The Boundless Sea Read online

  David Abulafia

  * * *

  THE BOUNDLESS SEA

  A Human History of the Oceans

  Contents

  List of Illustrations

  Preface

  Note on Transliteration and Dating

  PART ONE

  The Oldest Ocean: The Pacific, 176,000 BC–AD 1350 1. The Oldest Ocean

  2. Songs of the Navigators

  PART TWO

  The Middle Ocean: The Indian Ocean and Its Neighbours, 4500 BC–AD 1500 3. The Waters of Paradise

  4. The Journey to the Land of the God

  5. Cautious Pioneers

  6. Mastering the Monsoon

  7. Brahmins, Buddhists and Businessmen

  8. A Maritime Empire?

  9. ‘I am about to cross the Great Ocean’

  10. The Rising and the Setting Sun

  11. ‘Now the world is the world’s world’

  12. The Dragon Goes to Sea

  13. Light over the Western Ocean

  14. Lions, Deer and Hunting Dogs

  PART THREE

  The Young Ocean: The Atlantic, 22,000 BC–AD 1500 15. Living on the Edge

  16. Swords and Ploughshares

  17. Tin Traders

  18. North Sea Raiders

  19. ‘This iron-studded dragon’

  20. New Island Worlds

  21. White Bears, Whales and Walruses

  22. From Russia with Profit

  23. Stockfish and Spices

  24. The English Challenge

  25. Portugal Rising

  26. Virgin Islands

  27. Guinea Gold and Guinea Slaves

  PART FOUR

  Oceans in Conversation, AD 1492–1900 28. The Great Acceleration

  29. Other Routes to the Indies

  30. To the Antipodes

  31. The Binding of the Oceans

  32. A New Atlantic

  33. The Struggle for the Indian Ocean

  34. The Great Galleons of Manila

  35. The Black Ships of Macau

  36. The Fourth Ocean

  37. The Rise of the Dutch

  38. Whose Seas?

  39. Nations Afloat

  40. The Nordic Indies

  41. Austrialia or Australia?

  42. Knots in the Network

  43. The Wickedest Place on Earth

  44. A Long Way to China

  45. Fur and Fire

  46. From the Lion’s Gate to the Fragrant Harbour

  47. Muscateers and Mogadorians

  PART FIVE

  The Oceans Contained, AD 1850–2000 48. Continents Divided, Oceans Conjoined

  49. Steaming to Asia, Paddling to America

  50. War and Peace, and More War

  51. The Oceans in a Box

  Conclusion

  Museums with Maritime Collections

  Further Reading

  References

  Index

  About the Author

  David Abulafia is Emeritus Professor of Mediterranean History at the University of Cambridge, a Fellow of Gonville and Caius College and a former Chairman of the Cambridge History Faculty. His previous books include Frederick II, The Discovery of Mankind and The Great Sea: A Human History of the Mediterranean, which has been translated into a dozen languages. He is a member of the Academia Europaea and a Fellow of the British Academy, where he is Chair of the Medieval Studies section.

  BY THE SAME AUTHOR

  The Two Italies

  Frederick II: A Medieval Emperor

  A Mediterranean Emporium

  The Western Mediterranean Kingdoms

  The Discovery of Mankind: Atlantic Encounters in the Age of Columbus

  The Great Sea: A Human History of the Mediterranean

  My bounty is as boundless as the sea

  (Shakespeare)

  Praeceptoribus Paulinis

  PNB CED TEBH AHM JRMS PFT

  necnon INRD

  List of Illustrations

  Every effort has been made to contact all copyright holders. The publishers will be pleased to amend in future editions any errors or omissions brought to their attention.

  1. Tepuke, a modern canoe based on ancient Polynesian design, built by the Vaka Taumako Project. (Photo: Wade Fairley, 2008)

  2. Rock carving of a boat with a claw sail, possibly dating back to the early settlements, Olowalu, Maui. (Photo: Bill Brooks/Alamy)

  3. Relief carving of the Egyptian fleet during the expedition to the Land of Punt, 18th Dynasty. Funerary temple of Hatshepsut, Deir El-Bahri, Egypt. (Photo: Prisma Archivo/Alamy)

  4. Drawing of relief carving of the Egyptian fleet in the expedition to the Land of Punt. (Photo: Interfoto/Alamy)

  5. Seal depicting four gazelles, Dilmun (Bahrain), late third millennium BC. National Museum, Bahrain. (Photo: by kind courtesy Harriet E. W. Crawford, author of Early Dilmun Seals from Saar: Art and Commerce in Bronze Age Bahrain)

