TRASH - Human waste and marine debris during the first globalization: Past and future perspectives on ocean pollution.

Focusing on an Atlantic geography (Lisbon, Angra and Funchal, Portugal, counterpointing with Cartagena de Las Indias, Colombia, and Santa Cruz, Mexico), TRASH is an interdisciplinary approach between history (mining and analyzing documentary and cartographic sources) and archeology (analyzing wreck remains and environmental samples) methods. The growth of towns and harbor villages, the construction of embankments on the riversides, and the establishment of manufactures such as metal foundries, shipyards, tanneries, fisheries, and other activities brought an increase of toxicity in the surroundings, and the increase in urban sewage and debris from ships on call posed a threat to navigation. At the same time, for the first time in history, nearshore shipwrecks and consequent debris, such as cargoes, ropes, timbers, metals, animal and human bodies introduced a large amount of heavy metals and nutrients into the aquatic environment, leading to eutrophication of the waters. Marine pollution is a global environmental and societal problem that impacts current and future generations and the planet. Marine litter can affect all societies and therefore concerns a large scientific community and other stakeholders involved in the aquatic environment.