Of Rats and Men: A Synoptic Environmental History of the Island Pacific*

Abstract

T Pacific and its islands have long held allure for romantics and scientists alike. The ocean’s great size and galaxies of islands make it as appealing to botanists and biogeographers as to beachcombers. It also has seductive charms for those interested in environmental history, in the changing mutual influence of human communities and the earth, air, water, and life forms that sustain them. In the last three years, two books have appeared that emphasize the relevance of the environmental history of Easter Island to that of planet earth.1 But Easter Island, like most Pacific islands—indeed, most islands anywhere—has had a particularly tumultuous environmental history. Evolution and history have conspired to give island peoples especially unstable environments. The island world of the Pacific shows the transforming power of intrusive species, including Homo sapiens, and of their efforts to secure niches for themselves. In human terms that effort includes economic activity, which is particularly capable of