  6. Seal showing a sewn-plank ship, India (probably Bengal or Andhra Pradesh), 4th–5th century AD, found in Thailand. National Museum, Bangkok. (Photo: Thierry Ollivier)

  7. Coin of the Emperor Victorinus, minted in Cologne, c.AD 270, found in Thailand. National Museum, U Thong, Suphanburi, Thailand, bequeathed by Air Vice Marshal Montri Haanawichai. (Photo: Thierry Ollivier)

  8. Terracotta head of a Persian or Arab merchant, Western Thailand, 7th or 8th century AD. National Museum, Bangkok. (Photo: Thierry Ollivier)

  9. Porcelain ewer, China (possibly Guangdong), c.AD 1000. British Museum, London. (Photo: © The Trustees of the British Museum)

  10. Three Intaglios, Oc-èo site, My Lam Village, An Giang Provence, Fu Nan Period 6th century. Museum of Vietnamese History, Ho Chi Min City. (Photo: © Kaz Tsuruta)

  11. 19th-century copy of an original copper plate from Kollam, south India, AD 849. Cambridge University Library, MS Oo.1.14. (Photo: By kind permission of the Syndics of Cambridge University Library)

  12. Modern reconstruction of The Jewel of Muscat, a 9th-century Arab ship wrecked off the coast of Belitung, Indonesia. (Photo: Alessandro Ghidoni, 2010)

  13. Changsha Bowl, Tang dynasty, Hunan province, 9th century, from the Belitung shipwreck. (Photo: © Tilman Walterfang, 2004 / Seabed Explorations New Zealand Ltd)

  14. 14th-century wooden cargo tags from a Chinese junk wrecked off the coast of Sinan, Korea, 1323. (Photo: National Museum of Korea)

  15. Celadon vase with dragon handles, China, Yuan Dynasty, 14th century, from the Sinan shipwreck. (Photo: National Museum of Korea)

  16. Medieval Chinese currency, Northern Song Dynasty. (Photo: Scott Semens)

  17. Mongol ship attacked by Japanese warriors in 1281, detail from the Mōko Shūrai Ekotoba scroll, facsimile of the late 13th-century original in the Museum of the Imperial Collections, Imperial Palace, Tokyo, Japan. (Photo: Pictures from History/Bridgeman Images)

  18. Sailing chart showing India, Ceylon and Africa, based on the voyages of Zheng He, woodblock illustration from Mao Yuanyi, Wubei Zhi, 1621. (Photo: Universal History Archive/Bridgeman Images)

  19. Miniature from Maqamat Al-Hariri, 1237. Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris. (Photo: Heritage Image Partnership Ltd / Alamy)

  20. Miniature of St Brendan and monks, c.1460, English school. University Library, Augsburg, Germany. (Photo: Picture Art Collection/Alamy)

  21. Golden boat, first century BC or AD, found Broighter, Northern Ireland. (Photo: Werner Forman/Getty Images)

  22. Iron Age settlement, Santa Luzia, Viana do Castelo, Portugal. (Photo: João Grisantes)

  23. ‘Carp’s Tongue’ swords, 800–850 BC, from a hoard found in the Bay of Huelva, south-western Spain. (Photo: Miguel Ángel Otero)

  24. Viking ship, c.820, found at Oseberg. Kulturhistorisk Museum, Oslo,
Norway. (Photo: © 2019 Kulturhistorisk museum, UiO / CC BY-SA 4.0)

  25. Detail of a sail from a Viking memorial stone from Gotland, Sweden, 8th-9th century. Gotland Museum, Visby, Sweden. (Photo: W. Carter/Wikimedia Commons)

  26. Coin from Haithabu in southern Denmark found in Birka in central Sweden. (Photo: Heritage Image Partnership/Alamy)

  27. Inuit carvings from Greenland. (Photo: National Museum of Denmark, Copenhagen)

  28. Crozier of Bishop Olafur of Gardar, 13th century. (Photo: National Museum of Denmark, Copenhagen)

  29. 15th-century clothing from Greenland, reflecting current European fashions. (Photo: National Museum of Denmark, Copenhagen)

  30. The Kingigtorssuaq Runestone, inscribed by two Norse Greenlanders, 13th century or later. (Photo: National Museum of Denmark, Copenhagen)

  31. Merchants’ houses, Lübeck, Germany. (Photo: Thomas Radbruch)

  32. Miniature of Jonah and the Whale from Spiegel van der Menschen Behoudenisse, Dutch school, early 15th century. British Library, London, Add. 11575, f.65v. (Photo: © British Library Board. All Rights Reserved / Bridgeman Images)

