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E-book
Author Igler, David, 1964-

Title The great ocean : Pacific worlds from Captain Cook to the gold rush / David Igler
Published Oxford ; New York : Oxford University Press, 2013

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Description 1 online resource
Contents Introduction : ocean worlds -- Seas of commerce -- Disease, sex, and Indigenous depopulation -- Hostages and captives -- The great hunt -- Naturalists and natives in the great ocean -- Assembling the Pacific -- Conclusion : when East became West
Summary "The Pacific of the early eighteenth century was not a single ocean but a vast and varied waterscape, a place of baffling complexity, with 25,000 islands and seemingly endless continental shorelines. But with the voyages of Captain James Cook, global attention turned to the Pacific, and European and American dreams of scientific exploration, trade, and empire grew dramatically. By the time of the California gold rush, the Pacific's many shores were fully integrated into world markets-and world consciousness. The Great Ocean draws on hundreds of documented voyages--some painstakingly recorded by participants, some only known by archeological remains or Indigenous memory--as a window into the commercial, cultural, and ecological upheavals following Cook's exploits, focusing in particular on the eastern Pacific in the decades between the 1770s and the 1840s. Beginning with the expansion of trade as seen via the travels of William Shaler, captain of the American Brig Lelia Byrd, historian David Igler uncovers a world where voyagers, traders, hunters, and native peoples met one another in episodes often marked by violence and tragedy. Igler describes how Indigenous communities struggled against introduced diseases that cut through the heart of their communities; how the ordeal of Russian Timofei Tarakanov typified the common practice of taking hostages and prisoners; how Mary Brewster witnessed first-hand the bloody "great hunt" that decimated otters, seals, and whales; how Adelbert von Chamisso scoured the region, carefully compiling his notes on natural history; and how James Dwight Dana rivaled Charles Darwin in his pursuit of knowledge on a global scale."--Publisher's description
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index
Notes English
Print version record
Subject Culture diffusion -- Pacific Area -- History -- 18th century
Culture diffusion -- Pacific Area -- History -- 19th century
Indigenous peoples -- Pacific Area -- History -- 18th century
Indigenous peoples -- Pacific Area -- History -- 19th century
Natural history -- Pacific Area -- History -- 18th century
Natural history -- Pacific Area -- History -- 19th century
East and West.
HISTORY -- World.
Commerce
Culture diffusion
Discoveries in geography
East and West
Indigenous peoples
Natural history
SUBJECT Pacific Ocean -- Discovery and exploration
Pacific Area -- Commerce -- History -- 18th century
Pacific Area -- Commerce -- History -- 19th century
Subject Pacific Area
Pacific Ocean
Pazifischer Ozean
Genre/Form History
Form Electronic book
LC no. 2012038256
ISBN 0199914958
9780199914951
9781299456945
1299456944
9780199914968
0199914966
0199323739
9780199323739