The Free Sea (Hakluyt trans.)

Niermann outlines his belief that the ideal of free maritime trade has caused rampant exploitation of the ocean, and his proposition of a new way to engage with the ocean economically and politically.

The 1953 journal article ties the expansion of colonialism and imperialism in the 19th century, especially that of the British Empire, to free trade. Gallagher and Robsinson’s arguments indict Grotius’ free trade and exploration as colonialist apologia.

The Free Sea deals with complex issues of national sovereignty, issues nations in the European Union’s need to balance contemporarily, a line that Roberts and Applebaum fall on opposing sides of.

Alan Blinder explains why economists are nearly universally in agreement about the benefits of free trade.

The Free Sea would become an instrumental work in the advocation of free trade, Bernstein shows the effect the expansion of global trade has had on human progress, values, and the environment.

In this conversation with Russ Roberts, Bernstein talks about the magic of spices, how trade in sugar explains why Jews ended up in Manhattan, the real political economy of the Boston Tea Party and the demise of the Corn Laws in England.

Grotius wrote The Free Sea to defend the Dutch East India Company’s right to operate freely in the waters of Southeast Asia, assisting in the company becoming a global trade superpower.

The Free Sea was a foundational work in international law, especially in trade agreement and disputes. Lemieux examines a recent large proposed trade deal, the Trans-Pacific Partnership.