Role of ships in ancient discoveries

Ships played an important role in the ages of great discoveries. The curiosity was a prime motive to know as much
about the world as possible, second motive was religious in region, the third motive was economic. These three
main reasons motivated to initiate discoveries.
Some of the roles of ships played in great discoveries are discussed below:
In the historical period of European global exploration that started in the early 15th century with the first
Portuguese discoveries in the Atlantic Archipelagos and Africa, as well as the discovery of America by Spain in
1492, and the discovery of the ocean route to the East in 1498, and by a series of European naval expeditions
across the Atlantic and later the Pacific, which continued until the 18th century. This provided a bridge between
the middle Ages and the Modern era.
European overseas expansion led to the rise of colonial empires, with the contact between the Old and New
Worlds producing the Columbian Exchange: a wide transfer of plants, animals, foods, human populations
(including slaves), communicable diseases and culture between the Eastern and Western hemispheres.
This represented one of the most-significant global events concerning ecology, agriculture, and culture in history.
European exploration allowed the global mapping of the world, resulting in a new world-view and distant
civilizations acknowledging each other, reaching the most-remote boundaries much later.
Gold and silver was discovered, when the European exploitation began.
Most of the explorers had the immediate task of finding a direct route to India and the Far East in order to obtain
spices such as pepper, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and cloves. In 1291, two sailors from Genoa, Doria and Vivaldo,
sailed through the Straits of Gibraltar trying to get to India -- they were never heard from again.
None of the explorers really knew where they were going!
There were, of course, many obstacles to success in ocean navigation. Geographical knowledge of the world was
obviously not what it is today, or even three hundred years ago. According to the ancients, only certain parts of the
world were inhabited by men, the rest was barren of life. It was also commonly believed that Africa and Malaysia
were connected so that the Indian Ocean was landlocked. Another important obstacle was simply the danger of
ocean travel itself. The oceans were inhabited by dragons and sea monsters and there were great holes in the sea
where ships would simply disappear. There was also the problem of wild natives, cannibals, reefs and shoals,
unmapped waters, running aground and storms. Conditions on board ship were far from ideal. In 1521, Magellan
recorded that:
We were three months and twenty days without refreshment from any kind of fresh food. We ate biscuit which
was no longer biscuit but its powder, swarming with worms, the rats having eaten all the good. It stank strongly of
their urine. We drank yellow water already many days putrid. We also ate certain ox hides that covered the top of
the yards to prevent the yards from chafing the shrouds, and which had become exceedingly hard because of the
sun, rain and wind. We soaked them in the sea for four or five days, then placed them for a short time over the hot
embers and ate them thus, and often we ate sawdust. Rats were sold for half a ducat apiece, and even so we could
not always get them.
And, of course, none of the explorers really knew where they were going!
Columbus, at the age of fourteen he went to sea, fought in several battles, and around 1470 was shipwrecked and
reached the shores of Lisbon on a plank. As early as 1474, he conceived the idea of reaching India by sailing west.
Three years later he sailed one hundred leagues beyond Thule and probably reached Iceland. Having voyaged to
the Cape Verde Islands and Sierra Leone, he began to seek a patron for his intended voyage of exploration. He
applied to John II of Portugal and Henry VIII of England but was refused both
times.
On Friday, August 3, 1492, Columbus set sail on his first voyage in command of
the Santa Maria and attended by two smaller ships, the Pinta and Nina. His
whole squadron consisted of little more than 120 men. After thirty-three days
at sea, Columbus sighted Watlings Island in the Bahamas. He then visited Cuba
and Hispaniola, where he planted a small colony of forty men (Navidad), and
then set sail for Spain. Fortunately, we have the JOURNAL of Columbus, which
offers valuable insights into his first trans-Atlantic voyage. He entered the
Spanish port of Palos on March 15, 1493 and was received with the highest
honors of the court.
He sailed on a second voyage on September 25, 1493, this time with twenty
ships (the trans-Atlantic passage lasted twenty-one days), and on November 3,
sighted Dominca in the West Indies, and by the end of the month, he had
discovered the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico. He returned to Navidad only to find that the fortress he had left in
1493 lay in ruins and the men all dead. In April 1494 he left the West Indies in search of a route to China. He
reached Cuba, but after hearing of an island that contained vast quantities of gold he sailed south and landed at
Jamaica. After a hostile welcome from the natives, Columbus left for Cuba but faced with shoals; he gave up the
quest and decided to return to Spain. In poor health, Columbus set sail on March 10, 1496, with two ships and
returned to Spain on June 8.
The third voyage of Christopher Columbus began with six ships on May 30, 1498. Three ships sailed for Hispaniola
while the other three, captained by Columbus, went on a mission of exploration. This voyage resulted in the
discovery of Trinidad and Margarita. He eventually arrived at Santa Domingo on the island of Hispaniola on August
19, 1498. There he found the colony in turmoil. This time it was his own colonist who had led a revolt against his
administration. Francisco de Bobadilla (d. 1502) was appointed as royal commissioner, Columbus was arrested,
and in October 1500, he was sent home to Spain in irons.
