Young America Explores the Society Islands

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Even though the Society Islands were claimed and dominated by France, Tahiti felt the influence of the London Missionary Society and the Americans who pushed for greater power in the Pacific. 

Their interest in the Pacific Islands was expressed most clearly in the American scientific expedition of 1838-42, though there were also many descriptions of the Society Islands by American missionaries and whalers of the first half of the eighteenth century. 

Archives:

Guide to the Charles Wilkes Papers, 1816-1876 at Duke Univerity

Charles Wilkes Papers, 1607-1959 at the Library of Congress

The Private Journal of William Reynolds : United States Exploring Expedition, 1838-1842 

Media of the Day:

http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/62429103

Young America Explores the Society Islands