Sea Otters: A History

Before the California gold rush, the sea otter was the largest nonhuman species in the world's largest oceanscape, influencing the East Asian maritime fur trade and imperial ambition. Richard Ravalli's book Sea Otters: A History combines new histories of the species to consider international and global factors beyond the fur trade, weaving together the story of imperial ambition, greed, and an iconic sea mammal.

\n Format: Paperback / softback
\n Length: 216 pages
\n Publication date: 01 June 2021
\n Publisher: University of Nebraska Press
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Before the California gold rush, the sea otter was the most important nonhuman species in defining the world's largest oceanscape. In addition to the more traditional aspects of the sea otter trade, such as Russian expansion in Alaska, British and American trading in the Pacific Northwest, and Spanish colonial ventures along the California coast, the global importance of the species can be seen in its impact on the East Asian maritime fur trade. This trade linked imperial China, Japan, and indigenous Ainu peoples of the Kurile Islands as early as the fifteenth century.

In Sea Otters: A History, Richard Ravalli synthesizes the sea otters complex history of interaction with humans by drawing on new histories of the species that consider international and global factors beyond the fur trade, including sea mammal conservation, Cold War nuclear testing, and environmental tourism. Examining sea otters in a Pacific World context, Ravalli weaves together the story of imperial ambition, greed, and an iconic sea mammal that left a determinative imprint on the modern world.

\n Weight: 342g\n
Dimension: 152 x 228 x 18 (mm)\n
ISBN-13: 9781496225009\n \n