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128-591: The sources on the settlement of Greenland are sparse. The main sources are the Íslendingabók by the scholar Ari Thorgilsson , the Landnámabók (the land seizure book) by an unknown author, but probably with Ari's involvement, the anonymous Grænlendinga saga (Saga of the Greenlanders) and the also anonymous Saga of Erik the Red . But there is also information about the inhabitants of Greenland in other works; these are:

256-601: A solar barque . Early Egyptians also knew how to fasten the planks of this ship together with mortise and tenon joints. The oldest known tidal dock in the world was built around 2500 BC during the Harappan civilisation at Lothal near the present day Mangrol harbour on the Gujarat coast in India . Other ports were probably at Balakot and Dwarka . However, it is probable that many small-scale ports, and not massive ports, were used for

384-538: A "middle settlement". In contrast to the Inuit, who needed immediate access to the open sea as hunters and fishermen, the agricultural Grænlendingar settled in the protected areas at the end of the long fjords . The climatic conditions there were more favorable for agriculture and pasture farming. According to current estimates, the total number of Icelanders in Greenland was a maximum of 5,000 to 6,000 people, most of whom lived in

512-493: A Romanesque arch in the east facade. Another door and two slit windows are in the south wall. The window niches expand inwards in a funnel shape - a design that is also seen in early churches in the British Isles. The gables are approximately 5m high. There are a few wall niches, but no decoration inside the church. The roof, which is no longer preserved, was originally made of wood and sod. The appearance corresponds to churches in

640-454: A bell tower with bronze bells, both of which were particularly valuable imported goods. To the south of the church and connected by a tiled path, there was a large building complex with several rooms and a hall measuring 16.75 × 7.75 m as the bishop's residence. The farm included a well and two large stables - the larger of which was 60 m long - which could accommodate 100 cows, as well as several storehouses and farm buildings. This also included

768-485: A blacksmith shop have also been preserved. On the site, slightly separated from the main complex, was the earth-walled church of Brattahlíð, of which only sparse remains remain today (a reconstruction was built on the site a few years ago) and what is now known as the church built by Thjodhild applies. A cemetery was excavated around the church containing 144 skeletons, 24 of which were children, 65 men, 39 women and 16 adults whose gender could not be determined. About half of

896-426: A broad beam and heavily curved at both ends. Another important ship type was the galley, which was constructed with both sails and oars. The first extant treatise on shipbuilding was written c.  1436 by Michael of Rhodes, a man who began his career as an oarsman on a Venetian galley in 1401 and worked his way up into officer positions. He wrote and illustrated a book that contains a treatise on shipbuilding,

1024-611: A central structure in the style of a longhouse , which was built on a foundation of field stones made of alternating peat sods and layers of stone. The construction method may have been adopted by the Inuit, as it was already known to the Eskimos of the Saqqaq culture (2400–900 BC). The simple roof structure was made of driftwood (in some farms also made of whale bone) and was covered with sod. A practical and artfully executed water supply and drainage system made of covered canals irrigated and drained

1152-496: A church or chapel and a bathhouse, similar to a sauna . Many farms also had remote "Saeters", huts that were only used in the summer months for harvesting hay on remote pastures, a system similar to the Maiensäße in the Alps . The traditional name is misleading in that this settlement is located on the west coast of Greenland. This is explained by the fact that their location at the end of

1280-410: A curved, progressive joint could not be achieved. One study finds that there were considerable improvements in ship speed from 1750 to 1850: "we find that average sailing speeds of British ships in moderate to strong winds rose by nearly a third. Driving this steady progress seems to be the continuous evolution of sails and rigging, and improved hulls that allowed a greater area of sail to be set safely in

1408-467: A forge where traces of bog iron were found. Connected to the property was a harbor with boat sheds on the Einarsfjord. In total, the complex includes around 40 larger and smaller buildings and this alone proves the outstanding position that Gardar held in Greenland's Viking society. Hvalsey Church is the best-preserved Grænlendingar building today. The simple, rectangular church was built around 1300 on

