A History of Ethnobotany in Remote Oceania

Abstract

Ethnobotany has had a relatively short history as a scientific or scholarly discipline, and according to R. L. Ford still lacks a unifying theory. In this paper the history of ethnobotany in Remote Oceania is reviewed. In sequence, the roots of Pacific ethnobotany in European exploration and colonial expansion are discussed, then the contributions of early foreign residents, and finally the rapidly growing field of scientific ethnobotany during the latter part of the twentieth century. Examples of key research from the disciplines of botany, anthropology, archaeology, and geography, as well as major trends in ethnobotanical research in Remote Oceania, are described.