Journal of Historical Geography, 29, 4 (2003) 554±581 doi:10.1053/jhge.2002.0461 Island dreaming: the contemplation of Polynesian paradise John Connell Images of islands, especially in Polynesia, critically of Tahiti, emerged and evolved in the aftermath of island encounters with outsiders, many of whom were male. Visions of utopia dominated discourse, in different phases, as distance and smallness enhanced enchantment, yet remained centred of Tahiti, after subsequent encounters with diverse groups. Perceptions of dystopia and the `ignoble savage', and the need for redemption from outside, never displaced alternative notions. Islands became incorporated into distant lands in different ways, eventually in islander diasporas, yet utopia persisted in new artistic and literary forms, supplemented by photographs, postcards and stamps, ®lm (including travelogues), popularised anthropology and geography, and eventually tourism and television. In turn islanders replenished old images and reconstructed new ones in the shift from an imperial to a remarkably similar post-colonial politics of place and people. # 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Introduction Who does not love islands? To be surrounded by the sea, lapped by the tide and shaded by palm trees and sandy outcrops of rocks and grass. How lovely! And to be safe behind the moat which separates us from our neighbours. Who does not feel comforted by the security of an island home? [1] In 1995 a young Paci®c islander, Christine Anu, soared to the top of the popular music charts in Australia with her single My island home. She was a Melanesian Torres Strait islander, but one who had lived just a few teenage years on her home island, Mabuaig, between periods of Australian urban life. My island home captured a sense of loss: nostalgia and desire for an island she had barely experienced. [2] Similar words are ampli®ed in the longings of so many migrant islanders creating an idyllic island identity to be nurtured and cherished from afar. Such dreams and nostalgia have been nourished by European myths, histories and contemporary representations and belatedly trans- posed into the images of islanders themselves, in their own representations of island spaces. This paper examines the visions that Paci®c islands (Figure 1) have generated, which primarily created utopia, whilst sometimes imposing and recognising alternative visions within an imperial project of utopia. [3] Utopia, alongside Eden and paradise, has had an extraordinary pervasiveness through time. The paper focuses on ideas, some relatively familiar, about Paci®c islands, as they evolved in the aftermath of the ®rst island encounters with westerners, and how the pervasive image of utopia dominated the bulk of discourse in different phases. Linked 554 0305±7488/03/$ ± see front matter # 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.