Geography Of Small Islands: Outposts Of Globalisation

Beate M.W. Ratter Geography of Small Islands Outposts of Globalisation Geography of Small Islands Beate M.W. Ratter Geography of Small Islands Outposts of Globalisation Beate M.W. Ratter Institute of Geography University of Hamburg Hamburg, Germany Institute of Coastal Research Helmholtz Zentrum Geesthacht Geesthacht, Germany ISBN 978-3-319-63867-6    ISBN 978-3-319-63869-0 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-63869-0 Library of Congress Control Number: 2017952248 © Springer International Publishing AG 2018 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. Cover illustration: Hawaii, Henry Berghaus, 1840 (2nd edit.) - Reproduced with kind permission of Deutsches Schiffahrtsmuseum Bremerhaven Cartography and Graphics by Dipl.-Ing. Claus Carstens, Hamburg Printed on acid-free paper This Springer imprint is published by Springer Nature The registered company is Springer International Publishing AG The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland Mutabor – ‘I will be transformed’. From The Story of Caliph Stork, a fairy tale by Wilhelm Hauff Foreword A letter from ‘a gentleman’ in the Harz Mountains jolted Professor Ratter, not into becoming an island collector, but a person who does geographical research on and about small islands. This is not such a great stretch as an island is foremost a geographical feature, so it is geographers who naturally are drawn to them, like those who study mountain communities or river lands. As islands are ‘land surrounded by water’, this provides a natural focal point, even a demarcation zone for those with that temperament. This book is more about islands as they extend into the world, not as dots on a map or insects pinned to a collector’s board: they are living, breathing entities that however remote, such as the Rapa Nui (Easter Island) I study, are joined in complex daily, if not hourly, ways. This is the motor for Beate Ratter’s talisman, Mutabor, that infuses her introductory remarks: change and connections that mo