Plumes from Paradise

<p><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>The natural resources of New Guinea and nearby islands have attracted outsiders for at least 5000 years: spices aromatic woods and barks resins plumes sea slugs shells and pearls all brought traders from distant markets. Among the most sought-after was the bird of paradise. Their magnificent plumes bedecked the hats of fashion-conscious women in Europe and America provided regalia for the Kings of Nepal and decorated the headdresses of Janissaries of the Ottoman Empire.</span></p><p><em style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>Plumes from Paradise </em><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>tells the story of this interaction and of the economic political social and cultural consequence for the island's inhabitants. It traces 400 years of economic and political history culminating in the 'plume boom' of the early part of the 20th century when an unprecedented number of outsiders flocked to the island's coasts and hinterlands.</span></p><p><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>The story teems with the variety of people involved: New Guineans Indonesians Chinese Europeans hunters traders natural historians and their collectors officials missionaries planters miners adventurers of every kind. In the wings were the conservationists whose efforts brought the slaughter of the plume boom to an end and ushered in an era of comparative isolation for the island that lasted until World War II.</span></p>