And a third thought
Jan. 5th, 2007 05:19 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
chickenfeetI'm reading the esteemed (at least by ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
coughingbear and myself) NAM Rodger's naval history of Britain. I'm immediately struck by how different the history of those islands in the 9th to 12th century CE looks when one thinks of 'basins' rather than 'landmasses' as the basic political and strategic unit. It ties in too very nicely with Francis Pryor's longue durée thesis that for mainland Britain, south of the Forth-Clyde gap at least, there are two distinct and persistent cultural patterns; a North Sea facing one and an Atlantic facing one.
There's a sad irony that it's taken until now for anyone to look seriously at how sea power has shaped the history of the islands that were, for a decent chunk of time, the world's pre-eminent maritime power.
coughingbear and myself) NAM Rodger's naval history of Britain. I'm immediately struck by how different the history of those islands in the 9th to 12th century CE looks when one thinks of 'basins' rather than 'landmasses' as the basic political and strategic unit. It ties in too very nicely with Francis Pryor's longue durée thesis that for mainland Britain, south of the Forth-Clyde gap at least, there are two distinct and persistent cultural patterns; a North Sea facing one and an Atlantic facing one.There's a sad irony that it's taken until now for anyone to look seriously at how sea power has shaped the history of the islands that were, for a decent chunk of time, the world's pre-eminent maritime power.
