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A problem of medieval geography : diffusion of maize and crossing of the Atlantic Ocean during Precolumbian times. Several scholars (especially M.D.W. Jeffreys and Carl Sauer) have tried to prove that maize was known in the ancient world before the voyages of Christopher Columbus. To support their thesis, they bring chiefly forward texts by Valentim Fernandes concerning Africa, Pigafetta concerning the Philippines, and Pietro-Martire d'Anghiera concerning Andalusia and North Italy. A gene¬ ral study of the various names formerly given to maize suggests the idea that this cereal was spread through the ancien world by the Arabs or at least by Muslim people, and that the center of diffusion was Mekka. Hence the hypothesis brought forward by M.D.W. Jeffreys, that Arabic seafarers used to cross the Atlantic Ocean a long time before Chr. Columbus ; but this assertion raises some technical problems and it might be that maize was introduced only by chance into the ancient world.

Spatial growth in Bangkok and. land, sales. The study of spatial growth in Bangkok during the contemporary period leads us to concentrate on the study of a particular zone, the urban fringes, and a single theme, land sales. The study method used involves a close association of survey practices and photograph interpretation ; this makes an overall morphological approach possible, enables the researcher to establish relationships between phenomena of a morphological nature and social phenomena, and with them to procédé to generalizations. If land sales among village proprietors continues, the direct offer of building plots by this category of proprietors to urban users is declining in face of the competition of the large developers : companies, governmental units, and private people in Bangkok. These developers today occupy a key position between the owners of agricultural land and the buyers of urban terrain. Development rythm and the form of extension of the zone urbanised depend directly upon the capital that developers can invest and tie up, and upon the level of demand of building land — thus upon the general economic situation. A very clear relationship appears, in fact, among the accumulation of capital in the government seat beginning with the start of the 1950's, the growth of the land market, and the rapid increase in the price of urban land. Beginning with the middle of the 1960's, there is a trend towards the concen¬ tration of capital to the benefit of large companies supported by banks. These companies undertook vast development programs and, more recently, have built far beyond the limits of the urbanized zone. These changes, which are easily explained by the social and economic growth of Thailand, in turn influence the structures of the metropolitan society, provoking an acceleration of residential mobility and giving birth to new forms of organization and occupation of space throughout the whole area of the urban fringes of Bangkok.

The rural life of the Isle of Pines. The Isle of Pines belongs to the territory of New Caledonia. It is an old coral plateau built round a block of igneous rock containing nickel. Its population is 97 % Melanesian. This population is divided into three groups of unequal size. The most numerous group settled in various periods before the 18th century. The second, to which the big chieftancy belongs, appeared towards 1700. The third arrived in 1879 ; it consists of a group of families that originate from the West Coast of New Caledonia and who participated in one way or another in the revolt of 1878. The French administration greatly affected the rural life of the Isle of Pines by establishing in it a penitentiary for more than forty years. This resulted in population movements. Furthermore, the presence of a Catholic mission in the southeastern sector of the island had the effect of regrouping the entire population into a single agglomeration. Vao is at present the largest Melanesian village in the territory. Agricultural activity is conducted in areas that were already delimited for farming long before the arrival of Europeans. Land had been reclaimed from the forests, which originally must have covered the whole of the coral plateau and a good part of the mineral massif. The useful agricultural area was estimated in 1973 to total 2,073 hectares. They are located in a low-lying region in contact with the two geological units. Land tenure has varied ilittle as respects manner since many decades : coproperty is the rule. But exploitation is more and more on a private ownership basis. The Isle of Pines has no commercial plantations, as is the case in New Caledonia's Grande Terre. The agricultural system still in widespread use is based on the growing of yams, the traditional food of the Melanesians. Since several years, a large part of the adult population devotes itself to tasks outside of the tribal life. In 1973, 215 adults were occupied in work elsewhere ; 135 of them are salaried employees whose jobs are located outside of their island of origin. These emigrations provide an inflow of monetary funds, unfortunately very badly utilized. Little by little the Isle of Pines is losing its active worker population. The proximity of Noumea and the high salaries offered by industry and commerce encourage rural exodus. And this is occurring at a time when there are no immediate prospects for new rural activities to compensate for the decline in traditional foodstuff farming.