Books > History > World history > 500 to 1500
|
Buy Now
On the Ocean - The Mediterranean and the Atlantic from prehistory to AD 1500 (Hardcover)
Loot Price: R875
Discovery Miles 8 750
You Save: R202
(19%)
|
|
On the Ocean - The Mediterranean and the Atlantic from prehistory to AD 1500 (Hardcover)
Expected to ship within 9 - 15 working days
|
For humans the sea is, and always has been, an alien environment.
Ever moving and ever changing in mood, it is a place without time,
in contrast to the land which is fixed and scarred by human
activity giving it a visible history. While the land is familiar,
even reassuring, the sea is unknown and threatening. By taking to
the sea humans put themselves at its mercy. It has often been
perceived to be an alien power teasing and cajoling. The sea may
give but it takes. Why, then, did humans become seafarers? Part of
the answer is that we are conditioned by our genetics to be
acquisitive animals: we like to acquire rare materials and we are
eager for esoteric knowledge, and society rewards us well for both.
Looking out to sea most will be curious as to what is out there - a
mysterious island perhaps but what lies beyond? Our innate
inquisitiveness drives us to explore. Barry Cunliffe looks at the
development of seafaring on the Mediterranean and the Atlantic, two
contrasting seas - the Mediterranean without a significant tide,
enclosed and soon to become familiar, the Atlantic with its
frightening tidal ranges, an ocean without end. We begin with the
Middle Palaeolithic hunter gatherers in the eastern Mediterranean
building simple vessels to make their remarkable crossing to Crete
and we end in the early years of the sixteenth century with sailors
from Spain, Portugal and England establishing the limits of the
ocean from Labrador to Patagonia. The message is that the contest
between humans and the sea has been a driving force, perhaps the
driving force, in human history.
General
Is the information for this product incomplete, wrong or inappropriate?
Let us know about it.
Does this product have an incorrect or missing image?
Send us a new image.
Is this product missing categories?
Add more categories.
Review This Product
No reviews yet - be the first to create one!
|
|
Email address subscribed successfully.
A activation email has been sent to you.
Please click the link in that email to activate your subscription.