A Short History of Seafaring

A Short History of Seafaring

Author: Brian Lavery

Publisher: Penguin

Published: 2024-12-02

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 0744020697

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For more than 5,000 years, the sea has challenged, rewarded, and punished the brave sailors who set forth to explore it. This history of the sea and sailing tells the remarkable story of those individuals--whether they lived to tell the tale themselves or not. From the early Polynesian seafarers and the first full circumnavigations of the globe, to explorers picking their way through the coral reefs of the West Indies, this book tells the compelling story of life at sea that lies behind man's search for new lands, new trade, conquest, and uncharted waters. The great milestones of nautical history from the discovery of America to the establishment of the Royal Navy, the naval history of the Civil War, the Battle of Midway and modern piracy are all charted and set in their cultural and historical context. A Short History of Seafaring is a unique compendium of awe-inspiring tales of epic sea voyages that always involve great feats of seamanship, navigation, endurance, and ingenuity.


The Sea in World History [2 volumes]

The Sea in World History [2 volumes]

Author: Stephen K. Stein

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA

Published: 2017-04-24

Total Pages: 856

ISBN-13:

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This two-volume set documents the essential role of the sea and maritime activity across history, from travel and food production to commerce and conquest. In all eras, water transport has served as the cheapest and most efficient means of moving cargo and people over any significant distance. Only relatively recently have railroads and aircraft provided an alternative. Most of the world's bulk goods continue to travel primarily by ship over water. Even today, 95 percent of the cargo that enters and leaves the United States does so by ship. Similarly, people around the world rely on the sea for food, and in recent years, the sea has become an important source of oil and other resources, with the longterm effects of our continuing efforts to extract resources from the sea further highlighting environmental concerns that range from pollution to the exhaustion of fish stocks. This chronologically organized two-volume reference addresses the history of the sea, beginning with ancient civilizations (4000 to 1000 BCE) and ending with the modern era (1945 to the present day). Each of the eight chapters is further broken down into sections that focus on specific nations or regions, offering detailed descriptions of that area of the world and shorter entries on specific topics, individuals, and events. The book spans maritime history, covering major seafaring peoples and nations; famous explorers, travelers, and commanders; events, battles, and wars; key technologies, including famous ships; important processes and ongoing events, such as piracy and the slave trade; and more. Readers will benefit from dozens of primary source documents—ranging from ancient Egyptian tales of seafaring to texts by renowned travelers like Marco Polo, Zheng He, and Ibn Battuta—that provide firsthand accounts from the age of discovery as well as accounts of battle from World War I and II and more modern accounts of the sea.


Seafaring Stories: The History of Maritime Exploration

Seafaring Stories: The History of Maritime Exploration

Author: Rowley N. Howland

Publisher: Book Lovers HQ

Published: 2024-08-01

Total Pages: 202

ISBN-13:

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Embark on an epic journey across the world's oceans with "Seafaring Stories: The History of Maritime Exploration." This captivating book delves into the rich and multifaceted history of humanity's relationship with the sea, from ancient mariners navigating uncharted waters to modern-day explorers pushing the boundaries of oceanic research. Discover how maritime exploration, a topic as relevant today as ever, has shaped global trade, influenced cultures, and transformed societies. Through engaging storytelling and meticulous research, "Seafaring Stories" uncovers the remarkable tales of daring explorers, innovative shipbuilders, and the indomitable human spirit that drove countless voyages into the unknown. Each chapter is a treasure trove of fascinating insights, shedding light on the profound impact of maritime exploration on our world. What you will find in this book: Ancient Mariners: The dawn of seafaring and early navigation techniques. Age of Discovery: The bold voyages that expanded the known world. Asian Naval Empires: The rise and influence of Eastern maritime powers. Golden Age of Sail: The era of conquest and colonization. Industrial Revolution: The transformation of maritime trade with steam and steel. World Wars: The strategic importance of naval power. Cold War: Modern maritime dynamics and superpower rivalries. Blue Economy: Innovations and sustainability in today's maritime industries. Cultural Currents: The cultural impact of maritime exploration. Future Exploration: The next frontier in oceanic discovery. Dive into the compelling narratives of "Seafaring Stories" and explore how the relentless pursuit of knowledge and adventure on the high seas has shaped our past and continues to influence our future. This book, with its insights into the past and its implications for the present and future, is a must-read for history enthusiasts, maritime buffs, and anyone fascinated by the enduring allure of the ocean. Discover the legacy of maritime exploration and its timeless connection to the human spirit.


