History Of Islands Research Articles

Population History and Anthropometric Variation of West Coast Irish Islands.

Previous research using anthropometric data from the west coast of Ireland in the late 19th century showed that two island populations, the Aran Islands and Inishbofin, were phenotypically divergent from the mainland and more similar to England, a pattern consistent with historical evidence for English admixture. The present study extends these analyses by including data from two other island populations in the region that do not have a history of English admixture. Data were taken from published sources for six west coast Irish populations measured in the 1890s: two mainland groups (Connemara and Erris) and four island populations (the Aran Islands, Clare Island, Inishbofin, and the Inishkea Islands). The anthropometric data consist of 13 measures on 317 males. Mahalanobis distances among the six populations were derived as well as distances to a mean based on English anthropometric data. The two island populations with a history of likely English admixture following the garrisoning of English soldiers in previous centuries were the most divergent from the Irish mainland and most similar to the English mean. The other two island populations (Clare Island and the Inishkea Islands) did not have a history of English admixture and were most similar to the Irish mainland. The different patterns of anthropometric similarity among the four island populations show different population histories and support earlier studies suggesting differential English admixture as a factor in the population structure of the region.

Links between climatic histories and the rise and fall of a Pacific chiefdom.

Sea level rise and climate change are shaping present societies, particularly those on oceanic islands. Few historical examples could serve as references for these changes. One such potential model is the Saudeleur Dynasty with its capital Nan Madol on the Pacific Island of Pohnpei. However, the timing of its construction, as well as the dynasty's fluctuations and potential environmental influences, has remained unresolved. Through the analyses of 230Th ages on 171 dates on corals fragments used as building materials and charcoal 14C ages from excavations, 2 major construction phases spanning from the 10th to the 15th century CE can be discerned. The results show that the first phase of the site's construction, spanning the 10th-12th century, marked the dynasty's rise. The second period, spanning from the late 12th to the early 15th century, provides the most substantial evidence for the demise of the island-scale chiefdom and a significant societal reorganization. The phases are centuries earlier than previously believed. With this new evidence, we propose the hypothesis that variations in the El Niño-Southern Oscillation and subsidence-related sea level rise presented major challenges for building and maintaining Nan Madol, and thus, influenced the course of the island's history. This case serves as a compelling example of how adverse climatic conditions can spur investments-in this case, in seawater defense under high sea levels-yet ultimately may contribute to abandonment. It offers lessons for island nations, showcasing coastal resilience in the face of worsening catastrophic events that unfolded over generations.

Milica Prokić and Pavla Šimková (eds)., Entire of Itself? Towards an Environmental History of Islands

This article was published open access under a CC BY licence: https://creativecommons.org/licences/by/4.0 .

Late-Holocene ecosystem dynamics on Weizhou Island, China: A pollen and historical record of climate change and anthropogenic disturbances

Understanding the mechanisms behind landscape diversity changes on islands, particularly due to historical human interventions, remains a critical challenge in paleoecology. This study addresses this gap by utilizing over 160 pollen samples combined with multi-proxy data and historical records to reconstruct the late-Holocene ecological and environmental dynamics of Weizhou Island, China, over the last 1400 years. Our analyses reveal the evolution of ecosystem diversity and vegetation succession amid climatic fluctuations and anthropogenic pressures, identifying four distinct phases of transformation: (1) A warm and dry climate from 1400 to 850 cal yr BP fostering a savanna ecosystem; (2) A shift to a North subtropical seasonal rainforest under a more humid climate between 850 and 210 cal yr BP, with increased vegetation diversity; (3) The initiation of agriculture and aquaculture, along with a cooler climate from 210 cal yr BP to 1970 CE, marked by human-induced landscape alterations; and (4) A significant transformation from a once-diverse ecosystem to artificial protective forests from 1970 CE to the present. By correlating environmental indicators with historical accounts across eight Chinese dynasties, our study provides detailed insights into the climatic and human factors shaping the island's history. The findings demonstrate that while climatic shifts are primary drivers of biodiversity changes, anthropogenic disturbances also play a significant role. This research underscores the resilience of ecosystems to both climatic and human pressures and emphasizes the importance of integrating historical context into environmental studies.

