CROSS-CULTURAL ENCOUNTERS IN THE PACIFIC: VOYAGES OF DISCOVERY AND THE ENLIGHTENMENT, 1679-1779

This book looks into the Pacific Island voyages of two Pacific explorers and their observations and interpretations of the Pacific societies and cultures they encountered. More specifically the book has attempted to reveal the similarities and divergences between these two explorers and their respective interpretations of Pacific peoples. Furthermore, the backdrop of Enlightenment thought is used to elucidate a better understanding of the encounters of the two very different societies of Western Europe and the Pacific world during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Finally, this work is important in that it sheds light on the relevance of better understanding attitudes and assumptions held by European explorers during this era; this is especially significant considering the continuing ramifications of imperialism around the globe.