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1536-410: A gentle slope not far from the fjord shore. As is usual with old churches, it is oriented east–west. The approximately 1.5 m thick walls are artfully stacked stone. Clay may also have been used as mortar. Turf then covered the clayThere is evidence that the exterior walls were originally whitewashed. The church has a low doorway with a rectangular window above it in the west facade and a larger window with

1664-573: A given wind. By contrast, looking at every voyage between the Netherlands and East Indies undertaken by the Dutch East India Company from 1595 to 1795, we find that journey time fell only by 10 percent, with no improvement in the heavy mortality, averaging six percent per voyage, of those aboard." Initially copying wooden construction traditions with a frame over which the hull was fastened, Isambard Kingdom Brunel 's Great Britain of 1843

1792-414: A group of buildings on a larger area. It included stables for sheep, goats, cattle and - at least in the early days of the settlements - also pigs and Icelandic horses . There were also barns, storehouses and farm buildings, from the remains of which one can conclude that textile production and dairy farming were primarily carried out there. The main building was a conglomeration of interconnecting rooms with

1920-499: A high degree of commercialization and an increase in trade. Large numbers of ships were built to meet the demand. The Ming voyages were large in size, numbering as many as 300 ships and 28,000 men. The shipbuilders were brought from different places in China to the shipyard in Nanjing , including Zhejiang , Jiangxi , Fujian , and Huguang (now the provinces of Hubei and Hunan ). One of

2048-465: A horse. Bones of domestic cattle were also found. Based on the teeth, it was possible to determine that the cows lived to a relatively old age and were therefore used more for milk production than for meat production. The comparative measurements taken prove that the domesticated animals were rather small and strong in stature. Earth samples proved that the Vikings used slash-and-burn agriculture to cultivate

2176-660: A latitude of 73°. A twelve centimeter long runestone, known as the Kingittorsuaq Runestone , from the early 14th century was inserted into one of them, which names the date April 25 (the year is not specified) and the three members of such a hunting expedition. The living conditions must have been similar to those in Iceland. Of the 24 children's skeletons at the Thjodhilds Church in Brattahlid, 15 were of infants, one child

2304-486: A long time. In return, the colony received the promise of regular shipping connections. This step also resulted in a Norwegian trading monopoly. In 1294, King Eirik Magnusson of Norway issued letters of privilege to local merchants for the Greenland trade. All others, especially the Hanseatic League, were forbidden from shipping to Greenland. Apparently there was regular trade with one or two "state" ships per year until

2432-607: A number of inter-visible islands, boats (and, later, ships) with water-tight hulls (unlike the "flow through" structure of a raft) could be developed. The ships of ancient Egypt were built by joining the hull planks together, edge to edge, with tenons set in mortices cut in the mating edges. A similar technique, but with the tenons being pinned in position by dowels, was used in the Mediterranean for most of classical antiquity . Both these variants are "shell first" techniques, where any reinforcing frames are inserted after assembly of

2560-406: A range of sailing rigs that included the crab claw sail . The origins of this technology is difficult to date, relying largely on linguistics (studying the words for parts of boats), the written comments of people from other cultures, including the observations of European explorers at the time of first contact and the later more systematic ethnographic observations of the types of craft in use. There

2688-863: A similar design. Austronesians established the Austronesian maritime trade network at around 1000 to 600 BC, linking Southeast Asia with East Asia, South Asia, the Middle East, and later East Africa. The route later became part of the Spice trade network and the Maritime Silk Road . The naval history of China stems back to the Spring and Autumn period (722 BC–481 BC) of the ancient Chinese Zhou dynasty . The Chinese built large rectangular barges known as "castle ships", which were essentially floating fortresses complete with multiple decks with guarded ramparts . However,

