The Boundless Sea
A Human History of the Oceans
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The Boundless Sea
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Narrated by:
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Jonathan Keeble
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By:
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David Abulafia
About this listen
Brought to you by Penguin.
From the award-winning author of The Great Sea, a magnificent new global history of the oceans and of humankind's relationship with the sea.
For most of human history, the seas and oceans have been the main means of long-distance trade and communication between peoples - for the spread of ideas and religion as well as commerce. This book traces the history of human movement and interaction around and across the world's greatest bodies of water, charting our relationship with the oceans from the time of the first voyagers. David Abulafia begins with the earliest of seafaring societies - the Polynesians of the Pacific, the possessors of intuitive navigational skills long before the invention of the compass, who by the first century were trading between their far-flung islands.
By the seventh century, trading routes stretched from the coasts of Arabia and Africa to southern China and Japan, bringing together the Indian Ocean and the western Pacific and linking half the world through the international spice trade. In the Atlantic, centuries before the little kingdom of Portugal carved out its powerful, seaborne empire, many peoples sought new lands across the sea - the Bretons, the Frisians and, most notably, the Vikings, now known to be the first Europeans to reach North America. As Portuguese supremacy dwindled in the late 16th century, the Spanish, the Dutch and then the British each successively ruled the waves.
Following merchants, explorers, pirates, cartographers and travellers in their quests for spices, gold, ivory, slaves, lands for settlement and knowledge of what lay beyond, Abulafia has created an extraordinary narrative of humanity and the oceans.
From the earliest forays of peoples in hand-hewn canoes through uncharted waters to the routes now taken daily by supertankers in their thousands, The Boundless Sea shows how maritime networks came to form a continuum of interaction and interconnection across the globe: 90 per cent of global trade is still conducted by sea. This is history of the grandest scale and scope, and from a bracingly different perspective - not, as in most global histories, from the land but from the boundless seas.
©2019 David Abulafia (P)2019 Penguin AudioListeners also enjoyed...
What listeners say about The Boundless Sea
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Gareth Smith
- 17-12-20
Brilliant!
A fantastic and interesting history of the Oceans.
superbly written and excellently narrated!
Top notch!
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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- Peter Braga
- 30-06-21
Outstanding Book.
The sheer amount of fascinating information in this book is an achievement. I listened to it twice in a row it was so good. Highly recommended.
Jonathan Keeble has a lovely voice—smooth as silk. His pronunciation of foreign words (such as Chinese, Japanese, Russian, Spanish, etc...), though, is woeful. I understand this book has a lot of foreign words, but just a little bit of preparation on how to pronounce often repeated, foreign words, would have been appreciated.
Otherwise, I cannot recommend this book enough.
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Rorie
- 14-04-23
excellent
I really enjoyed this.
The narrator is also very good
Would recommend if you like world history
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- shane vearer
- 15-10-24
the history
Good read about the sea and the emerging of China in the end, I like reading about history
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Sean
- 11-01-20
This has
to be one of the best histories I've read, the story of human sea travel is vast and still goes on, I'll listen to this again and again. Brilliant
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15 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Anonymous User
- 28-10-20
very interesting & well read
I would recommend this book to people interested in history, economics, and the sea. Good.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Blossom
- 17-09-20
Superb
I found this a fascinating book from beginning to end. It has given much more breadth and depth to my understanding of history and where we stand today. Thank you to the author for undertaking such a mammoth task. Now I can listen to the world news with a more rounded approach!
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Barnsley
- 18-08-22
A writer at the peak of his powers
A beautifully written (and read) magisterial account of human use and abuse of the oceans. From the extraordinary Polynesian journeys to the age of the container ship Abulafia tells how we have interacted with the watery world. Essential reading.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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- mjh
- 09-06-20
Wot no maps?
Fantastic content, great narrator, but why is there no pdf to show maps that support the text? Map images would be a very worthwhile addition to support the audiobook.
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14 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- M&m!
- 14-09-23
Wonderful journey through human history
This audiobook surely makes me wish that I had the world map better memorised. Extremely interesting and well written. The interesting facts and the captivating, connecting story is enhanced by the excellent narration. What I really appreciate is a modern awareness of colonialism and its impact on world history and local peoples.
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