World at Sea: Maritime Practices and Global History

The past 25 years have seen a dramatic expansion of maritime history scholarship, but the field still needs to be more integrated into world history. A World at Sea: Essays in Maritime History offers nine original essays that explore the relationship between maritime and terrestrial processes, the impact of new information on sea voyages, and the political symbolism of the land-sea divide. The contributors argue that maritime history matters because the oceans were key sites of experimentation, innovation, and disruption that reflected and sparked wide-ranging global change.

Format: Hardback
Length: 280 pages
Publication date: 09 October 2020
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press

The past quarter-century has witnessed a remarkable surge in scholarship in maritime history, encompassing fresh research on piracy, long-distance trade, and seafaring cultures. However, maritime history remains somewhat marginalized within the broader realm of world history, according to editors Lauren Benton and Nathan Perl-Rosenthal. Benton and Perl-Rosenthal urge historians to prioritize the exploration of the interconnectedness between maritime and terrestrial processes and to analyze the profound connections between global maritime practices and significant historical transformations.

A World at Sea: Essays in Maritime History is a groundbreaking collection of nine original essays that delve into the practices and processes that transcend the land-sea divide, shedding light on their profound influence on global change. The book's first section explores the regulatory order of the seas, shaped by the strategies of land-based polities and their agents, as well as conflicts at sea. The second section examines documentary practices that aggregated and communicated information about sea voyages and encounters, tracing the far-reaching impact of the explosion of new knowledge about the maritime world. The third section delves into the political symbolism of the land-sea divide as a threshold of power, featuring essays that examine the relationship between littoral geographies and sociolegal practices that span both land and sea.

Contributors to this volume include renowned scholars such as Lauren Benton, Adam Clulow, Xing Hang, David Igler, Jeppe Mulich, Lisa Norling, Nathan Perl-Rosenthal, Carla Rahn Phillips, Catherine Phipps, Matthew Raffety, and Margaret Schotte. Their insightful contributions highlight the significance of maritime history, emphasizing that the oceans were pivotal sites of experimentation, innovation, and disruption that mirrored and sparked widespread global change.

By placing the relationship between maritime and terrestrial processes at the center of historical inquiry, A World at Sea: Essays in Maritime History offers a fresh perspective on world history, challenging us to reevaluate our understanding of the interconnectedness of global systems. This book is a valuable resource for scholars, students, and anyone interested in exploring the rich tapestry of human history and its profound connections to the sea.

Weight: 590g
Dimension: 161 x 236 x 26 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780812252415