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2816-411: A single piece of hollowed-out log. At the sides were two planks, and two horseshoe-shaped wood pieces formed the prow and stern . These were fitted tightly together edge-to-edge with dowels inserted into holes in between, and then lashed to each other with ropes (made from rattan or fiber) wrapped around protruding lugs on the planks. This characteristic and ancient Austronesian boatbuilding practice

2944-539: A small church built some distance from the court makes the very early presence of a priest appear credible. Apart from a few small amulets, there is no archaeological evidence of the practice of pagan rituals. Christian churches and chapels have been excavated on numerous farms, including the Church of Brattahlíð , to which the Grœnlendinga saga's account of the little church of Thjodhild fits exactly. These churches were built by

3072-480: A specialized occupation that traces its roots to before recorded history . Until recently, with the development of complex non-maritime technologies, a ship has often represented the most advanced structure that the society building it could produce. Some key industrial advances were developed to support shipbuilding, for instance the sawing of timbers by mechanical saws propelled by windmills in Dutch shipyards during

3200-518: A treatise on mathematics, much material on astrology, and other materials. His treatise on shipbuilding treats three kinds of galleys and two kinds of round ships. Shipbuilders in the Ming dynasty (1368~1644) were not the same as the shipbuilders in other Chinese dynasties, due to hundreds of years of accumulated experiences and rapid changes in the Ming dynasty. Shipbuilders in the Ming dynasty primarily worked for

3328-586: Is 1406, 1456 or 1460. There are no source written in Greenland itself. There is no Greenlandic collection of laws, no chronicles, no annals of any kind. This absence is particularly noticeable after 1300, when few sagas were written, and accounts of earlier events are unreliable. Original documents have varying credibility. Adam praises the Danish king Sven Estridson for his scholarship and confesses that he learned many important facts for his book, but his description of Greenlanders, whom he describes as "pale green like

3456-467: Is a famous example). Later Great Britain ' s iron hull was sheathed in wood to enable it to carry a copper-based sheathing . Brunel's Great Eastern represented the next great development in shipbuilding. Built-in association with John Scott Russell , it used longitudinal stringers for strength, inner and outer hulls, and bulkheads to form multiple watertight compartments. Steel also supplanted wrought iron when it became readily available in

3584-654: Is a possibility that they may have reached the Americas . After the 11th century, a new type of ship called djong or jong was recorded in Java and Bali. This type of ship was built using wooden dowels and treenails, unlike the kunlun bo which used vegetal fibres for lashings. The empire of Majapahit used jong, built in northern Java, for transporting troops overseas. The jongs were transport ships which could carry 100–2000 tons of cargo and 50–1000 people, 28.99–88.56 meter in length. The exact number of jong fielded by Majapahit

3712-539: Is called ship breaking . The earliest evidence of maritime transport by modern humans is the settlement of Australia between 50,000 and 60,000 years ago. This almost certainly involved rafts , possibly equipped with some sort of sail . Much of the development beyond that raft technology occurred in the "nursery" areas of the Mediterranean and in Maritime Southeast Asia . Favoured by warmer waters and

3840-545: Is called the " Medieval Warm Period ". The group departed Iceland with 25 ships, of which, according to the description in the land acquisition book, 14 reached the Greenland coast. The farms built by the first settlers on the Eriksfjord formed the core of the Eastern Settlement . Icelandic sources suggest that at least three more fleets carrying settlers reached Greenland in the following 14 years. The Western Settlement

3968-631: Is from the 6th to 5th millennium BC of the Ubaid period of Mesopotamia . They were made from bundled reeds coated in bitumen and had bipod masts. They sailed in shallow coastal waters of the Persian Gulf . Evidence from Ancient Egypt shows that the early Egyptians knew how to assemble planks of wood into a ship hull as early as 3100 BC. Egyptian pottery as old as 4000 BC shows designs of early fluvial boats or other means for navigation. The Archaeological Institute of America reports that some of

