Sally M. Miller is Professor of History and Editor of the John Muir Center for Regional Studies at the University of the Pacific, California. A.J.H. Latham is Senior Lecturer in International Economic History at the University College of Wales, Swansea. Dennis O. Flynn is Professor of Economics at the University of the Pacific, California.

'All these chapters are stimulating to read. [...] This is [..] a useful collection of papers, and certainly indicates that there are many more exciting research topics to be tackled on the evolution of trade and investment links around the Pacific Rim' - The Economic History Review

• 1 INTRODUCTION: THE PACIFIC RIM’S PAST DESERVES A FUTURE Part I Overviews of the Pacific Rim 2 NO EMPTY OCEAN: TRADE AND INTERACTION ACROSS THE PACIFIC OCEAN TO THE MIDDLE OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY 3 COMING FULL CIRCLE: A LONG-TERM PERSPECTIVE ON THE PACIFIC RIM 4 PERIPHERALIZING THE CENTER: AN HISTORICAL OVERVIEW OF PACIFIC ISLAND MICRO-STATES 5 FROM MAGELLAN TO MITI: PACIFIC RIM ECONOMIES AND PACIFIC ISLAND ECOLOGIES SINCE 1521 6 THE AMERICAN PACIFIC: WHERE THE WEST WAS ALSO WON Part II Selected Economic Issues in Pacific Rim History 7 THE FRENCH PRESENCE IN THE PACIFIC OCEAN AND CALIFORNIA, 1700–1850 8 ‘EASTWARDS OF THE CAPE OF GOOD HOPE’: BRITISH OVERSEAS BANKING IN THE PACIFIC RIM, 1830–70 9 THE RECONSTRUCTION OF HONG KONG NINETEENTH-CENTURY PACIFIC TRADE STATISTICS: THE EMERGENCE OF ASIAN DYNAMISM 10 CHINESE VIEWS OF THE MONEY SUPPLY AND FOREIGN TRADE, 1400–1850 11 THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE COAL MINING INDUSTRY IN TAIWAN DURING THE JAPANESE COLONIAL OCCUPATION, 1895–1945 12 TRADE, INSTITUTIONS, AND LAW: THE EXPERIENCE OF MEXICAN CALIFORNIA 13 CALIFORNIA QUICKSILVER IN THE PACIFIC RIM ECONOMY, 1850–90 14 ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS OF THE PACIFIC RIM TIMBER TRADE: AN OVERVIEW