Early Voyages

'Everything has a beginning.' This section looks at when humans made the first large journeys across the sea. The true start of maritime history was when humans built objects to carry them and their things over water.

The earliest humans lived by water; they used basic rafts or objects, which float to cross rivers and small areas of water. It was so long ago, and so it is difficult to know much about the first humans on water. We do know that people built different rafts, in different places, for different purposes. Over time, people built bigger and better rafts – the first boats. These boats became bigger and better – the first ships.

We think the Polynesians were the first people to really explore the oceans. Over hundreds of years, the Polynesians spread out over islands in the Pacific Ocean. The Polynesians needed to navigate well to travel over these large distances by sea. These first sailors used information from the stars, winds, currents, even birds and fish. Polynesians knew the stars, and the skies in the Pacific Ocean were mostly clear, so they also navigated this way.

The first rafts and boats were made from different materials. Some boat builders used wood; some made tree trunks into canoes. Dried animal skin was a common material. The skin was stretched over pieces of wood, making the boat’s hull. In the end, most groups of people found wood was the best material to use. They joined small pieces of wood together to make different sizes and shapes of rafts and boats. Over time, people found the best techniques, the boats improved, and they made longer journeys more safely.

Every raft or boat needs a method of moving forward. In shallow waters, people used a long wooden pole to press along the ground beneath the water, this is called punting. In deeper waters, the humans moved the first boats using their hands or feet in the water; later a wooden paddle or oar was used to pull the craft forwards.

In time, sailors used the wind to move their crafts - first a tree branch, and then cloth spread over wood. The first image of a boat with a cloth sail is on a vase from Egypt from the year 3100 BC, but maybe the first sail was used around 6000 BC. The Egyptians mostly used their boats on the Nile river. The river’s current carried them to the north and the Mediterranean, and the wind carried them back south. No one is sure about the first trade route by sea. Some people believe it was in the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf more than 5000 years ago.

Trade over water was often more simple and easier than trade by land, it was very important for the first cities. Sea trade spread both knowledge and material goods. Sea trade was only possible because of better boats, which is why it is so important to understand the history of these early crafts.