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Océan de tous les extrêmes, l'Atlantique est le théâtre de marées parmi les plus puissantes au monde, de courants impétueux et de violentes tempêtes. Si ces forces peuvent se révéler destructrices, elles sont aussi source de vie et jouent un rôle essentiel dans l'équilibre climatique.

Plus vaste et plus ancien océan de la planète, le Pacifique constitue aujourd'hui l'un des principaux espaces d'échanges du monde. Dans la mer de Béring, l'île Saint-Laurent conserve la trace de la liaison terrestre qui reliait autrefois l'Asie et les Amériques.

L'océan Indien constitue depuis l'âge du bronze un vaste carrefour d'échanges où circulent marchandises, cultures et religions. Doté d'eaux chaudes et d'écosystèmes d'une grande richesse, il est aussi le berceau de la mousson, dont les vents et les pluies rythment la vie des populations de la région, redouté pour sa violence mais attendu pour sa fertilisation des terres.

Long before European and Arab seafarers developed large ships with which they could discover and navigate the Indian Ocean, the Mediterranean was the pivotal point of world history. Protected by enclosing land masses and shallow waters, the comparatively young waters of the European Mediterranean, Totem, Caspian and Black Seas - all remnants of the primordial Thetys Sea - are seas of connection for the cultures on their coasts. They inspire shipbuilding and technology transfer, cultural exchange and progress, while they also clash in religious wars, pirates, crusaders and slavery. To this day, the similarities and differences between the cultures on the shores of the Mediterranean are more pronounced than on any other sea. And even in current geopolitics, they still play an important role, such as the Black Sea as Russia's only ice-free port.

The South Seas are a warm version of the Pacific. An infinitely blue continent: expanses of water as far as the horizon, hardly any land. Only the tips of the sunken continent of Sahul rise out of the water and form a unique island world. The early pioneers of the sea had to cross thousands of kilometers to get from one island to the next. As a result, some of the world's oldest civilizations lived here in complete isolation - still evident today in the unique linguistic diversity of countries such as Papua New Guinea and Australia. Later, in the search for the fabled southern continent, the islands served as rest stops and gateways for colonization. The price of isolation was also nuclear weapons testing. Their legacy is their very own customs, such as the barter systems of the Polynesian islands and the ability of their inhabitants to read the sea by observing the animals.