Course description: We will study how early explorers, such as Capt. Cook, saw the Austral-Pacific as a social utopia, where man reaches the Golden Age of ancient myth. But this gives way to a growing scientific seriousness in the later 18^th and 19^th centuries, with investigations like those of Darwin. Then, we will see how encroachments by Europeans have made of the far Pacific a paradise lost.

As before, an optional travel experience   to Australia, New Zealand, and Tahiti will again be offered. Trip is designed around visits to locations explored by both Capt. Cook and Charles Darwin, so that we can see through their eyes this great transformation in worldview  from the 18th to the 19th century.   

The trip will run from approx. Jan. 5--21, 2011, and cost approx.  $9500.00. Click on the picture of the outrigger canoe below for the course Syllabus and for Trip Information.