[BLOG-LIKE POSTING] On Space Colonies (Part 4)

Since the island countries of the South Pacific have been integrated into the world economy--beginning in the 19th century with the colonization by European powers, continuing into the 20th century as island economies have become linked with the wider world through tourism, trade, and war, and enduring into the 21st century--the theme of emigration has taken on an increasingly important role in the region. At first, the main current of emigration was involuntary when Australians in the late 19th century engaged in "blackbirding," kidnapping men from the South Pacific (mostly Melanesia) to labour in Queensland sugar cane plantations. Later in the 19th century, and into the early 20th century, immigration was a more important theme, as recurrent epidemics and the growing demand for labour inside the South Pacific (particularly in Fiji and New Zealand), where the British Empire fostered booming agricultural exports. In the late 20th century, however, emigration from the smaller island countries sharply accelerated:

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Thoughts?