Compared to the Indian Ocean over the last two millennia or the Atlantic over the past five hundred years, the Pacific lacks a coherent history. Its size and the variety of peoples living in and around it make its history seem disjointed in comparison to other ocean basins. Yet Pa cific history acquires a mea sure of unity and coherence when it becomes Pacific environmental history.1 Even a vast ocean that covers one- third of the globe features some commonalities. One is the ring of fire, the active volcanic zone that encircles the ocean, from New Zealand to Kamchatka to Alaska to Chile.