In the social disciplines, the role of water in its various forms—saline oceanic, freshwater, ice, snow, vapor, humidity—on terrestrial life has been under-studied historically and even contemporaneously, particularly in land-oriented societies. Land-centered visions of life persist even though 71% of the planet is water and holds 99% of habitable space for living beings...
Link for more detail : https://igs.duke.edu/events/hydrologic-cycle-and-historical-societies-workshop