History of Micronesia: A Collection of Source Documents: Vol. 18 Russian Expeditions, 1808-27

Levesque, Rodrigue. History of Micronesia: A Collection of Source Documents: Vol. 18 Russian Expeditions, 1808-27. 18. Gatineau, Québec: Lévesque Publications. ISBN 978-0-920201-18-3.

Abstract: Volume 18 (HOM.18) contains 57 chapters, with 100 documents and 65 illustrations. The figure above is that of Kadu, a Carolinian who had drifted to the Marshall Islands and was befriended by the Russians. The main documents deal with the first Russian scientific expedition to the Marshall Islands in 1817, led by Captain Kotzebue, and the visit to Guam of the Golovnin expedition the following year. Another significant event was the voyage of the last Manila galleon that reached Acapulco in 1816. As a result of the Mexican revolution, the Spanish colonies on the western side of the Pacific no longer received Mexican funds. The trans-Paciflc trade was opened to private shipping. The contents of HOM were compiled, translated, edited and annotated by Rodrigue Levesque. Rod located and made novel translations of thousands of documents between 1992 and 2002. These were organized in forty massive volumes, with only the first twenty being printed in physical, hardbound form. In 2022, the US nonprofit Habele obtained the copyrights to the full History of Micronesia series with the aim of offering free and navigable access to the public.