The French Pacific Islands; : French Polynesia and New Caledonia / [by] Virginia Thompson and Richard Adloff.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Thompson, Virginia, 1903-1990, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Polynesia--History.

Polynesia.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (560 p.)

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

Berkeley, California : University of California Press, [1971]

Language Note:

In English.

Summary:

"It is high time that someone made a sober study of the French Pacific islands. They have not been entirely neglected, though--it has been the fashion to dip a dilettante pen into Tahitian (though scarcely New Caledonian) themes, and French geographers have given us some splendid work. But Thompson and Adloff refuse to be diverted by swaying palms and curving beaches; they give evenhanded treatment to both French Polynesia and New Caledonia, they view the Pacific from the perspective of Franco-African experience, and they write in English. The two territories, of course, offer a telling contrast--Polynesia versus Melanesia, far-flung archipelagoes versus the "Grande Terre," classic Pacific paradise versus onetime convict colony, lagoon-encircled basalt pinnacles versus scrub-clad hills and nickel mines. The authors shrewdly press on common themes, especially economic dependence and an allegedly "anomalous but also anachronistic" retreat from self-government in a decolonizing world, though such themes scarcely dominate the book. The presentation is straightforward and methodical. First French Polynesia, then New Caledonia; first the land and its indigenous occupants, then annexation and administration, colonial settlement and development, World War I to World War II, political parties of the left and the right, government and autonomy, rural and industrial life, trade and transportation, labor, religion, and culture. Even if the book is oriented more toward the historian and the political scientist, it offers plenty of grist for the geographer's mill. There are solid studies of the economy of both territories, and several (sometimes tantalizingly brief) glimpses of the regional variations in peoples and places: Protestants and Catholics, urban drift and rural malaise, crowding islands and depopulated archipelagoes." Author(s): Gordon R.

LewthwaiteReview by: Gordon R. LewthwaiteSource: Geographical Review, Vol. 63, No. 2 (Apr., 1973), pp. 296-298Published by: American Geographical SocietyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/213427.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Introduction

1. Land and History

2. The Colonial Administration and the Settlers

3. World War II and the Postwar Reforms

4. The Evolution of the R.D.P.T.

5. The Parties and the Centre d'Expérimentation du Pacifique

6. The Political Scene

7. Autonomy or Independence?

8. The Evolution of the Economy

9. The Demographic Picture

10. The Rural Economy

11. External Trade and Local Industry

12. Finances

13. Transportation

14. Labor

15. Religion

16. Education and Cultural Activities

17. Public Health and Social Welfare

18. Communications Media

19. Land and History THE NATURAL

20. The Interwar Period

21. World War II and the Early Postwar Years

22. The Territorial Statute

23. The Decline and Fall of Lenormand

24. Neither Autonomy nor Independence

25. Local-Government Institutions and the Administration

26. Regional Contacts in the South. Pacific

27. The Inhabitants

28. The Rural Economy

29. Industry

30. External Trade

31. Transportation

32. Labor

33. Finances and Planning

34. Health and Housing

35. Education, Cultural Activities, and the Christian Missions

Conclusion

Selected Bibliography

Index

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 519-530).

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 01. Okt 2020)

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9780520352209

0520352203

OCLC:

1198930001