Oceans and Seas
The history of the world did not occur in land areas alone; the oceans and seas also have their own
stories to tell. Vast migrations of both ancient and modern peoples took place across the waterways of
the world; plants, animals, and diseases were exchanged; and competition arose among explorers
seeking new lands and merchants pursuing profits. A few points to understand when studying the
oceans are:
• The Arctic Ocean, the smallest of the world’s oceans, is packed in ice throughout most of the year.
Extremely difficult to navigate, it is the location of the famed northwest passage sought by early
European explorers. The passage is barely usable because of its ice-bound condition.
• The Indian Ocean, the third largest of the oceans, has seen extensive trade since the people of the
Harappan civilization sailed through one of its seas, the Arabian Sea, to trade with Sumer.
Throughout history the Indian Ocean has seen Malay sailors and Chinese, Muslim, and European
traders use the ocean’s monsoon winds to guide their expeditions through its waters. Africa also was
drawn into this trade. Oftentimes, commercial activity in the Indian Ocean produced intense
rivalries, especially among the Dutch, Portuguese, and Muslim sailors in the seventeenth century.
• The Atlantic Ocean became the scene of exchange between the Eastern and Western hemispheres
after the voyages of Columbus produced an encounter among European, African, and American
peoples. The Caribbean Sea saw the meeting of the three cultures on the sugar plantations of the
sixteenth through the eighteenth centuries. The Mediterranean Sea, joined to the Atlantic Ocean, saw
the glories of early Middle Eastern and Greco-Roman civilizations. Northern European societies
traded in the waters of the North Sea and the Baltic Sea.
• The Pacific Ocean, the world’s largest, is dotted with islands that witnessed the ancient voyages of
the Polynesian peoples of Oceania. The Bering Sea was the route of the earliest inhabitants of the
Americas into those continents. Societies of East and Southeast Asia communicated with one
another by means of the Sea of Japan and the South China and East China seas. The Manila galleons
of the sixteenth through the nineteenth centuries joined Latin America, the Philippine Islands, and
China in trade. World wars saw the use of Pacific islands for strategic purposes.
The chart below illustrates some of the political units and physical features of various world regions.