"This collection of essays explores the ways in which islands have been used, imagined and theorised, both by island dwellers and continentals. This study considers how island dwellers of the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans conceived of themselves and their relations to proximate mainlands, and examines the particular fascination that islands have long held in the European imagination." "Early essays in the collection address the significance of islands in the Atlantic economy of the eighteenth century. The focus then shifts to the exploration of the Pacific, which presented Europe with new island-groups to explore, exploit, and imagine. Islands were often seen as natural colonies or settings for ideal communities, but they were also used as dumping grounds for the unwanted, a practice which has continued into the twentieth century and remains evident in recent policy towards refugees. The later essays look at the important role played by islands in the process of decolonisation and at island-oriented developments in postcolonial writing. The collection argues the need for an island-based theory within postcolonial studies and suggests how this might be constructed. Covering a historical span from the eighteenth to the twentieth century, the contributors include literary and postcolonial critics, historians and geographers."--Jacket.