This is one the first and most important books about 18th century
Malaysia and covers a wide array of topics from Malaysian culture and
history to nature and wildlife. It is essential reading for anyone
interested in Malaysia.
A century and a half after it was first published, this book remains one
of the great classics of natural history and travel--perhaps the
greatest. Alfred Russel Wallace (1823-1913) deserves equal billing with
Charles Darwin for his independently drawn but parallel conclusions on
the theory of evolution. Darwin himself called Wallace "generous and
noble" and referred favorably to his work in later editions of The
Origin of Species.
The Malay Archipelago is an extraordinarily accessible book. There is
a wealth of detail about pre-modern life in the Indonesian archipelago
which Wallace accumulated on over 60 separate journeys spanning 14,000
miles. He was equally fascinated by the exotic peoples, flora and fauna
he encountered in his epic travels. A mark of his achievement lies in
the size of the collections he bequeathed to British museums--some
125,000 specimens ranging from large mammals to tiny insects, exotic
butterflies and splendid birds of paradise.
His basic thesis stands to this day: that two separate biological zones
border these islands, separated by the deep-water channel now known as
the Wallace Line, running between Bali and Lombok, which only a relative
handful of species have crossed. The islands east of Bali in effect form
a transitional zone where some of the world's strangest creatures are
found.
