5 Steps to a 5 AP World History, 2014-2015 Edition

The World History Environment and Periodization h 55

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 com-

petition arose among explorers seeking new lands and merchants pursuing profi ts. 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 diffi cult 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. Often times, com-
  mercial 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 hemi-
  spheres 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
  sugarplantations of the sixteenth through the eighteenth centuries. The Medi terranean 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 Pacifi c 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 earli-
  est 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 cen-
  turies joined Latin America, the Philippine Islands, and China in trade. World wars saw
  the use of Pacifi c islands for strategic purposes.

The chart below illustrates some of the political units and physical features of various world

regions.

REGION

EXAMPLES OF

MODERN COUNTRIES MAJOR RIVERS

MAJOR LANDFORMS

CLIMATE

East Asia China, Japan, North

Korea, South Korea

Ya lu R iver, Huang

He River, Chang

Jiang River

Mount Fuji, Gobi Desert,

Tibetan Plateau

Southeast Asia Vietnam, Thailand, Laos,

Indonesia, Malaysia

Mekong River, Irawaddy

River

Ring of Fire

South Asia India, Pakistan, Nepal,

Bhutan, Bangladesh

Ganges River, Indus

River, Brahmaputra

River

Himalayas, Hindu

Kush, Khyber Pass, monsoons

continued

http://www.ebook3000.com