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Picture of The Clipper Ship "Flying Cloud" off the Needles, Isle of Wight, off the southern English coast. Painting by James E. Buttersworth
Maritime history is a broad thematic element of global history. As an academic subject, it crosses the boundaries of standard disciplines, focusing on understanding mankind's various relationships to the oceans, seas, and major waterways of the globe. Nautical history records and interprets past events involving ships, shipping, navigation, and seamen.
Maritime history is the broad overarching subject that includes fishing, whaling, international maritime law, naval history, the history of ships, ship design, shipbuilding, the history of navigation, the history of the various maritime-related sciences (oceanography, cartography, hydrography, etc.), sea exploration, maritime economics and trade, shipping, yachting, seaside resorts, the history of lighthouses and aids to navigation, maritime themes in literature, maritime themes in art, the social history of sailors and sea-related communities.