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4096-600: Is known as the " lashed-lug " technique. They were commonly caulked with pastes made from various plants as well as tapa bark and fibres which would expand when wet, further tightening joints and making the hull watertight. They formed the shell of the boat, which was then reinforced by horizontal ribs. Shipwrecks of Austronesian ships can be identified from this construction as well as the absence of metal nails. Austronesian ships traditionally had no central rudders but were instead steered using an oar on one side. Austronesians traditionally made their sails from woven mats of

4224-525: Is located about 500 km north of the eastern settlement in the area around today's capital Nuuk in a less favorable climatic location. It was smaller and more modestly equipped and comprised around 90 farms near today's Kapisillit settlement. From 1991 to 1996, the Danish Polar Center, in collaboration with the University of Alberta , researched the "Gården under sandet or Farm beneath the sand" in

4352-475: Is located in a sheltered location at the end of the approximately 100 km long Eriksfjord. It goes back directly to a founding by Erik the Red. Fertile soils and rich pastures made livestock farming possible. The Norwegian priest Ívarr Bárðason reported around the middle of the 14th century that even apples were said to have ripened in favorable years. The eastern settlement includes the largest and richest farms in Greenland. Erik's farm Brattahlíð (Brattahlid)

4480-571: Is noted in the works of Ibn Jubayr . The ships of Ancient Egypt's Eighteenth Dynasty were typically about 25 meters (80 ft) in length and had a single mast , sometimes consisting of two poles lashed together at the top making an "A" shape. They mounted a single square sail on a yard , with an additional spar along the bottom of the sail. These ships could also be oar propelled. The ocean- and sea-going ships of Ancient Egypt were constructed with cedar wood, most likely hailing from Lebanon. The ships of Phoenicia seem to have been of

4608-499: Is only a small body of archaeological evidence available. Since Island Southeast Asia contained effective maritime transport between its very large number of islands long before Austronesian seafaring, it is argued that Austronesians adopted an existing maritime technology from the existing inhabitants of this region. Austronesian ships varied from simple canoes to large multihull ships. The simplest form of all ancestral Austronesian boats had five parts. The bottom part consists of

4736-483: Is sound. Some accounts are derivative because they have been obviously taken from other sources. Other texts are obviously fictions, but their embedding in Greenlandic society can accurately reflect the conditions there as a background. Ari Þorgilsson writes in his Íslendingabók that he got his information from his uncle, who had a good memory and who spoke to someone in Greenland who had sailed to Greenland with Erik

4864-412: Is the only work that with evidence for his authorship, but he is accredited with numerous articles of knowledge and is believed to have had a major part in the writing of Landnámabók , which chronicles the settlement of Iceland. Ari was early on regarded as an important author. In Iceland's First Grammatical Treatise , written around 1160 AD, he is referred to with respect as an exceptional man, since

4992-411: Is unknown, but the largest number of jong deployed in an expedition is about 400 jongs, when Majapahit attacked Pasai, in 1350. Until recently, Viking longships were seen as marking an advance on traditional clinker -built hulls where leather thongs were used to join plank boards. This consensus has recently been challenged. Haywood has argued that earlier Frankish and Anglo-Saxon nautical practice

5120-869: The Flóamanna saga (Story of the People of Flói), the Einars þáttr Sokkasonar (Story of Einar Sokkason), the Króka-Refs saga (Story of Fox the Cunning), a more novelistic tale from the 14th century, the Fóstbrœðra saga (The Story of the Oath Brothers), the story of Olaf Tryggvason in the Heimskringla , the Konungs skuggsjá , and Adam of Bremen . Individual messages can also be found in

5248-571: The ghe mành . Early Egyptians also knew how to assemble planks of wood with treenails to fasten them together, using pitch for caulking the seams. The " Khufu ship ", a 43.6-meter vessel sealed into a pit in the Giza pyramid complex at the foot of the Great Pyramid of Giza in the Fourth Dynasty around 2500 BC, is a full-size surviving example which may have fulfilled the symbolic function of

