Blurred Lines

Maritime history in the early modern era does not end at the seashore. The connections formed across maritime boundaries, and the ways in which humans used marine resources, had repercussions that echoed far inland. This chapter begins with a look at the movement of value extracted through pearl harvests and money made from shells, and then a sample of the wider variety of marine commodities consumed far inland, especially as they impacted agriculture and industry. It then discusses what historians think about the close economic and environmental relationship between forests and shipbuilding as a different way of understanding linkages between land and sea. Finally, the chapter considers the movement of terrestrial organisms across and within the sea, showing how ships carried domestic animals around the world, and how they unintentionally spread pathogens and other creatures. In this latter case, oceans are crucial to understanding biological upheaval and instability in the early modern world.