The juxtaposition of coasts, resources, and natural sailing routes stimulated the human population technology and social i capable of exploiting the challenges and by such an environment. In this way only the eastern Mediterranean opportunities posed seafarers. In the eastern Mediterra rivals maritime. Southeast Asia as a cradle for prehistoric nean Sea such famous nautical peoples as the Minoans, Phoenicians, and Greeks formed early examples of whole societies so organized that a person born into a family of less than exalted status might hope lot by acquiring wealth through commercial enterprise. This type of social structure contrasts with that generally found among the hinterland agrarian kingdoms in much of the world, wherein status was determined atbirth by descent from owners of fixed assets such as agricultural land. As a result of the stimulus to dwellers in fluid societies to range outward from their birthplaces and to explore the further reaches of their seas these societies also information about the nature of other parts of the world, and this knowledge formed an important source of inspiration for subsequent European civilization.