I’ve had an active interest in the Pacific islands and their peoples since I travelled in that region in 2007 with plans for a new novel in mind. I had wanted to island-hop by air between several archipelagos, but the airline routes didn’t really allow this; in the end I visited just two archipelagos, both French-speaking: the Society Islands and New Caledonia. The main island of the former is Tahiti, which enjoys a fame in world history out of all proportion to its size: it’
I’ve been aware for a long time how the heroic age of discovery by European explorers, from the late 15th century onwards, raised the curtain for the imperialist conquest and exploitation of the populations and territories of other countries. But ...
