This book presents a broad ranging survey of French colonial engagements in the Pacific and Asian worlds of the 19th and early 20th centuries. Multiple studies, each in a different territory, examine French ideas of imperialism as they become manifested through religion, nationalist and patriotic fervour, tropical fantasy, literary and artistic creation, or colonial match-making to shape a distinctly Gallic “Empire of Love” in the Pacific. Successive chapters examine contested colonial sites where the French were present in Tahiti, New Caledonia, and Wallis and Futuna, with analyses of encount ... More

This book presents a broad ranging survey of French colonial engagements in the Pacific and Asian worlds of the 19th and early 20th centuries. Multiple studies, each in a different territory, examine French ideas of imperialism as they become manifested through religion, nationalist and patriotic fervour, tropical fantasy, literary and artistic creation, or colonial match-making to shape a distinctly Gallic “Empire of Love” in the Pacific. Successive chapters examine contested colonial sites where the French were present in Tahiti, New Caledonia, and Wallis and Futuna, with analyses of encounter and conflict in France, Panama, Indochina, and Japan. Each chapter focuses on particular Islander, Asian, and French protagonists, from Kanak warriors and Tahitian monarchs, to French penal colony prisoners and Japanese courtesans as they negotiate power relations tied to emotions. All of the chapters are linked together by the politics and writings of the famed naval captain and novelist Pierre Loti.