Maritime History: A Gateway to Global History?

Abstract

This chapter introduces the structure and content of the volume and provides an overview of each chapter. It also provides definitions of maritime history, globalisation, and the differences between the study of maritime history and the study of global history. It gives an overview of recent maritime historiography and the existing intersection between maritime history and global history. It concludes by claiming that the dynamics of global trade - competition and cooperation in past and present alike - have become central to to the study of maritime history, and asserts that the contributions to this volume reflect the hypothesis.

Reviews of Lincoln Paine, The Sea and Civilization: A Maritime History of the World, with a response by Lincoln Paine

“…As Polónia notes, 'world history requires maritime history as a research field in order to understand global dynamics'. 67 Regardless of one's perspective, globalization is an established fact in little of danger of being reversed or significantly deflected in the foreseeable future. 68 This is obvious for the period since 1500, but it is no less true of earlier centuries, which are rich in examples of what Manning elsewhere calls 'previously unsuspected or under-appreciated dynamics in world history', not the least of which is the 'great divergence' that favoured Asia over Europe.…”

Global History and Maritime History

“…She documents the increasing breadth of maritime studies and asks "whether maritime history is at a crossroads leading to a kind of total history which encompasses all domains of knowledge." 21 She seeks to tease out differences in definitions of maritime, global and world history, but concludes that the present is "a time when the goal should be to cross frontiers of knowledge, a trend which implies both more global and more interdisciplinary studies." 22 Her approach is at once practical and visionary.…”

History of the Ports

“…Twenty-two papers on the subject were presented at the 2004 International Economic Maritime History Association Congress, but only 14 at the 2008 Congress. 8 It may be that there is now less interest in the modern era than previously. The Early Modern World volume in the extensive four-volume Sea in History series, published in 2017, has a whole section devoted to ports.…”