ABSTRACT
Over the course of human history, the shifts in available technology have sometimes favored life on dry land, and at other times life at water’s edge. The period after 1400 brought a dramatic advance in maritime technology, and expanded human population and activities at the edge of the seas. All of the world’s seagoing populations, but especially the Chinese, Arabs, and western Europeans, expanded their horizons and improved their navigational techniques. The result changed the paths of human contact permanently. While the land roads continued to bear most of the world’s traffic, the sea lanes expanded greatly in importance.
