Archipelago Island Indonesia

Indonesia is a land of incomparable beauty and diversity. It was also the biological laboratory of Alfred Russel Wallace, who, working independently of his contemporary Charles Darwin, developed the theory of evolution by natural selection. Wallace was a man of many parts: adventurer, explorer, collector, socialist, spiritualist, early feminist, global thinker, writer. Archipelago takes us on Wallace's 14,000-mile journey through unexplored parts of Indonesia, where during years of fieldwork he made his major discoveries in evolutionary biology. Alone on the tiny island of Gilolo, he drafted his theory of evolution and sent the manuscript to Darwin. That event led to the great Darwin-Wallace controversy, one which burns to this day. Interspersed in Wallace's story are informative sidebars that offer a more in-depth look at topics ranging from specimen collecting in Victorian times to the ecological challenges faced by Indonesia today. This magnificent survey of twin paradoxes -- Indonesia's natural grandeur and present environmental degradation, and the simultaneity of Wallace's and Darwin's theory explaining the origins of living things -- vividly demonstrates the interconnectedness of life, both natural and human, and the links between the exploration of natural wonders in Wallace's time and the exploitation and conservation of those resources now. Published in association with The Nature Conservancy, this unique story is richly illustrated with maps, archival material, and over two hundred color photographs depicting the stunning landscapes and exotic flora and fauna of Indonesia.

Many islands of the Malay archipelago boast colossal monuments and stone statues that can compete with the Easter Island giants; nonetheless, until today these fascinating artistic creations have remained the object of specialized studies and still largely unknown to the general public. Published on the occasion of the exhibition beginning in Hanover, and then travelling around Europe, the volume is the first monograph entirely devoted to these singular monolithic sculptures from the islands of Nias, Sumba and Sumatra in the Indonesian archipelago. These monumental stone sculptures, for the most part dating from the 19th century, belong to cultures which, although deeply changed by their contact with the West, survive even now: they may have special magical functions, belong to colossal funerary monuments or even be connected with the complicated rituals allowing nobles to rise within the social hierarchy. Essays by Alain Viaro, Arlette Ziegler, Jean Paul Barbier and Janet Hoskins, analyse the different typologies, the meanings and the civic and religious functions of these evocative monumental sculptures through a choice of fifty works from the collections of the Barbier-Mueller Museum.