On May 11, 1502, Columbus made his final voyage with four ships and 140 men. It was to be a voyage of continual
hardship as constant storms and hostile Indians beleaguered Columbus and his tired crew. Although he was able to
traverse the coast of Central America south to Panama. Columbus returned home on November 7, 1504. He died
at Valladolid, Spain, on May 20, 1506. There is much controversy regarding his ultimate resting place, his body
having been exhumed many times over a period of centuries.
Other Spanish discoveries followed those of Columbus. On September 1, 1513, Vasco Nunez de Balboa (1475-
1519) left the Spanish settlement of Santa Maria de la Antigua with 200 men and a thousand Indians and crossed
the Isthmus of Panama. Three weeks later, Balboa climbed to the peak of a mountain, and saw the "South Sea."
Four days later, he reached the Pacific Ocean and claimed all lands that it touched for Spain. And in 1519, the
Portuguese sailor, Ferdinand Magellan (c.1480-1521), left Spain with five ships. He threaded the straits of Cape
Horn at the tip of South America and reached the Pacific Ocean. He was killed during an expedition at Zebu in the
Philippines on April 27, 1521, but his ship, the Victoria, returned to Spain with eighteen crew members, on
September 6, 1522, thus completing the first circumnavigation of the globe.
In 1519, Hernando Corts (1485-1547) set out to conquer the Aztec civilization of Mexico. His army consisted of
550 troops, 250 Indians and twelve horses. After a series of battles lasting more than a year, the conquistador
Corts brought Central and parts of South America under Spanish control and domination. His success was partly
the result of obtaining allies from tribes that the Aztecs had conquered previously. Another reason for Corts quick
success was the superiority of European technology in small arms and artillery. By 1522, Corts controlled a
territory that was larger than that of Spain itself. But the human cost was immense -- in a period of thirty years,
the Aztec population had been reduced from 25 million to 2 million people. This pattern of cruelty was repeated
wherever Europeans landed. For instance, in 1531, Francesco Pizarro (1474-1541) conquered the Incan Empire of
Peru. Gold and silver flooded back to Spain, especially after the huge silver deposit at Potosi was discovered.
The Spanish government established in the New World a pattern of political administration common back in Spain.
Representatives of the throne were sent to administer the newly won empire and to impose centralized control.
The native populations were treated cruelly by these governors and for the most part, the Spanish government
remained totally indifferent to native traditions, customs and laws. The interests of the Spanish crown were
basically to convert the natives to Christianity, extend Spain's power over its lands and to gain at least some
portion of profit.
The gains of overseas exploration of the New World were immense. Gold and silver flooded into Europe, especially
into Spain and ultimately into the hands of Italian and German bankers and merchants. Economic conditions
seemed to be improving and the population was increasing. But with this wealth came poverty as investors and
businessmen sought to take advantage of their new found wealth. The other gain was the simple fact of an
awareness of new parts of the globe. This discovery of the New World as well as its exploration appeared at an
opportune moment. For here was Europe sagging in its economy and its political power fragmented. If the Age of
Discovery did anything, it restored the self-confidence of Europe, and in turn, Europe rediscovered itself.
James Cook's Pacific Ocean exploration (17681779).
The centers of the Americas had been reached by the mid 16th century, although there were unexplored areas
until the 18th and 19th centuries.
Australia's and Africa's deep interiors were not explored by Europeans until the mid to late 19th and early 20th
centuries; this being due to a lack of trade potential in this region, and to serious problems with contagious
tropical diseases in sub-Saharan Africa's case. Finally, Antarctica's interior was explored, with North and South
Poles reached in the 20th century.
Scientific Surveys in Central America and the Pacific:
Alexander von Humboldt (17991804)- laid the foundation of the sciences of physical geography and
meteorology.
Darwin and the second voyage of HMS Beagle (18311836)- making a hydrographic survey of the coasts of South
America using calibrated chronometers and astronomical observations, producing charts for naval war or
commerce
HMS Challenger- The HMS Challenger, built in 1858, undertook the first global marine research expedition called
the Challenger expedition in 1872. To enable her to probe the depths, all but two of the Challenger's guns had
been removed and her spars reduced to make more space available. Laboratories, extra cabins and a special
dredging platform were installed. She was loaded with specimen jars, alcohol for preservation of samples,
microscopes and chemical apparatus, trawls and dredges, thermometers and water sampling bottles, sounding
leads and devices to collect sediment from the sea bed and great lengths of rope with which to suspend the
equipment into the ocean depths. In all she was supplied with 181 miles (291 km) of Italian hemp for sounding,
trawling and dredging. As the first true oceanographic cruise, the Challenger expedition laid the groundwork for an
entire academic and research discipline. The above given are only few from the part of role of ships played in
ancient discoveries.