The oceans of the globe both connect and separate the world. Seafaring cultures have shaped the landscape of history. Battles at sea have defined warfare for millennia. The ocean influences art, music, literature, and architecture. This book explores all the ways that the ocean has shaped our history from the ancient Greeks and Egyptians to the modern day.

This book includes chapters about ancient shipbuilding, Greek galleys that won sea battles to establish their empire, and Mongols invading Japan with a fleet of ships in 1281. There are entire chapters dedicated to sightings of sea monsters and imaginary islands. Other subjects include maritime trade, ocean exploration, modern naval warfare, tsunamis, and the seafood trade.
There is a whole chapter about how Aristotle first began to catalog marine animals and how it began centuries of science exploring ocean life.

This is such an interesting way to view history through this lens of the ocean, focusing on how oceans have connected people throughout time.

I was annoyed that this book talks about the beginning of Earth being 4.6 million years ago, without making it clear that that is a theory. This book presents those numbers as if they were fact, and goes on to explain a theory of how the Earth developed life and how humans evolved, without explaining that it is only one theory among many. It undermines my confidence in the veracity of the text when theories are misrepresented as facts.

It was so interesting to learn all the these cool snippets of history, and be able to see how humanity has developed over the centuries!

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from the publisher/author in exchange for a free and honest review. All the opinions stated here are my own true thoughts, and are not influenced by anyone.