  33. Jaume Ferrer, detail from the Catalan atlas of the world, attributed to Abraham Cresques, 1375. (Photo: Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Paris)

  34. Native inhabitant of La Gomera, illustration from Leonardo Torriani, Descripción e historia del reino de las Islas Canarias, 1592. (Photo: Universidade de Coimbra. Biblioteca Geral)

  35. Bowl showing a Portuguese caravel, from Málaga, Spain, 15th century. (Photo: © Victoria & Albert Museum, London)

  36. Madeira archipelago, detail from the Corbitis Atlas, Venetian school, c.1400. (Photo: Bibloteca Nazionale Marciana Ms. It. VI 213, page 4)

  37. Elmina, Ghana, miniature from Georg Braun and Frans Hogenberg, Civitates Orbis Terrarum, 1572. (Photo: Chronicle/Alamy)

  38. Portuguese padrão from Cape Cross, western Namibia, 1486. Deutsches Historisches Museum, Berlin, Germany. (Photo: © DHM/T. Bruns/Bridgeman Images)

  39. Detail of the African coast from Martin Waldseemüller’s world map, 1507. (Photo: Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.)

  40. Detail showing America from Martin Waldseemüller’s world map, 1507. (Photo: Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.)

  41. 1960s copy of the Jagiellonian Globe, c.1510. Jagiellonian University Museum, Kraków. (Photo: Janusz Kozina and Grzegorz Zygier)

  42. Section of Martin Behaim’s globe, 1492. (Photo: © Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Nuremberg, Germany)

  43. Vasco da Gama’s armada, illustration from Livro das Armadas, Portuguese school, c.1568. Academia das Ciências, Lisbon. (Photo: Patrick Landmann / Science Photo Library)

  44. Early sixteenth-century colonial architecture in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. (Photo: Image Broker/Alamy)

  45. View of the city of Seville, painting attributed to Alonso Sanchez-Coello, c.1600. Museum of the Americas, Madrid. (Photo: © Photo Josse / Bridgeman Images)

  46. Portrait of the Portuguese Admiral Albuquerque, c.1615. San Diego Museum of Art, USA. (Photo: Edwin Binney 3rd Collection / Alamy)

  47. Portuguese watchtower, c.15th century, overlooking the Al Bidya Mosque, Fujairah, United Arab Emirates. (Photo: Genefa Paes / Dreamstime.com)

  48. Map of the Atlantic by Hagii Ahmed Muhiddin Piri, also known as Piri Reis, 1513. Topkapı Palace Library, Istanbul, Turkey. (Photo: Turgut Tarhan)

  49. A view of the Murderers’ Bay, as you are at anchor here in 15 fathom, illustration by Isaac Gilsemans, 1642. (Photo: Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand)

  50. View of Judea (Ayutthaya), Siam, attributed to Johannes Vinckboons, c.1662-63. (Photo: © Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam)

  51. View of Macau, Chinese school, late 18th century. (Photo: Hong Kong Maritime Museum)

  52. Korean turtle ship from the time of Yi Sun-sin, illustration from The War Diary Of Yi Sun-sin, 1795. (Photo: Fine Art Images / Heritage Image Partnership Ltd / Alamy)

  53. Portrait of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, Japanese school, 16th century. (Photo: Granger Historical Picture Archive / Alamy)

  54. Map of the Arctic from Gerhard Mercator, Septentrionalium Terrarum descriptio, 1595. (Photo: Princeton University Library, Historic Maps Collection)

  55. European products carried through the Arctic Ocean by Barentsz’s expedition as far as Novaya Zemlya, 1596–7. (Photo: © Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam)

  56. Bowl depicting Dutch ships and merchants, Japanese, c.1800. (Photo: the author)

  57. Imagined bird’s-eye view of Deshima (copied from a woodblock print by Toshimaya Bunjiemon of 1780 and published in Isaac Titsingh’s Bijzonderheden over Japan, 1824–25). (Photo: Koninklijke Bibliotheek, The Hague)

  58. Earthquake in Port Royal, Jamaica, Jan Luyken and Pieter van der Aa, 1692. (Photo: Artokoloro Quint Lox/Alamy)

  59. Part of the Coromandel Coast showing Fort Dansborg and Tranquebar by O. G. von Sponeck, 1730. (Photo: Det Kongelige Bibliotek, Copenhagen)

  60. Tupaia’s chart of the islands surrounding Tahiti, c.1769. (Photo: The Picture Art Collection/Alamy)

  61. Kamehameha at the Battle of the Red Mouthed Gun, painting by Herbert Kawainui Kāne, late 20th century. (Photo: National Geographic/Getty Images)

