What are the seven seas?
To the ancients, “seven” often meant “many,” and before the fifteenth century, the many seas of the world were: • the Red Sea • the Mediterranean Sea • the Persian Gulf • the Black Sea • the Adriatic Sea • the Caspian Sea • the Indian Ocean Today, the world ocean is generally divided into four main oceans: • the Arctic Ocean • the Atlantic Ocean • the Indian Ocean • the Pacific Ocean In addition, there are numerous smaller seas and gulfs.
Some ancient civilizations used the phrase “seven seas” to describe the bodies of water known at that time. The ancient Romans called the lagoons separated from the open sea near Venice the septem maria or seven seas. Most current sources state that “seven seas” referred to the Indian Ocean, Black Sea, Caspian Sea, Adriatic Sea, Persian Gulf, Mediterranean Sea, and the Red Sea. Not all geographers agree on this list of seven, believing that the seven seas reference will be different depending upon the part of the world and the time period in question. Some geographers point to the Age of Discovery and suggest that the seven seas represent the Atlantic, Pacific, Arctic, and Indian Oceans, as well as the Mediterranean Sea, the Caribbean, and the Gulf of Mexico. Other geographers state that the seven seas were the Mediterranean and Red Seas, Indian Ocean, Persian Gulf, China Sea, and the West and East African Seas. Today we recognize more than 50 seas worldwide. A sea is defined as a divi
There seem to be about as many answers to this question as there are, well, combinations of seas and oceans. The New Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia [1993], for example, says that in the Age of Discovery, the seven navigable seas of the world were the Atlantic, Pacific, Arctic, and Indian Oceans, as well as the Mediterranean Sea, the Caribbean Sea, and the Gulf of Mexico. Not so says Don Groves in The Oceans [John Wiley, 1989]. He lists the seven ancient seas as the Mediterranean, the Red, the Black, the Adriatic, and the Caspian, plus the Persian Gulf and the Indian Ocean. And Robert Hendrickson in The Ocean Almanac [Doubleday, 1984] maintains yet another compendium. He agrees with Groves on the Mediterranean and Red Seas, the Indian Ocean, and the Persian Gulf, but adds the China Sea and the West and East African Seas to top off his list. One less confusing note: Both Groves and Hendrickson agree on a list of the modern seven seas: The North and South Atlantic, the North and South Pa
