, and the economic motivators of early data collection. The result is a highly recommended discussion for any history collection interested in the evolution of maps of the world." —Donovan's Bookshelf

From the Publisher