MANUSCRIPT XXXV: Why Miklouho-Maclay Chose New Guinea

Nikolai Miklouho-Maclay (1846–88), the Russian explorer, naturalist and anthropologist, dedicated 12 years of his short life to field research in Oceania, from 1871 to 1883. Here we provide the first translation into English of an important but unfinished essay by Maclay, written early in the course of his travels, between 1871 and 1872, and titled ‘Why I chose the is[land] of New Guinea as the base of my voyage to the is[lands] of the Pacific Ocean?’ Intended as a draft introduction to his major book, the final manuscript of which was later lost, the essay was neither completed nor published during his lifetime. Our introduction sets Maclay’s essay within the contexts of the development of ethnographic method, European knowledge about Papuans and New Guinea, and his own unfolding research programme.