We know the shape of the world today because ships of the mid-fiftennth to mid-eighteenth centuries, driven by wind and human muscle, were navigated into every last bay and estuary on Earth searching for new riches. First the take was spices and other exotic products of the Orient, then gold and ivory from Africa, followed by beaver pelts, coffee, and goods from the Americas, and finally luxurious sea otter pelts from the Northwest Coast of North...
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History