Freshly presents world history through its oceans and seas in uniquely wide-ranging, original chapters by leading experts in their fields.

List of maps; Abbreviations; Notes on contributors; Introduction: writing world oceanic histories Sujit Sivasundaram, Alison Bashford and David Armitage; Part I. Oceans: 1. The Indian Ocean Sujit Sivasundaram; 2. The Pacific Ocean Alison Bashford; 3. The Atlantic Ocean David Armitage; Part II. Seas: 4. The South China Sea Eric Tagliacozzo; 5. The Mediterranean Sea Molly Greene; 6. The Red Sea Jonathan Miran; 7. The Sea of Japan/Korea's East Sea Alexis Dudden; 8. The Baltic Sea Michael North; 9. The Black Sea Stella Ghervas; Part III. Poles: 10. The Arctic Ocean Sverker Sörlin; 11. The Southern Ocean Alessandro Antonello; Further reading; Index.