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The pacific

Back to The Pacific: A.D. 1601 to 1700

We have discussed in earlier modules the great difficulties in direct west to east crossings of the Pacific in primitive vessels. Even in 1707 to 1711 Monsieur de Frondad, while sailing without particular difficulty from Port Louis, France down around the tip of South America, up the west coast to Huacho and then across the Pacific to China, then took 6 months to come back across the Pacific to Cape St. Lucas. Ocean currents and winds are not conducive to such trips. European voyages in the Pacific were originally searches for a habitable, southern continent or for a usable northern strait to the orient, both imaginary. But they did reveal an insular New Zealand and a habitable eastern Australia, many attractive islands and a valuable shale industry. (Ref. 8 ) When the Dutchmen Jacob Roggeveen stumbled on Easter Island in 1722, there were probably 3,000 or 4,000 people on the island, representing a mixed group with some fair-skinned and some dark-skinned, who lit fires before some enormous statues standing in a row. The statues, even then, were old and eroded. The people appeared to be living in near anarchy amid the wreckage of a once high culture and cannibalism was common. Roggeveen, however, was given great quantities of sweet potatoes, which they called by the Peruvian name "Kumara". (Ref. 176 , 95 ) When the Spaniards finally arrived on that island in 1770 they found it to be at exactly the direction and distance f rom Ecuador that had been detailed to their earlier comrades by the Incas some two centuries before. The Spaniards' description of Easter Island included the presence of plantains, chili peppers, sweet potatoes and fowls. The plants were all those known in pre-European Peru and had been present in pre-Inca burials. Of perhaps more importance, they found totora reeds in large bogs of old crater lakes and from these the islanders built houses and boats, furniture, baskets, fish-nets, etc.

These reeds also had been grown in irrigated fields on the coast of Peru and similarly used. Easter Island tradition insists that an early ancestor, Ure

"Oro" is the name of an old, important tribe of the Lake Titicaca area in Peru-Bolivia, which based its economy on the totora reeds. (Ref. 95 )
, brought with him the first totora root stocks and planted them in Rano Kao Lake. Captain Cook also visited Easter Island in the late 1770s and the disastrous Hotu-iti war, which finally annihilated most of the people there, must have occurred about 1772 to 1774, just before Cook's arrival. Only a few poor islanders were left and Cook's Tahitian interpreter could understand only a few of their words. (Ref. 95 )

In a sense, the first British Empire collapsed in 1783 when the 13 American colonies broke free, but then the second British Empire involved the British dominance of the South Pacific. In this 18th century Oceania belonged to the British and the French. This began before with the voyages of William Dampier, who had twice visited the Indian Ocean coast of New Holland (Australia) between 1681 and 1711. Captain John Byron (grandfather of the poet) took possession of the Falklands in 1765 and Samuel Wallis and Philip Carteret followed with exploration of Tahiti, Pitcairn, New Britain, Philippines, Celebes, etc.

Questions & Answers

what is microbiology
Agebe Reply
What is a cell
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what is cell
Mohammed
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Muhammad Reply
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Muhammad
is the branch of biology that deals with the study of microorganisms.
Ntefuni Reply
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Mercy Reply
studies of microbes
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Ziyad Reply
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Muhamad Reply
Bacteria doesn't produce energy they are dependent upon their substrate in case of lack of nutrients they are able to make spores which helps them to sustain in harsh environments
_Adnan
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Muhamad
they make spores
Louisiaste
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the significance of food webs for disease transmission
Abreham
food webs brings about an infection as an individual depends on number of diseased foods or carriers dully.
Mark
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Esinniobiwa Reply
Assimilatory nitrate reduction is a process that occurs in some microorganisms, such as bacteria and archaea, in which nitrate (NO3-) is reduced to nitrite (NO2-), and then further reduced to ammonia (NH3).
Elkana
This process is called assimilatory nitrate reduction because the nitrogen that is produced is incorporated in the cells of microorganisms where it can be used in the synthesis of amino acids and other nitrogen products
Elkana
Examples of thermophilic organisms
Shu Reply
Give Examples of thermophilic organisms
Shu
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Micheal Reply
Prevent foreign microbes to the host
Abubakar
they provide healthier benefits to their hosts
ayesha
They are friends to host only when Host immune system is strong and become enemies when the host immune system is weakened . very bad relationship!
Mark
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faisal Reply
cell is the smallest unit of life
Fauziya
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ok
Innocent
cell is the structural and functional unit of life
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is the fundamental units of Life
Musa
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Micheal Reply
There are nothing like emergency disease but there are some common medical emergency which can occur simultaneously like Bleeding,heart attack,Breathing difficulties,severe pain heart stock.Hope you will get my point .Have a nice day ❣️
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Adama
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ESTHER Reply
Many sites of the body have it Skin Nasal cavity Oral cavity Gastro intestinal tract
Safaa
skin
Asiina
skin,Oral,Nasal,GIt
Sadik
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all
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what are the ways of control and prevention of nosocomial infection in the hospital
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Source:  OpenStax, A comprehensive outline of world history (organized by region). OpenStax CNX. Nov 23, 2009 Download for free at http://cnx.org/content/col10597/1.2
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