Impact of sea power upon history Essay

Introduction The profound influence of ocean commerce upon the wealthiness and strength of countries was clearly seen long before the true principles which governed its growth and prosperity were detected. (Mahan 2004) Water covers over three-fourths of the earths step to the fore. The entire benignant civilization lives on the remaining one-fourth area of earth. And only 3% of the entire weewee present on the earths surface is fresh water. This leaves nigh of the remaining part of earths water area, as large salty water bodies everyone have it aways by the name of seas or oceans.These are the facts cognize to alone, but few really come to know and appreciate the power that seas have wielded in the development of civilization. Before human macrocosm ventured out into the sea for traveling, he was just a semi-barbaric creature, with limited employment and social skills. As humans decided to venture beyond to chartless sea territories, and discovered new lands and newer civilization, the cosmos started to get close and whence the progress of mankind, other than strictly in the biological sense, came into picture.But, progress was not the only subject which sea brought sometimes it also brought complaints like stimulate and big destructive fights to people residing on its shores. This paper will natesvas all these issues, and will attempt to look at the effects these events brought to the civilization as a whole. The history of Sea Power is largely, though by no means solely, a narrative of contests betwixt nations, of mutual rivalries, of hysteria frequently culminating in state of war. (Mahan 2004) business relationship of Navigation History of Navigation can be traced back to centuries.Merchants in Egypt and Mesopotamia used to build large mercantile vessels to carry and change over goods, more than than 5500 years ago. In Egypt, sea pilgrimage are even recorded in hieroglyphics, which can be date back to 3200 BCE. One can take this as the starting manoeuvre to trace the beginnings of soaring as a commercial pursuit. The first Hesperian civilization in history, which is known to have developed the art of sailing at sea were the Phoenicians, more than 4,000 years ago. The popular stories of Helen of Troy were all related to sea travel. Phoenicians were in fact the first to use bet on Star for navigation, according to some accounts.Still under overcast skies, the navigation was usually based on sheer guesswork and intuition, till in about 2000 years ago, when Chinese created the first magnetized needle compass. This technique spread across the world in about a gramme years. In 12th and 13th centuries the science of making proper marine charts and celestial almanacs began. By the 15th and 16th centuries, aggressive geographic expedition of the world of the world started with seekrs like Columbus getting funds from their respective Emperors to explore and enslave newer lands (Spera & Strom 2002).Never theless, it is wrong to think that the early explorers used to sail into the inglorious without any idea of their final destination. It is true though that while meddling for a specific land or route, the explorers were often surprised at the new lands they discovered. This was because many times the country they were seeking was only known in legend or rumor, the around famous example being Columbus, in the recent times. While the entire world is now charted and canvass thoroughly, sea does not hold any less influence. The destruction brought by Tsunami is a very recent event.And even Mahans lines about sea and war, mentioned above, still hold true, as the countries still are always defend themselves against attacks from other countries. Famous Historical battles Countless battles have been fought over the sea shaping the civilization, by up throwing older empires and making newer one. One of the nearly famous older battles is the Battle of Thermopylae between the Greek and P ersians, ever-changing the course of the entire war. As is mentioned in the section above, the aggressive geographic expedition started in the 15th and 16th centuries, to enslave newer and older countries.Before this the exploration of the sea was usually only trade-oriented. Many of the 16th century explorations were funded by the reigning Monarchs who wished only to increase their area of reign (Stafford 2005). Major battles that were fought in this period were between English, Dutch, French and Spanish Monarchy. The popular battles were the Anglo-Dutch war 1665-1667, war England and France against united Provinces 1672-1674, between France and the entire Europe in1674-1678, battle of the Spanish date 1702-1713 i. e.The Sea battle of Malaga, Sea battles between Britain and Spain 1748, Seven years war which establishes the English Supremacy over the seas 1756-1763, Naval war in the States and West Indies in 1778-1781 which lead the way to the American Revolution etc (Mahan 2004) . These wars led to the building and destruction of colonies, and in turn exposed the people in the colonies to a wide array of culture and newer ideas which were previously only usual in the Europe, and had led to them being superiors over other cultures. Diseases brought by sea.Diseases is not a term usually associates with the sea, even though the possibilities are huge. However, the most destructive spread of provoke can be attributed to the seas and trade routes. Plague is one of the most destructive as well as the most incomprehensible disasters for humanity. While there is no direct relation between sea and plague, yet the spread of plague with sea from one to other port cities is a very relevant domain. The earliest and the best record history of Plague was that of the Justinianic plague in the mid-sixth century.The Justinianic plague generally followed trading routes and therefore, was especially brutal to coastal cities. This plague originated either in Ethiopia, wofu l through Egypt, or in the Central Asian steppes, where it then traveled along the caravan trading routes. Finally through either of these locations the disease quickly spread throughout the Roman world and beyond ( smith 1996). some other very infamous Plague closely resembling, but much more destructive was the Black Death in 1348.The effect of sea on Plague is even worse in this case. The Plague started in china and made its way west across Asia to the Black Sea by 1347. One theory states that a group of infected Tartars besieged a Genoese outpost on the coast. Tartars harassed the trapped townspeople by hurling the dead bodies of their comrades over the town walls spreading the epidemic among the Genoese. The terrified inhabitants fled the scene by ship showing up in the ports of Union Italy and bringing the Black Death to Europe (www.eyewitnesstohistory. com).Conclusion The effect of sea on mankind has both the supportive effects of exchange of trade and ideas and the ne gative effects of destruction and sometimes fatal diseases. One thing is clear however, no matter what the situation was, the mankind always managed to gag ahead learning newer things and forging newer relations. This has in the end brought only positive influences to the mankind in the longer run. References Books Mahan A. T, The Influence of Sea Power Upon History, 2004, Gutenberg.Stafford J, Some Principles of Maritime Strategy, February 16, 2005, Gutenberg Magazines Spera G, Strom S. R, The Back Page A drawing History of Human Navigation, Crosslink Volume 3, Number 2, 2002, http//www. aero. org/publications/crosslink/summer2002/backpage. html Journals Smith C. A, Plague in the Ancient World A Study from Thucydides to Justinian, The learner Historical Journal, 1996-97, http//www. loyno. edu/history/journal/1996-7/Smith. html Websites The Black Death, 1348, EyeWitness to History, www. eyewitnesstohistory. com, 2001.