Voyages, the Age of Engines

Voyages, the Age of Engines

Author: Joshua M. Smith

Publisher: University Press of Florida

Published: 2009-02-22

Total Pages: 731

ISBN-13: 0813040779

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Intended as a text for college and advanced high school students, Voyages covers the entirety of the American maritime experience, from the discovery of the continent to the present. Published in cooperation with the National Maritime Historical Society, the selections chosen for this anthology of primary texts and images place equal emphasis on the ages of sail and steam, on the Atlantic and Pacific, on the Gulf Coasts and the Great Lakes, and on the high seas and inland rivers. The texts have been chosen to provide students with interesting, usable, and historically significant documents that will prompt class discussion and critical thinking. In each case, the material is linked to the larger context of American history, including issues of gender, race, power, labor, and the environment.


The History of Seafaring

The History of Seafaring

Author: Donald Johnson

Publisher: Anova Books

Published: 2007

Total Pages: 386

ISBN-13: 9781844860401

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A large format, meticulously researched, lavishly illustrated and fully international history of mankind's seaborne voyages from the Phoenicians and Chinese to modern navies and round-the-world sailing yachts. Royal prestige, intellectual curiosity, commerce and territorial expansion all propelled mankind to make perilous voyages across unpredictable oceans to find out what lay beyond the horizon, and the art of navigation allowed them to do so. From initial conjecture and philosophical reason, man ventured forth to glean first-hand information of the seas by exploration and scientific investigation. The author pieces together the advances in astronomy, navigation, shipbuilding and surveying through the ages to tell the fascinating and absorbing history of navigation and exploration in an elegant volume that is beautifully illustrated with manuscripts and rutters, portolans and sea charts, ship's instruments and artefacts. The meticulous research, based on original sources, has brought to light a lot of new information, which in some cases contradicts popular held beliefs. The book opens with the basic questions and challenges of navigation. Part 2 unravels the development of science and seafaring from the ancient times to the Mediterranean era. This created a basis for longer sailings, which are at the heart of Part 3 and in Part 4 the book ends with the advanced technology that made it possible to determine a ship's exact position at sea.


Maritime History as World History

Maritime History as World History

Author: Daniel Finamore

Publisher:

Published: 2004

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9780813033419

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From the foreword: "In the 21st century the division between the maritime and terrestrial worlds has virtually disappeared. Events and issues that previously involved only maritime subjects need to be reexamined today from the perspective of those events and developments occurring simultaneously ashore. It is through this approach, as demonstrated by this fine collection of essays, that maritime history truly becomes a vehicle for understanding global history." Maritime events today appear to be tied more closely to events ashore than ever before, and seafaring has been the primary catalyst of much of world history. These essays by many of the world's leading scholars present an up-to-date assessment of the field of maritime history in the early 21st century. They offer fresh insights into the impact of seaborne exploration, warfare, and commerce on the course of history, from the independent traditions of ancient Japanese, Arab, and Mediterranean seafarers to the rapid European expansion around the globe from the 16th century onward. The book is organized around the themes of the sea as a theater of exploration, a highway of commerce, an arena for conflict, and a muse for artistic inspiration. The authors utilize information from the earliest recorded voyages to the present to illuminate an era's interesting and universal attributes and the successful explorers' motivations--usually a combination of scientific, political, economic, and religious reasons. They also show that the competing principles of freedom of the seas versus exclusive governance by political entities are central to all discussions of the sea in history. The book underscores how the myriad events that entwine humankind with the sea--both those of written record as well as those of oral tradition--form the substance of a history of worldwide significance. Its wide-ranging perspective will appeal to all readers who seek an engaging evaluation of the significance of the sea in human history. Published jointly with the Peabody Essex Museum New Perspectives on Maritime History and Nautical Archaeology


