Abulafia David. The Boundless Sea: A Human History of the Oceans

Oxford University Press, 2019. — 1088 p. — ISBN 9780199934980, 0199934983.From the award-winning author of The Great Sea, a magnificent new global history of the oceans and of humankind's relationship with the sea.For most of human history, the seas and oceans have been the main means of long-distance trade and communication between peoples - for the spread of ideas and religion as well as commerce. This book traces the history of human movement and interaction around and across the world's greatest bodies of water, charting our relationship with the oceans from the time of the first voyagers. David Abulafia begins with the earliest of seafaring societies - the Polynesians of the Pacific, the possessors of intuitive navigational skills long before the invention of the compass, who by the first century were trading between their far-flung islands. By the seventh century, trading routes stretched from the coasts of Arabia and Africa to southern China and Japan, bringing together the Indian Ocean and the western Pacific and linking half the world through the international spice trade. In the Atlantic, centuries before the little kingdom of Portugal carved out its powerful, seaborne empire, many peoples sought new lands across the sea - the Bretons, the Frisians and, most notably, the Vikings, now known to be the first Europeans to reach North America. As Portuguese supremacy dwindled in the late sixteenth century, the Spanish, the Dutch and then the British each successively ruled the waves.Following merchants, explorers, pirates, cartographers and travellers in their quests for spices, gold, ivory, slaves, lands for settlement and knowledge of what lay beyond, Abulafia has created an extraordinary narrative of humanity and the oceans. From the earliest forays of peoples in hand-hewn canoes through uncharted waters to the routes now taken daily by supertankers in their thousands, The Boundless Sea shows how maritime networks came to form a continuum of interaction and interconnection across the globe: 90 per cent of global trade is still conducted by sea. This is history of the grandest scale and scope, and from a bracingly different perspective - not, as in most global histories, from the land, but from the boundless seas.David Abulafia is Emeritus Professor of Mediterranean History at the University of Cambridge, a Fellow of Gonville and Caius College and a former Chairman of the Cambridge History Faculty. His previous books include Frederick II, The Western Mediterranean Kingdoms and The Great Sea, which has been translated into a dozen languages. He is a member of the Academia Europaea, and in 2003 was made Commendatore dell'Ordine della Stella della Solidarietà Italiana in recognition of his work on Italian and Mediterranean history.List of Illustrations.
Preface.
Note on Transliteration and Dating.
Plates.
The Oldest Ocean: The Pacific, 176,000 BC–AD 1350.
The Oldest Ocean.
Songs of the Navigators.
The Middle Ocean: The Indian Ocean and Its Neighbours, 4500 BC – AD 1500.
The Waters of Paradise.
The Journey to the Land of the God.
Cautious Pioneers.
Mastering the Monsoon.
Brahmins, Buddhists and Businessmen.
A Maritime Empire?
«I am about to cross the Great Ocean».
The Rising and the Setting Sun.
«Now the world is the world’s world».
The Dragon Goes to Sea.
Light over the Western Ocean.
Lions, Deer and Hunting Dogs.
The Young Ocean: The Atlantic, 22,000 BC–AD 1500.
Living on the Edge.
Swords and Ploughshares.
Tin Traders.
North Sea Raiders.
«This iron-studded Dragon».
New Island Worlds.
White Bears, Whales and Walruses.
From Russia with Profit.
Stockfish and Spices.
The English Challenge.
Portugal Rising.
Virgin Islands.
Guinea Gold and Guinea Slaves.
Oceans in Conversation, AD 1492–1900.
The Great Acceleration.
Other Routes to the Indies.
To the Antipodes.
The Binding of the Oceans.
A New Atlantic.
The Struggle for the Indian Ocean.
The Great Galleons of Manila.
The Black Ships of Macau.
The Fourth Ocean.
The Rise of the Dutch.
Whose Seas?
Nations Afloat.
The Nordic Indies.
Austrialia or Australia?
Knots in the Network.
The Wickedest Place on Earth.
A Long Way to China.
Fur and Fire.
From the Lion’s Gate to the Fragrant Harbour.
Muscateers and Mogadorians.
The Oceans Contained, AD 1850–2000.
Continents Divided, Oceans Conjoined.
Steaming to Asia, Paddling to America.
War and Peace, and More War.
The Oceans in a Box.
Conclusion.
Museums with Maritime Collections.
Cape Verde Islands.
China.
Denmark.
Dominican Republic.
Finland.
Germany.
Italy.
Japan.
Malaysia.
The Netherlands.
New Zealand.
Norway.
Portugal.
Qatar.
Singapore.
Spain.
Sweden.
Turkey.
United Arab Emirates.
United Kingdom.
Further Reading.
Global Aproaches.
The Pacific.
The Indian Ocean.
The Atlantic.
The Arctic Ocean.
References.