Using Green Solutions to Cover the Dark, Red History of Urban Heat Islands in New York City

An urban heat island (UHI) is an area in a city that experiences higher temperatures relative to surrounding areas. New York City (NYC) experiences the UHI effect and is vulnerable to extreme heat and precipitation. Although multiple interventions were made on the issue, there exists a knowledge gap regarding the historical root of this phenomenon in present-day NYC. This paper uses secondary data, such as satellite images and climate databases, and conducts linear regressions to shed light on the interlink of heat and income inequality caused by redlining, the now-illegal practice by the federal government labeling non-white neighborhoods undesirable for real estate investment and depriving them of investment. The study analyzes the key issues of various stakeholders’ past actions and ultimately proposes city-wide green remodeling as a sustainable intervention. This research seeks to propose the most effective and feasible method for NYC to reduce its UHI effect and to emphasize the importance of considering historical injustices when investigating environmental issues.

Genetic evidence for a single founding population of the Lakshadweep Islands.

Lakshadweep is an archipelago of 36 islands located in the Southeastern Arabian Sea. In the absence of a detailed archaeological record, the human settlement timing of this island is vague. Previous genetic studies on haploid DNA makers suggested sex-biased ancestry linked to North and South Indian populations. Maternal ancestry suggested a closer link with the Southern Indian, while paternal ancestry advocated the Northern Indian geneticaffinity. Since the haploid markers are more sensitive to genetic drift, which is evident for the Island populations, we have used the biparental high-resolution single-nucleotide polymorphic markers to reconstruct the population history of Lakshadweep Islands. Using the fine-scaled analyses, we specifically focused on (A) the ancestry components of Lakshadweep Islands populations; (B) their relation with East, West Eurasia and South Asia; (C) the number of founding lineages and (D) the putative migration from Northern India as the paternal ancestry was closer to the North Indian populations. Our analysis of ancestry components confirmed relatively higher North Indian ancestry among the Lakshadweep population. These populations are closely related to the South Asian populations. We identified mainlya single founding population for these Islands, geographically divided into two sub-clusters. By examining the population's genetic composition and analysing the gene flow from different source populations, this study contributes to our understanding of Lakshadweep Island's evolutionary history and population dynamics. These findings shed light on the complex interactions between ethnic groups and their genetic contributions in making the Lakshadweep population.

Multi-dimensional approach for interpreting the structure of barrier island morphology

Barrier islands are complex polygenetic landscapes, but contemporary models used to extract and visualize morphometric patterns tend to characterize them as two-dimensional landforms, leading to an idealized morphology in which the dune crest, dune toe, and dune heel are viewed as alongshore continuous features. A new exploratory approach to the extraction of topographic features explicitly recognizes the complex nature of barrier island morphology using surface normal vectors of the continuous surface. Complex alongshore and cross-shore ridge and swale features not visible in traditional elevation models are extracted using the directional components of the vectors. This transferable approach accounts for cross-shore and alongshore features and does not depend on a requirement of an alongshore continuous landform and provides a more objective approach to the extraction of beach and dune morphology by recognizing the polygenetic history of barrier islands.

Mobile immobility in Flores, Indonesia. The meaning of being left behind

What does it mean to live in ‘left behind’ places in an era of globalisation? This article argues that despite widespread urbanization, increased mobility and access to education and technology, many rural young people from Outer island Indonesia continue to be left behind. Drawing on household surveys and in-depth interviews with smallholders and youth from a farming village in Flores, Indonesia, I show what being left behind means at the household and individual levels. These human perspectives add meaning to what being left behind means in several important ways. First, it shows how being left behind was informed from Indonesia's Outer island history, creating a dependent relationship on Inner urban areas, a relationship which continues to persist today. Second, being left behind lends understanding for why many rural youth migrate out of a rural village, and how this directs the hopes and investments of rural families' in urban centres. The greater significance of these trends are how being left behind in the 21st Century does improve access to mobility, technology and education, but it does little incorporate poorer rural families in long-term or productive ways, and leaves questions for younger generations' rural pathways.