The Sea and Civilization

The Sea and Civilization

Author: Lincoln Paine

Publisher: Vintage

Published: 2015-10-27

Total Pages: 802

ISBN-13: 1101970359

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A monumental retelling of world history through the lens of the sea—revealing in breathtaking depth how people first came into contact with one another by ocean and river, lake and stream, and how goods, languages, religions, and entire cultures spread across and along the world’s waterways, bringing together civilizations and defining what makes us most human. The Sea and Civilization is a mesmerizing, rhapsodic narrative of maritime enterprise, from the origins of long-distance migration to the great seafaring cultures of antiquity; from Song Dynasty human-powered paddle-boats to aircraft carriers and container ships. Lincoln Paine takes the reader on an intellectual adventure casting the world in a new light, in which the sea reigns supreme. Above all, Paine makes clear how the rise and fall of civilizations can be linked to the sea. An accomplishment of both great sweep and illuminating detail, The Sea and Civilization is a stunning work of history.


Fathoming the Ocean

Fathoming the Ocean

Author: Helen M. Rozwadowski

Publisher: Harvard University Press

Published: 2008-03-31

Total Pages: 291

ISBN-13: 0674042948

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By the middle of the nineteenth century, as scientists explored the frontiers of polar regions and the atmosphere, the ocean remained silent and inaccessible. The history of how this changed—of how the depths became a scientific passion and a cultural obsession, an engineering challenge and a political attraction—is the story that unfolds in Fathoming the Ocean. In a history at once scientific and cultural, Helen Rozwadowski shows us how the Western imagination awoke to the ocean's possibilities—in maritime novels, in the popular hobby of marine biology, in the youthful sport of yachting, and in the laying of a trans-Atlantic telegraph cable. The ocean emerged as important new territory, and scientific interests intersected with those of merchant-industrialists and politicians. Rozwadowski documents the popular crazes that coincided with these interests—from children's sailor suits to the home aquarium and the surge in ocean travel. She describes how, beginning in the 1860s, oceanography moved from yachts onto the decks of oceangoing vessels, and landlubber naturalists found themselves navigating the routines of a working ship's physical and social structures. Fathoming the Ocean offers a rare and engaging look into our fascination with the deep sea and into the origins of oceanography—origins still visible in a science that focuses the efforts of physicists, chemists, geologists, biologists, and engineers on the common enterprise of understanding a vast, three-dimensional, alien space.


Battles Map by Map

Battles Map by Map

Author: DK

Publisher: Penguin

Published: 2021-05-04

Total Pages: 288

ISBN-13: 0744048265

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Experience the world's most significant battles through bold, easy-to-grasp maps. Covering everything from the battlefields of the ancient world to the bomb-scarred landscapes of World War II and beyond, this ebook includes engrossing maps telling the story of history's most famous battles. Using brand new, in-depth maps and expert analysis, see for yourself how legendary military milestones were won and lost, and how tactics, technology, vision, and luck have all played a part in the outcome of wars throughout history. Additionally, historic paintings, photographs, and objects take you to the heart of the action; profiles introduce famous commanders and military leaders and analyze their achievements; and the impact of groundbreaking weapons and battlefield innovations is revealed. Bursting with lavish illustrations and full of fascinating detail, Battles Map by Map is the ultimate history ebook for map lovers, military history enthusiasts, and armchair generals everywhere.


Ships Of Discovery And Exploration

Ships Of Discovery And Exploration

Author: Lincoln P. Paine

Publisher: HarperCollins

Published: 2000-11-15

Total Pages: 211

ISBN-13: 0547561636

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Lincoln P. Paine's SHIPS OF THE WORLD: AN HISTORICAL HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA was honored as one of the best reference books of the year by the New York Public Library, and Library Journal described it as "clearly the most fascinating book of the year." Now, in two equally fascinating new books, Paine focuses on two of the most interesting areas of maritime history: WARSHIPS OF THE WORLD TO 1900 and SHIPS OF DISCOVERY AND EXPLORATION. SHIPS OF DISCOVERY AND EXPLORATION tells the stories of 125 vessels that have played important roles in voyages of geographical exploration and scientific discovery, from early Polynesian double canoes to the most technically sophisticated submersibles. Each ship is described in a vivid short essay that captures its personality as well as its physical characteristics, construction, and history. Drawings, paintings, and photographs show the grandeur and grace of these oceangoing vessels, maps help the reader follow the routes of great seafarers and naval campaigns, and chronologies offer a perspective on underwater archaeology sites, maritime technology, exploration, and disasters at sea.