Category Voyages

               The Polynesians used to make their voyages in canoes built with tools of stone, bone, and coral. These canoes were navigated by expert seafarers, who depended mainly on traditional techniques of way finding.

               The Polynesian canoes were dugout canoes, which are boats made out of hollowed tree trunks, or planks sewn together with cords of coconut fibres twisted into strands.

               An outrigger was attached to a single hull for greater stability during the voyage. Two hulls were lashed together with crossbeams, and a deck was also added between the hulls to create double canoes capable of withstanding long distance voyages.

               The canoes were paddled when there was no wind, and sailed only when there were enough breezes. Though these double-hulled canoes had less storage capacity, they were much faster.

               The Polynesians were skilful and daring navigators. They were the original inhabitants of a vast string of islands in the Pacific Ocean. Their voyages were made very early in the history of exploration. They established colonies on islands miles away from their native island groups.

               They were vigorous explorers, who made important migrations. They were said to have inhabited Easter Island around 440 AD. They arrived in the Hawaiian Islands around 400-500 AD. The Polynesians were also credited with the discovery of New Zealand, probably about 1150 AD.

               The Polynesians had excellent navigational systems; they had maps showing their neighbouring islands. Polynesian navigation used instruments which are distinct from the tools used by European navigators. However, they also relied on close observation of sea signs, and had a large body of knowledge from oral tradition. 

               Hanno was a Carthaginian explorer of the sixth or fifth century BC, who sailed beyond the Strait of Gibraltar, out of the Mediterranean, and down the mysterious Atlantic coast of Africa. Carthage was the capital city of the ancient Carthaginian civilization.

               According to literature, Hanno was the highest administrative officer in the Carthaginian government. Carthage dispatched Hanno as the head of a fleet of 60 ships to explore trading colonies along the north western coast of North Africa. He sailed through the straits of Gibraltar, established seven colonies along the African coast of what is now Morocco, and explored significantly farther along the Atlantic coast of the continent.

               Hanno also encountered various indigenous communities. The primary source for the account of Hanno’s expedition is a Greek translation, titled ‘Periplus’, of a tablet Hanno is reported to have hung up in the temple of Kronos on his return to Carthage. The title translated from the Greek is ‘The Voyage of Hanno, commander of the Carthaginians, round the parts of Libya beyond the Pillars of Heracles, which he deposited in the Temple of Kronos’.

               Around 330 BC, the Greek geographer named Pytheas set out on a voyage from the Greek colony of Massalia through the Mediterranean Sea, to explore Northern Europe. He was sent out by the merchants of his native city to find a route to the tin mines of Southern Britain.

               During the journey, he circumnavigated and visited a considerable part of Great Britain. It was said that he sailed around Iberia, then up the coast of Gaul to Brittany, and eventually, reached Belerium where he explored the famous tin mines.

               Pytheas was the first person to describe the midnight sun, and polar ice. He also introduced the idea of ‘Thule’ to the geographic imagination, and his account was the earliest that stated that the Moon is the cause of tides. On his return, Pytheas chronicled an account of his endeavour entitled ‘On the Ocean’. 

               The Phoenicians were extremely careful and secretive about their trade routes, discoveries, and their knowledge of winds and currents. They had two types of navigation; the first one was coastal navigation, which was usually a short daytime expedition between ports that were not more than 45 to 55 kilometres apart.

               The second type of navigation was open sea navigation. This was used when the Phoenicians sailed to far-off destinations, when they cruised much farther out in open water. During such voyages, they always preferred to anchor safely during nights. When that was not possible, they would steer their ships trusting the Ursa Minor constellation.

               Ursa Minor had been important in navigation because of Polaris, a fairly bright star in the constellation, approximately 434 light years from Earth. Ancient writers called Polaris the Phoenician Star.

            The Phoenicians were mighty seafarers of the ancient world. The coastal plains of present day Lebanon were home to the Phoenicians in the first millennium BC. They traded predominantly along the Mediterranean Sea. In the centuries that followed, the Phoenicians formed the major naval power of the region. They were the first people to venture into the western Mediterranean and beyond the Straits of Gibraltar, to the Atlantic coasts of Africa and Europe.

            Gradually, the Phoenicians established colonies throughout the Mediterranean. The most strategically important Phoenician trading outpost was Carthage, in North Africa.

            The Phoenicians grew rich exporting products such as wine, olive oil, embroideries, linen, fabric coloured in the famous Tyrian purple dye, and most notably, timber from the famous cedars of Lebanon.