Marshallese Women and Oral Traditions: Navigating a Future for Pacific History

First published just over three decades ago, Teresia Teaiwa’s “Microwomen: US Colonialism and Micronesian Women Activists” calls attention to the absence of Micronesian women in academic histories. The paper came out of a Pacific History Association conference panel aimed at amplifying the voices of women in histories of Micronesia, which, Teaiwa argued, remained “deafeningly silent on women” (1992, 126). While progress has been made in the thirty years since, Micronesian women remain underrepresented in academic histories. Using Marshallese oral traditions as a guide, this article argues that re-centering women in histories of Micronesia remains essential to the decolonization of Pacific Islands history, not only for the sake of representation but also as a necessary step in the ongoing development of historical methods more reflective of Indigenous historicities.

Murder and Memory in Territorial Hawai‘i: A Moloka‘i Microhistory

Abstract The murder of Elmer Conant on the tiny island of Moloka‘i in June, 1923, was an act of local resistance to a wave of social and economic change. The hunt for Conant’s murderer, and the subsequent prosecution of a Native Hawaiian man local authorities believed was responsible for it, reveal the power territorial elites could exercise over life in rural Hawai‘i, the ambiguous nature of indigenous response to that rule, and the way colonial power could shape memories of the era. This microhistory reverses the conventional lens used to examine Hawaiian history by concentrating on rural events and ordinary people far removed from the capital city who confronted the forces of colonialism and whose struggles helped shape island history.

Reimagining the Juan Fernández Islands: Cruise Tourism and the Commodification of Nature

This article examines the arrival of cruise ship tourism to the Juan Fernández Islands (Chile) in the first half of the 20th century, considering how this particular form of tourism reconfigured the economic and cultural image of the islands. Bringing together domestic and international advertising and voyage accounts, we assess how the Juan Fernández Islands were incorporated into both Chilean and foreign tourist discourses as an idealised paradise. We highlight how cruise ship tourism marketing rebranded these islands as a ‘romantic’ and exotic destination, reinforcing colonial ideas of isolation and remoteness. In so doing, we underline how cruise tourism facilitated new forms of engagement with the island environment that were distinct from the islanders’ aquapelagic relationality at the interface of water and land. We also showcase how the tourist industry exacerbated the exploitation and commodification of the islands’ natural environment, developing a cultural identity for Juan Fernández that also saw the renegotiation of their place in Chilean national identity, thus contributing to the history of small islands and their modern cultural representations.

The Ambiguous History of Matthew and Hunter Islands: Tracing the Roots of Vanuatu and French Claims

ABSTRACT Matthew and Hunter Islands (MHIs) are two small uninhabited islands located between Vanuatu and New Caledonia. Both Vanuatu and France claim sovereignty over the MHIs and vast maritime zones around them. This article examines the history of sovereignty claims to the MHIs. Although existing literature often refers to an annexation of the MHIs by France in 1929 and a 1976 transfer of the MHIs from the New Hebrides to New Caledonia, we find no archival evidence suggesting that such annexation or transfer occurred. Instead, there is clear archival evidence showing that in 1965 France and Britain agreed that the MHIs were part of New Caledonia, not part of the New Hebrides. We propose that the main reason for France and Britain to reach agreement in 1965 was to prevent two individuals from succeeding in their claim of private ownership of Matthew Island before the Joint Court of the New Hebrides.

