From the beginning of history to the present, a sweep of the world's oceans and seas and how they have shaped the course of civilization.
From the author of the acclaimed The Great Sea, ("Magnificent . . . radiates scholarship and a sense of wonder and fun," Simon Sebag Montefiore; Book of the Year, The Economist), David Abulafia's new book guides readers along the world's greatest bodies of water to reveal their primary role in human history. The main protagonists are the three major oceans--the Atlantic, the Pacific, and the Indian--which together comprise the majority of the earth's water and cover over half of its surface. Over time, as passage through them gradually extended and expanded, linking first islands and then continents, maritime networks developed, evolving from local exploration to lines of regional communication and commerce and eventually to major arteries. These waterways carried goods, plants, livestock, and of course people--free and enslaved--across vast expanses, transforming and ultimately linking irrevocably the economies and cultures of Africa, Europe, Asia, and the Americas.
Far more than merely another history of exploration, The Boundless Sea shows how maritime networks gradually formed a continuum of interaction and interconnection. Working chronologically, Abulafia moves from the earliest forays of peoples taking hand-hewn canoes into uncharted waters, to the routes taken daily by supertankers in the thousands. History on the grandest scale and scope, written with passion and precision, this is a project few could have undertaken. Abulafia, whom The Atlantic calls "superb writer with a gift for lucid compression and an eye for the telling detail," proves again why he ranks as one of the world's greatest storytellers.
Author(s): David Abulafia
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Year: 2019
Language: English
Pages: 1088
City: New York, NY
Tags: History--World History; History--Maritime History; Ocean and civilization--History; Trade routes--History; Navigation--History.
List of Illustrations xi
Preface xvii
Note on Transliteration and Dating xxxi
PART ONE
The Oldest Ocean: The Pacific, 176,000 BC–AD 1350
1. The Oldest Ocean 3
2. Songs of the Navigators 20
PART TWO
The Middle Ocean: The Indian Ocean and Its Neighbours, 4500 BC–AD 1500
3. The Waters of Paradise 43
4. The Journey to the Land of the God 70
5. Cautious Pioneers 85
6. Mastering the Monsoon 99
7. Brahmins, Buddhists and Businessmen 124
8. A Maritime Empire? 148
9. ‘I am about to cross the Great Ocean’ 166
10. The Rising and the Setting Sun 189
11. ‘Now the world is the world’s world’ 212
12. The Dragon Goes to Sea 236
13. Light over the Western Ocean 251
14. Lions, Deer and Hunting Dogs 272
PART THREE
The Young Ocean: The Atlantic, 22,000 BC–AD 1500
15. Living on the Edge 299
16. Swords and Ploughshares 314
17. Tin Traders 326
18. North Sea Raiders 339
19. ‘This iron-studded dragon’ 357
20. New Island Worlds 372
21. White Bears, Whales and Walruses 393
22. From Russia with Profit 415
23. Stockfish and Spices 432
24. The English Challenge 447
25. Portugal Rising 465
26. Virgin Islands 481
27. Guinea Gold and Guinea Slaves 497
PART FOUR
Oceans in Conversation, AD 1492–1900
28. The Great Acceleration 517
29. Other Routes to the Indies 536
30. To the Antipodes 550
31. The Binding of the Oceans 565
32. A New Atlantic 582
33. The Struggle for the Indian Ocean 594
34. The Great Galleons of Manila 611
35. The Black Ships of Macau 634
36. The Fourth Ocean 655
37. The Rise of the Dutch 668
38. Whose Seas? 679
39. Nations Afloat 696
40. The Nordic Indies 709
41. Austrialia or Australia? 727
42. Knots in the Network 745
43. The Wickedest Place on Earth 763
44. A Long Way to China 780
45. Fur and Fire 797
46. From the Lion’s Gate to the Fragrant Harbour 818
47. Muscateers and Mogadorians 829
PART FIVE
The Oceans Contained, AD 1850–2000
48. Continents Divided, Oceans Conjoined 845
49. Steaming to Asia, Paddling to America 860
50. War and Peace, and More War 877
51. The Oceans in a Box 892
Conclusion 907
Museums with Maritime Collections 909
Further Reading 913
References 919
Index 985
