The Impacts Of15th-19th Century Western European Maritime Transportation On The Environment Of Surrounding Countries

In recent years, species invasion has become one of the most significantenvironmental issues. Particularly with the fast development of internationalmercantile transportation, global maritime shipping has been considered as theprimary cause of the species invasion problem. As early as the15thcentury, throughthe consistent exploration of numerous navigators from Western Europe, oceanicshipping increased between continents. Developments in oceanic transportationexerted profound and long-lasting effects on the global environment. The globalexchange of human species, animals and plants resulted in the redistribution of speciesand the invasion of species. In this thesis the author reviews the background factors inthe development of Western European maritime transportation and analyzes theimpact of improving transportation on the environment in terms of the exchange ofvarious life forms in modern history.