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

With dozens of rare color maps and other documents, Early Mapping of the Pacific follows the story of map-making, exploration and colonization in the Pacific Ocean.

It covers the history of ocean exploration from 16th century Portuguese mariners to 20th century explorers and includes a cornucopia of rare and beautiful maps of the Pacific Ocean, in particular, of Hawaii, Tahiti, Australia and New Zealand, among other Pacific Islands and territories. Early Mapping of the Pacific traces the exploration and charting of the great ocean through cartography, following the story from classical times through the turn of the twentieth century, telling the tales of seafarers who ventured eastward from Asia and were the Pacific's greatest explorers.

Chapters 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