Island studies : critical concepts in geography : volume III : heading for island studies : the 1880s to the 1990s [Introduction]

Abstract

As the twentieth century neared, islands were firmly on the map – also by being in the consciousness of literature and science. The early decades of the twentieth century saw Davis’s theories of coral reefs, Semple’s environmental determinism regarding island cultures, and the recurrence of island utopia through Wright’s Islandia (written in the 1920s but not published until 1942) and, later, Huxley – not just Brave New World (1932), excerpted here, but also Island (1962) which is more about utopia than about islands. Islands were further entering consciousness through being essential to the world’s connectivity and increasing globalisation, especially as intercontinental passengers shifted from large cruise liners towards air travel. The Azores were the trans-Atlantic stopping point for flying boats between the two World Wars. After World War II, early aircraft frequently used Keflavik (Iceland) and Gander (Newfoundland) as refuelling stops; while trans-Pacific flights tended to stop over in Honolulu (Hawai’i, USA) and Nadi (Viti Levu, Fiji). Pacific islands also made their mark on society due to the bloody Pacific theatre of World War II. Names such as Pearl Harbor, Guadalcanal, Tarawa, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa became famous for their brutal military campaigns.