Entire of Itself?

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The study of islands is experiencing a resurgence, highlighting their significant roles in continental history, state-making, and as sites for prison systems and imperial frontiers. However, the environmental factors influencing these histories have been largely overlooked. To grasp why an island became a penal colony, atomic test site, or tourist destination, it is essential to examine its unique environmental characteristics, including its shape, geology, climate, flora, fauna, and geographical relationships. Understanding an island's historical significance also requires analyzing how perceptions of it have evolved over time, including how it has been valued, protected, or exploited. Through fourteen narratives from diverse islands and archipelagos, this work presents islands as dynamic entities that both influence and are influenced by history. Spanning from antiquity to the present, it offers a collective examination of these unique places within the framework of environmental history. By exploring the complex layers of time, materiality, and identity inherent in island environments, the contributions challenge the traditional center-periphery view, advocating for an island-centered perspective that reveals both the islands' individual stories and their connections to broader historical trends.