Historiography has paid insufficient attention to the influence of winds and currents. The rise of Western European states to global dominance and world empires from the sixteenth century is usually characterised as maritime but should more fittingly be described as Aeolian or 'wind-driven'. This article examines the role winds and currents played in influencing the outline, structure and nature of Western European seaborne empires. It incorporates the patterns of winds and currents in each ocean, and the endeavours and ventures of each major European maritime power into a single global portrait that reveals the extent of the historical influence such factors exerted in the age of sail.

中文翻译：

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风神帝国：航海时代风和洋流对欧洲海上扩张的影响

历史学对风和洋流的影响没有给予足够的重视。从 16 世纪起，西欧国家崛起成为全球霸主和世界帝国，通常被描述为海上的，但更恰当地描述为风神或“风驱动”。本文考察了风和洋流在影响西欧海上帝国的轮廓、结构和性质方面所起的作用。它将每个海洋的风和洋流的模式，以及每个欧洲主要海上强国的努力和冒险结合到一个单一的全球画像中，揭示了这些因素在航海时代所施加的历史影响的程度。