Marshallese Women and Oral Traditions: Navigating a Future for Pacific History

Abstract: First published just over three decades ago, Teresia Teaiwa's "Microwomen: US Colonialism and Micronesian Women Activists" calls attention to the absence of Micronesian women in academic histories. The paper came out of a Pacific History Association conference panel aimed at amplifying the voices of women in histories of Micronesia, which, Teaiwa argued, remained "deafeningly silent on women" (1992, 126). While progress has been made in the thirty years since, Micronesian women remain underrepresented in academic histories. Using Marshallese oral traditions as a guide, this article argues that re-centering women in histories of Micronesia remains essential to the decolonization of Pacific Islands history, not only for the sake of representation but also as a necessary step in the ongoing development of historical methods more reflective of Indigenous historicities.

Analysis of pCl107 a large plasmid carried by an ST25 Acinetobacter baumannii strain reveals a complex evolutionary history and links to multiple antibiotic resistance and metabolic pathways.

Acinetobacter baumannii has successfully spread during the last decades as one of the main critically important pathogens. However, many aspects including plasmids, are still under-investigated. Here, we report the complete sequence of an Acinetobacter baumannii strain, belonging to the ST25IP (Institut Pasteur) sequence type recovered in 2012 in Lebanon, using a combination of Illumina MiSeq and Oxford Nanopore sequencing and a hybrid assembly approach. This strain (Cl107) carries a 198kb plasmid called pCl107 that encodes the MPFI conjugative transfer system. The plasmid carries the aacA1, aacC2, sul2, strAB, and tetA(B) antibiotic resistance genes. pCl107 region encompassing the sul2, strAB, tetA(B) is closely related to AbGRI1 chromosomal resistance islands, which are widespread in A. baumannii strains belonging to Global Clone 2. The resistance region found in pCl107 is one of the missing links in the evolutionary history of the AbGRI1 islands. pCl107 also contains a BREX Type 1 region and represents one of the two main evolution patterns observed in BREX clusters found in plasmids related to pCl107. pCl107 also harbours a ptx phosphonate metabolism module, which plays an ancestral structure compared to other large plasmids in ST25 strains. While the uric acid metabolic module found in pCl107 is incomplete, we identified possible ancestors from plasmids and chromosomes of Acinetobacter spp. Our analyses indicate a complex evolutionary history of plasmids related to pCl107 with many links to multiple antibiotic resistance and metabolic pathways.

The Cumbre Nueva collapse (La Palma, Canary Islands): New age determinations and evidence of an isotopic excursion

Episodic giant landslides characterize the history of intraplate oceanic volcanic islands, disrupting the gradual accumulation of eruptive products during shield-building stages. On La Palma (Canary Islands), the giant Cumbre Nueva collapse, which ended volcanic activity at the Paleo-Cumbre Nueva rift, formed the 11 km wide “Caldera de Taburiente” collapse embayment. Lavas erupted before and after this collapse have been studied, and 40Ar/39Ar ages of groundmass separates from key flows are presented, particularly from the small post-collapse Bejenado volcano that grew within the collapse scar. The new data constrain the age of the Cumbre Nueva collapse to between 519 ± 20 ka and 529 ± 12 ka (2s) and confirm that it occurred during a period of rapid re-surfacing of the island. This study has also constrained the duration of activity of the post-collapse Bejenado volcano, and the results indicate that this was also brief (529 ± 12 ka to 491 ± 16 ka). Starting just before the time of the collapse, the radiogenic isotope compositions of the lavas shifted temporarily to more depleted compositions, perhaps indicating that an isotopically distinct magma source was being tapped. However, an isotopic excursion of similar magnitude also occurred later in the post-collapse activity, suggesting that the changes in isotope composition of the magma source continued after the collapse.

