In:
Journal de la Société des océanistes, PERSEE Program, Vol. 108, No. 1 ( 1999), p. 33-55
Abstract:
The Russian hydrographic record in Central Polynesia in the post-Napoleonic era (1816-1826) is a proud one. Exploration and surveying in the scattered coral islands that comprise the Tuamotu Archipelago east of Tahiti represent the brightest page of all. Kruzenshtern's two protégés, Otto von Kotzebue and Faddei F. Bellingshausen, brought three dozen coral islands into focus for the first time, for the benefit of international science and cartography; accurately placed them in relation to each other and to Venus Point, Tahiti, in the west; collected careful ethnographical, botanical, and zoological materials relating to specific islands; and discovered ten islands or clusters that had been unknown to Europeans. These were Tikahau, Angatau, Nihiru, the Raevskii cluster, Katiu, Fakarava, Niau, Matahiva, Fangahina, and Aratika. The Russian Central State and Naval Archives in St Petersburg contain a wealth of documents, bearing directly on hydrography, cartography, and other sciences in Central Polynesia, that have yet to be exploited in the West.
Type of Medium:
Online Resource
ISSN:
0300-953X
DOI:
10.3406/jso.1999.2078
Language:
French
Publisher:
PERSEE Program
Publication Date:
1999
detail.hit.zdb_id:
2454456-5
detail.hit.zdb_id:
2530192-5
SSG:
14
SSG:
6,32
Permalink