  62. View of St Helena, c.1750. (Photo: Chronicle/Alamy)

  63. Company painting of the Factories at Guangzhou, Chinese school, c.1820. (Photo: The Picture Art Collection/Alamy)

  64. A samurai rides to a meeting with Commodore Matthew C. Perry, painting by Kinuko Y. Craft, late 20th century. (Photo: National Geographic /Alamy)

  65. Singapore, c.1900. (Photo: Historic Images/Alamy)

  66. The port of Essouaira, Mogador, Morocco. (Photo: the author)

  67. The Pier Head, with the Royal Liver Building, Cunard Building and Port of Liverpool Building, Liverpool, 2008. (Photo: Chowells/Wikimedia Commons CC BY-SA 3.0)

  68. The Bund, Shanghai, 2017. (Photo: Luriya Chinwan/Shutterstock)

  69. The Black Ball Line clipper ship Ocean Chief reducing sail on her Australian run, painting by Samuel Walters, c.1850s. (Photo: Christie’s/Bridgeman Images)

  70. Arrival of the RMS Queen Mary, New York, 1938. (Photo: Imagno/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

  71. MS Allure of the Seas, sailing towards the Storebaelt Bridge, Denmark, 2010. (Photo: Simon Brooke-Webb/Alamy)

  72. The container ship MV CSCL Globe arriving at Felixstowe, 2015. (Photo: Keith Skipper/Wikimedia Commons CC BY-SA 2.0)

  Preface

  In the making of connections between human societies, the role of the sea is particularly fascinating. Connections across large open spaces have brought together peoples, religions and civilizations in stimulating ways. Sometimes this has been through individual encounters, as travellers, including pilgrims and merchants, found themselves visiting alien environments; sometimes it has been the result of mass migrations that have changed the character of regions; sometimes it has been the result as much of the movement of goods as of people, when the inhabitants of distant lands saw, admired, and imported or copied the art works of another culture, or read its literature, or were taken aback by some rare and precious item that opened their eyes to its existence. Such contacts were made overland and up and down river systems, as well as by sea; but overland they were mediated by the cultures that lay along the routes being followed, whereas links across the sea could tie together very different worlds, as far apart as Portugal and Japan or Sweden and China.

  This book is intended to sit alongside my earlier book, The Great Sea: A Human History of the Mediterranean, first published in 2011. Like that book, it is a human rather than a natural history, emphasizing the role of often adventurous traders in making and maintaining contact. Whereas the Mediterranean accounts for 0.8 per cent of the maritime surface of the globe, seas as a whole account for about 70 per cent of the world’s surface, and most of this watery space consists of the vast open areas we call oceans. From outer space, the Earth is mainly blue. The oceans have distinct but gigantic wind systems, generated by the mo
vement of air over vast masses of both warm and cold water: one has only to think of the seasonal monsoons in the Indian Ocean. The Roaring Forties that would helpfully sweep sailing vessels from the Atlantic into the Indian Ocean were the same winds that made entry into the Pacific from the southern Atlantic, around Cape Horn, so frightening. Currents such as the Gulf Stream, which keeps the British Isles relatively warm, or the not dissimilar Kuroshio or Japan current, stretch across thousands of miles.1 We divide the all-encompassing global sea into the three great oceans; but ancient geographers, with some justice, imagined it to be a single Okeanos of intermingled waters, a concept revived in modern use of the term ‘World Ocean’ to describe all the oceans as a single unit.2

  The three major oceans have attracted increasing interest as the study of maritime history has expanded beyond what might more properly be called naval history, which concentrates on warfare (or peace-keeping) on the surface of the sea, to greater involvement with the wider questions of how, why and when people crossed large maritime spaces, whether for trade or as migrants, and what sort of interdependence was created between lands far apart from one another by this movement across the oceans. This has led to debates about the origins of globalization, some of which have been conducted at cross-purposes, since the concept of ‘globalization’ is a vague one that can be defined in many ways. A question related to the theme of globalization that has often been raised is why Europeans opened up routes across the world after 1500, in the wake of Columbus and da Gama, while the Chinese, under Zheng He, launched extraordinarily ambitious voyages in the early fifteenth century that came to a sudden stop. This leads into a range of questions about the ‘Great Divergence’ between Europe and Asia or other continents, although, as with globalization, much depends on the criteria one adopts to measure the process. This book makes plain the dramatic effect of the entry of European traders and conquerors into distant oceans following the voyages of Columbus and da Gama, while also insisting that Columbus, da Gama and the worlds they explored can only be explained by looking at their long antecedents.