Global Ocean of Knowledge, 1660-1860: Globalization and Maritime Knowledge in the Atlantic World

This book looks to fill the ‘blue hole’ in Global History by studying the role of the oceans themselves in the creation, development, reproduction and adaptation of knowledge across the Atlantic world. It shows how globalisation and the growth of maritime knowledge served to reinforce one another, and demonstrates how and why maritime history should be put firmly at the heart of global history. Exploring the dynamics of globalisation, knowledge-making and European expansion, Global Ocean of Knowledge takes a transnational approach and transgresses the traditional border between the early modern and modern periods. It focuses on three main periodisations, which correspond with major transformations in the globalisation of the Atlantic World, and analyses how and to what extent globalisation forces from above and from below influenced the development and exchange of knowledge. Davids distinguishes three forms of globalising forces ‘from above’; imperial, commercial and religious, alongside self-organisation, the globalising force ‘from below’. Exploring how globalisation advanced and its relationship with knowledge changed over time, this book bridges global, maritime, intellectual and economic history to reflect on the role of the oceans in making the world a more connected place.

Table of Contents:
1. Introduction: Globalization, Maritime Knowledge and the Atlantic world PART I Globalizing Forces and the Growth of Maritime Knowledge in the Atlantic World, c.1660-1730 Introduction: Globalisation between c.1660 and 1730 2. Globalising Forces and the Growth of Maritime Knowledge 3. Growing Maritime Knowledge and Globalisation PART II Maritime knowledge and Globalisation in the Atlantic World, c. 1730-1800 Introduction: Globalisation Between c.1730 and 1800 4. Maritime Knowledge Aiding Globalisation 5. Globalising Forces and the Growth of Maritime Knowledge Machines, Infrastructures and the Circulation of Maritime Knowledge Part III The Reshaping of the Atlantic World and the Collectivisation of Maritime Knowledge, c. 1800-1860 Introduction: Globalisation Between c.1800 and 1860 6. Maritime Knowledge Aiding Globalisation 7. Globalising Forces and the Collectivisation of Maritime Knowledge Conclusion

About the Author :
Karel Davids is Professor of Economic and Cultural History at the University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands. He has previously held positions at Erasmus University Rotterdam, and the University of Leiden, Netherlands. He has published widely on economic and social history, maritime history, global history and the history of technology.

Review :
This third volume focuses on the Atlantic world, detailing the factors driving globalization and the development, spread, and growth of knowledge and technology—but with a continuous focus on the effect of the maritime environment on how specific knowledge and technologies developed ... This work is a valuable addition to scholarship on the Atlantic world and globalization studies. The study is based on a broad source [of] literature base and stands out positively from the work of numerous Anglo-Saxon historians ... Global Ocean of Knowledge is an excellent overview and reference work for all those interested in the history of ... the Atlantic world. Karel Davids has written a landmark book about globalization, maritime history, knowledge making, and the experience of Europeans at sea. ‘I am impressed by the ambition, breadth of coverage and scholarly depth of the work, and welcome the specific aim of instilling a long overdue maritime element into the wider literature on globalization, global history and Atlantic history. Reading the introduction and conclusion before delving into the core six chapters, the historiographical contribution and argument of the book are well laid out and persuasive.’ '[This is] an excellent manuscript by an outstanding scholar about the creation, development, reproduction and adaptation of knowledge across the Atlantic Ocean and how that affected its adjacent spaces. The subject of the book is outstandingly framed by a broad historiographical debate that brings together multiple strands of up-to-date research and excellent consideration of the development of those diverse debates over time. This positioning of the manuscript in such a broad historiographical context makes it attractive to students, specialists and a broad range of historians and educated readers’ Bringing to bear his masterful understanding of ways knowledge about all aspects of the sea grew, Karel Davids shows how that understanding shaped and was shaped by the forces of globalisation in lands bordering the Atlantic, in the process revealing the complex interplay of varied mechanisms, personal and institutional, which helped people conquer the ocean and creating a book undoubtedly worth reading. The striking advances in the capability to collect and share maritime knowledge during the 18th century are cogently and elegantly analysed by Karel Davids in this comprehensive and well-argued volume on the Atlantic world. Using a transnational and cross-disciplinary approach, he moves with agility across different national historiographies and approaches and delivers his important analysis with a lightness of touch and a clarity of exposition and argument which will grip readers’ attention.