Overview

This book weaves together theories of pre-Columbian trans-Pacific contact between Oceania and the Americas and analyses them from a history of ideas perspective. Despite limited factual evidence, trans-Pacific contact theories between the Americas and Oceania have been discussed in various forms since the sixteenth century and remain a persistent trope.   To provide a context for the history of ideas of trans-Pacific contact involving the Americas and Oceania, this book addresses the changing conceptions of the Pacific according to scholars from Europe and the Americas, the development of science and later anthropology and archaeology in this region and in the Americas, and the growing understanding of the history of settlement of the Americas and the Pacific. This book covers views predominantly from the Global South, making them more accessible to an Anglophone audience worldwide.

Full Product Details

Author:   Andrea Ballesteros - Danel
Publisher:   Springer International Publishing AG
Imprint:   Palgrave Macmillan
ISBN:  

9783031648793

ISBN 10:   303164879
Pages:   383
Publication Date:   13 September 2025
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Manufactured on demand  
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Table of Contents

Chapter 1: Did Amerindians or Pacific Islanders voyage long distances to and from the Americas before 1492.-Chapter 2: The Enigma about Amerindian Origins in the Sixteenth Century.- Chapter 3: Queen Moo from Chichén Itzá and the Lost Pacific Continent.- Chapter 4: Kumara, Skulls, Stone Clubs, and Voyages.- Chapter 5: The Children of the Sun.- Chapter 6: European Scholarship and the Study of the Ancient Past of the Americas in the Twentieth Century.- Chapter 7: ‘Impossible, Why?’: Kon-Tiki, Las Balsas, and other Experimental Voyages that traversed the Pacific.- Chapter 8: Ideas about Long-Distance Sailing Techniques, Traditions and Theories.- Chapter 9: Twentieth-Century Ideas about Contact with Peru/Ecuador, Chile and Argentina.- Chapter 10: Reconsidering Trans-Pacific Contact: Its Hidden History.- Chapter 11: Conclusion.

Reviews

“2025 AILASA Monograph Award goes to Pre-Columbian Contact between the Americas and Oceania by Andrea Ballesteros Danel (2024) published by Palgrave Macmillan. This brilliant monograph which from archeology, history, and colonial studies examines the understudied role of Pacific Studies in Hispanic history. It compiles, updates, and disseminates centuries-long discussions on the encounters of First Nations peoples across the Pacific Ocean both eastward and westward.” (ailasa.org, November 2025)

Author Information

Andrea Ballesteros Danel is an independent scholar based in Brisbane, Australia. She completed her PhD at the Australian National University in 2020. Her thesis focused on the history of ideas about pre-Columbian trans-Pacific contact between the Americas and Oceania. Her research was part of the Collective Biography of Archaeology in the Pacific (CBAP) project, a five-year project funded by the Australian Research Council through its Laureate Fellowship grant scheme, and by the Australian National University.

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