The Spaniard Vasco Nunez de Balboa was in 1513 the first European to confirm that another ocean lay to the west of America. Geographical knowledge of the North Pacific grew only slowly, and it was not until James Cook's third voyage in 1778/9 that the bounds of the ocean were truly revealed. Now, with the advent of modern technology, the fine details of the sea bed can be plotted and the behaviour of the ocean itself can begin to be understood. This book looks at the history of the North Pacific (i.e. north of 30 degrees N) and its shores - China, Korea, Japan, Russia, the United States and Canada - through maps. All the important voyages of exploration are covered, illustrated with the explorers' own maps or contemporary maps which show what they thought the geography looked like before they arrived, and what they added to the map of the world. Here are Dutch, Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Russian, American, Spanish, French and British maps collected from archives and libraries around the world. They include Sir Francis Drake's thrust into waters the Spanish considered their own, Bering's two voyages 'discovering' America, the voyages of Captain Cook, George Vancouver's comprehensive survey of the northwest coast, Perry's opening of Japan, and Matthew Maury's pioneering wind charts. More modern maps illustrate the theory of plate tectonics and the risk of tsunami, and include stunning satellite images and the wonders of multibeam bathymetry. Together the maps and explanatory text show in sequence an oceanic world revealed, from almost nothing at the beginning of the sixteenth century to almost unbelievable detail today.