Memory, community and the end of empire on the Isle of Dogs, 1980–2004

Abstract How might we best understand the place of imperial memory in contemporary British history? Recent scholarship has tended to characterize this through one of two binary categories, pointing to either imperial ‘amnesia’ or imperial ‘nostalgia’. This article contends that sustained and detailed case studies can offer us a more sophisticated and nuanced understanding of the production of memory. It uses the example of the Island History Trust, established to help local residents of London’s Docklands protest and later adjust to the losses brought about by deindustrialization, outward migration and financialized redevelopment overseen by Margaret Thatcher’s Conservative government. Within this narrative of social and economic displacement, however, was hidden another story: residents’ lament for the empowerment and enrichment that they had in earlier life derived from their proximity to the imperial port. The Trust’s left-wing practitioners had a complex relationship with the foundational place of empire in local identity; while they perceived it as being connected to an ‘endemic’ racism among residents, they also knew it signified great pride and dignity for many. This article traces the Trust’s shifting representations of empire over time. They celebrated the imperial port when it signified residents’ enrichment, criticized it when addressing the far-right British National Party’s popularity and obscured its connection to racism when mourning the disappearing community for posterity. The article argues that case studies like this can help begin the vital work of moving past simplistic and binary analyses of imperial ‘amnesia’ or ‘nostalgia’, and towards a history of imperial memory that appreciates its fluidity, messiness and political contingency. This, it argues, is vital if we are to effectively understand the politics of imperial memory in the present.

Renegotiating Ireland, Transnational History, and Settler Colonialism in White Australia

AbstractEfforts to transcend island histories in Irish historiography have predominantly centered a narration of white settler pasts as an outer boundary of Irish history. This article works through the disjunctions between differently situated transnational turns in Irish and Australian historiographies by interrogating metaphors of extension, including “Greater Ireland” in the former historiography. It proposes that to decenter the nation as a historical unit, transnational Irish history requires a critical tension with white settler, and not only Irish, methodological nationalisms. The article surveys the critical possibilities presented by the transnational turn in Irish historiography while questioning its limits, with attention to the paradigm of a transnational Irish revolution. It then flags possible directions for a closer dialogue between transnational Irish history and postnational historiographies of white settler colonialism. An unsettling of discrete historiographical boundaries remains a necessary condition for tracing histories of Ireland beyond, below, and outside the nation.

The Eastern Sea Route as Depicted in a Chinese Historical Geographical Description of Foreign Lands of the Yuan dynasty (1279–1368) Daoyi zhilüe (“A Brief Description of the Island Barbarians”, 1349/1350): Chapters 1–4, Translation with Commentary

This article is the first in the series of planned publications with translations of separate chapters from a Chinese historical-geographical description of foreign lands Daoyi zhilüe (“A Brief Description of Island Barbarians”, 1349/1350) written during the Yuan dynasty (1279–1368). The first four chapters of the treatise which describe policies on the eastern sea route from China are included in this work. The article offers the first translation of these chapters into Russian, accompanied by detailed historical commentary. Apart from that, in the research part of the article the author has briefly analyzed the order of the chapters in the treatise and compared it with the previous sources of similar nature. The translations are an important source for studying various aspects of the history of the Penghu islands, Taiwan and the Philippines in the 14th century AD.

Urbanizing Islands: A Critical History of Singapore's Offshore Islands

While Singapore is often considered an island city in the singular sense, the city-state actually consists of many islands, with the Singapore mainland being by far the largest. While most of these islands traditionally had thriving indigenous communities, all have since been displaced over time as the islands were developed to service Singapore's economic and metabolic needs as a rapidly urbanizing and developing nation. Some of the islands have also undergone considerable transformation (through reclamation) which has had significant impacts on the ecologies of the offshore islands. This simultaneously allowed for the ‘ruralization’ of mainland Singapore to provide more green space for nature conservation, recreation and leisure. This paper will provide a brief history of these transformations, drawing on specific examples which serve to illustrate how Singapore's offshore islands have been redeveloped over time to service the nation-state and in response to the changing needs of the urban core. In doing so, the paper examines how spaces on the urban periphery are deeply bound up with processes of ‘urbanization’, given their important role in processes of urban metabolism. In this way, the paper contributes to recent work in urban political ecology which has sought to trace processes of urbanization beyond the city and render visible the socio-environmental inequalities produced therein.

Editorial

Editorial