This book weaves together theories of pre-Columbian trans-Pacific contact between Oceania and the Americas and analyses them from a history of ideas perspective. Despite limited factual evidence, trans-Pacific contact theories between the Americas and Oceania have been discussed in various forms since the sixteenth century and remain a persistent trope.
To provide a context for the history of ideas of trans-Pacific contact involving the Americas and Oceania, this book addresses the changing conceptions of the Pacific according to scholars from Europe and the Americas, the development of science and later anthropology and archaeology in this region and in the Americas, and the growing understanding of the history of settlement of the Americas and the Pacific. This book covers views predominantly from the Global South, making them more accessible to an Anglophone audience worldwide.
To provide a context for the history of ideas of trans-Pacific contact involving the Americas and Oceania, this book addresses the changing conceptions of the Pacific according to scholars from Europe and the Americas, the development of science and later anthropology and archaeology in this region and in the Americas, and the growing understanding of the history of settlement of the Americas and the Pacific. This book covers views predominantly from the Global South, making them more accessible to an Anglophone audience worldwide.
2025 AILASA Monograph Award goes to Pre-Columbian Contact between the Americas and Oceania by Andrea Ballesteros Danel (2024) published by Palgrave Macmillan.
This brilliant monograph which from archeology, history, and colonial studies examines the understudied role of Pacific Studies in Hispanic history. It compiles, updates, and disseminates centuries-long discussions on the encounters of First Nations peoples across the Pacific Ocean both eastward and westward. (ailasa.org, November 2025)
This brilliant monograph which from archeology, history, and colonial studies examines the understudied role of Pacific Studies in Hispanic history. It compiles, updates, and disseminates centuries-long discussions on the encounters of First Nations peoples across the Pacific Ocean both eastward and westward. (ailasa.org, November 2025)







