Cover: "Plumes from Paradise" by Pamela Swadling

This is an Open Access book licensed under an Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) licence.

Plumes from Paradise

Trade Cycles in Outer Southeast Asia and Their Impact on New Guinea and Nearby Islands Until 1920

Pamela Swadling

ISBN: 9781743325445

DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.30722/sup.9781743325445

Publication date: 1 December 2019

The natural resources of New Guinea and nearby islands have attracted outsiders for at least 5000 years: spices, aromatic woods and barks, resins, plumes, sea slugs, shells and pearls all brought traders from distant markets. Among the most sought-after was the bird of paradise. Their magnificent plumes bedecked the hats of fashion-conscious women in Europe and America, provided regalia for the Kings of Nepal, and decorated the headdresses of Janissaries of the Ottoman Empire. Plumes from Paradise tells the story of this interaction, and of the economic, political, social and cultural consequence for the island's inhabitants. It traces 400 years of economic and political history, culminating in the ‘plume boom’ of the early part of the 20th century, when an unprecedented number of outsiders flocked to the island’s coasts and hinterlands.

The story teems with the variety of people involved: New Guineans, Indonesians, Chinese, Europeans, hunters, traders, natural historians and their collectors, officials, missionaries, planters, miners, adventurers of every kind. In the wings were the conservationists, whose efforts brought the slaughter of the plume boom to an end and ushered in an era of comparative isolation for the island that lasted until World War II.

About the author

Pamela Swadling is visiting research fellow at the ANU College of Asia and the Pacific. She carried out archaeological fieldwork in the Solomon Islands before coming to Papua New Guinea in late 1972. Her study of the former plume trade on the Sepik coast and subsequently along the Ok Tedi led to the writing of this book.

 

This is an Open Access book licensed under an Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) licence.

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TY  - BOOK
AU  - Pamela Swadling
PY  - 2019
TI  - Plumes from Paradise: Trade Cycles in Outer Southeast Asia and Their Impact on New Guinea and Nearby Islands Until 1920
AB  - The natural resources of New Guinea andnearby islands have attracted outsiders for at least 5000 years: spices,aromatic woods and barks, resins, plumes, sea slugs, shells and pearls allbrought traders from distant markets. Among themost sought-after was the bird of paradise. Their magnificent plumes bedeckedthe hats of fashion-conscious women in Europe and America, provided regalia forthe Kings of Nepal, and decorated the headdresses of Janissaries of the OttomanEmpire.  Plumesfrom Paradise tells the story of this interaction,and of the economic, political, social and cultural consequence for theisland’s inhabitants. It traces 400 years of economic and political history, culminatingin the ‘plume boom’ of the early part of the 20th century, when anunprecedented number of outsiders flocked to the island’s coasts andhinterlands.  The story teems with the variety of peopleinvolved: New Guineans, Indonesians, Chinese, Europeans, hunters, traders,natural historians and their collectors, officials, missionaries, planters,miners, adventurers of every kind. In the wings were the conservationists,whose efforts brought the slaughter of the plume boom to an end and ushered inan era of comparative isolation for the island that lasted until World War II.
PB  - Sydney University Press
CY  - Sydney
SN  - 9781743325445
DO  - 10.30722/sup.9781743325445
SE  - 352
ER  -
@book{Swadling2019,
abstract = {The natural resources of New Guinea andnearby islands have attracted outsiders for at least 5000 years: spices,aromatic woods and barks, resins, plumes, sea slugs, shells and pearls allbrought traders from distant markets. Among themost sought-after was the bird of paradise. Their magnificent plumes bedeckedthe hats of fashion-conscious women in Europe and America, provided regalia forthe Kings of Nepal, and decorated the headdresses of Janissaries of the OttomanEmpire.  Plumesfrom Paradise tells the story of this interaction,and of the economic, political, social and cultural consequence for theisland’s inhabitants. It traces 400 years of economic and political history, culminatingin the ‘plume boom’ of the early part of the 20th century, when anunprecedented number of outsiders flocked to the island’s coasts andhinterlands.  The story teems with the variety of peopleinvolved: New Guineans, Indonesians, Chinese, Europeans, hunters, traders,natural historians and their collectors, officials, missionaries, planters,miners, adventurers of every kind. In the wings were the conservationists,whose efforts brought the slaughter of the plume boom to an end and ushered inan era of comparative isolation for the island that lasted until World War II.},
address = {Sydney},
author = {Swadling, P.},
doi = {10.30722/sup.9781743325445},
isbn = {9781743325445},
pages = {352},
publisher = {Sydney University Press},
subtitle = {Trade Cycles in Outer Southeast Asia and Their Impact on New Guinea and Nearby Islands Until 1920},
title = {Plumes from Paradise},
year = {2019}
}