Melanesia : a Geographical Interpretation of an Island World

Abstract

At the end of the 1960s an important stage has been reached in geographical research and writing on the tropical southwest Pacific. Rapid expansion in the number of geographers who have worked in these islands has been accompanied by steady progress away from simple description and report, toward a more analytical and problem-seeking approach. Between 1950 and 1969 more than fifty geographers have worked in the region covered by this book, coming from Australia and New Zealand, Europe, America and Asia. Now, with the establishment of Departments of Geography in Universities at Djajapura, Port Moresby and Suva, the intensity and span of work are about to undergo great enlargement, while at the same time Pacific islanders themselves are joining the ranks of geographers of their homeland : the first Melanesian to qualify as a Ph.D. in geography did so in 1968.