Each ocean voyage through history has laid down a track that tells a story. These invisible pathways across the seas can reveal how the world has been shaped by power, conquest and exploration. Dr Sara Caputo tells Elinor Evans more about how lines on a map can have real-world consequences.

(Ad) Sara Caputo is the author of Tracks on the Ocean: A History of Trailblazing, Maps and Maritime Travel (Profile Books, 2024). Buy it now from Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Paths-Ocean-Journeys-Became-Lines/dp/1788168828/?tag=bbchistory045-21&ascsubtag=historyextra-social-histboty.

Here, Jonn Elledge considers how the lines we draw on maps have determined the course of history: https://link.chtbl.com/5bDP91Ns.

The HistoryExtra podcast is produced by the team behind BBC History Magazine.

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The invisible tracks that have shaped the world