Short answers, pulled from the story.
The Atlantic Ocean covers approximately 17% of Earth's surface and 24% of its water. This vast, S-shaped basin serves as the primary stage for the collision of civilizations and the movement of billions of tons of goods.
The Mid-Atlantic Ridge was discovered in the 1870s by the Challenger expedition. Subsequent mapping by the German Meteor expedition in the 1920s led to the general acceptance of seafloor spreading and plate tectonics.
An estimated 9.5 million enslaved Africans were shipped into the New World between the 15th century and 1888. Brazil became the last part of the Americas to end the trade in 1888.
The oldest oceanic crust in the Atlantic is up to 145 million years old. This crust is situated off the west coast of Africa and the east coast of North America.
The Atlantic northwest cod fishery collapsed in the early 1990s. This collapse followed the introduction of European and Asian distant-water fleets from the 1950s to the 1970s.
A 2005 report indicated that the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation slowed down by 30% between 1957 and 2004. Research in 2024 highlighted a significant weakening of the AMOC by approximately 12% over the past two decades.