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5376-579: The k'un-lun po or kunlun bo ("ship of the k'un-lun [dark-skinned southern people]"). These ships used two types of sail of their invention, the junk sail and tanja sail . Large ships are about 50–60 metres (164–197 ft) long, had 5.2–7.8 metres (17–26 ft) tall freeboard , each carrying provisions enough for a year, and could carry 200–1000 people. The Chinese recorded that these Southeast Asian ships were hired for passage to South Asia by Chinese Buddhist pilgrims and travelers, because they did not build seaworthy ships of their own until around

5504-702: The Abbasid period. Mughal Empire had a large shipbuilding industry, which was largely centred in the Bengal Subah . Economic historian Indrajit Ray estimates shipbuilding output of Bengal during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries at 223,250 tons annually, compared with 23,061 tons produced in nineteen colonies in North America from 1769 to 1771. He also assesses ship repairing as very advanced in Bengal. Documents from 1506, for example, refer to watercraft on

5632-483: The Arctic Circle to what is now Disko Bay . The following year he sailed back to Iceland. He managed to win over approximately 700 people by convincing them that they would find lush pastures and the best conditions for settlement in "Green land", as he called the newly discovered land. The chosen name was euphemistic, but probably not entirely unrealistic. Warming has also been proven elsewhere during this period and

5760-631: The Faroe Islands , Orkneys and Shetlands . Since church buildings in Iceland and Norway were usually made of wood, this may suggest regular contact between the colony and the British Isles. The church was the scene of the last recorded event in Greenland. A wedding took place there on September 14, 1408. The guests came from Iceland in 1408 and returned in 1410. Of the surrounding courtyards, only sparse remains of residential buildings, stables, warehouses and storehouses remain; some of them have not yet been examined by archaeologists. The western settlement

5888-635: The Icelandic Annals , which are reproduced in translation below. Geographical notes about Greenland (Gripla, Landabók and others) remain unmentioned here. Three Eskimo stories about the Norsemen have been passed down in oral tradition. They were recorded in the 19th century and published by Hinrich Johannes Rink under the title "Eskimoiske Eventyr og Sagn" in Copenhagen 1866–1871. Even though these stories are very legendary and fairytale-like, they still represent

6016-533: The Napoleonic Wars were still built more or less to the same basic plan as those of the Spanish Armada of two centuries earlier, although there had been numerous subtle improvements in ship design and construction throughout this period. For instance, the introduction of tumblehome , adjustments to the shapes of sails and hulls, the introduction of the wheel, the introduction of hardened copper fastenings below

6144-453: The Sierra Leone river carrying 120 men. Others refer to Guinea coast peoples using war canoes of varying sizes – some 70 feet in length, 7–8 feet broad, with sharp pointed ends, rowing benches on the side, and quarterdecks or forecastles build of reeds. The watercraft included miscellaneous facilities, such as cooking hearths, and storage spaces for the crew's sleeping mats. From

6272-536: The 17th century, some kingdoms added brass or iron cannons to their vessels. By the 18th century, however, the use of swivel cannons on war canoes accelerated. The city-state of Lagos , for instance, deployed war canoes armed with swivel cannons. With the development of the carrack , the west moved into a new era of ship construction by building the first regular oceangoing vessels. In a relatively short time, these ships grew to an unprecedented size, complexity, and cost. Shipyards became large industrial complexes, and

6400-690: The 5,000-year-old ship may have even belonged to Pharaoh Aha . The Austronesian expansion , which began c.  3000 BC with migration from Taiwan to the island of Luzon in the Philippines , spread across Island Southeast Asia . Then, between 1500 BC and 1500 AD they settled uninhabited islands of the Pacific, and also sailed westward to Madagascar. This is associated with distinctive maritime technology: lashed lug construction techniques (both in outrigger canoes and in large planked sailing vessels), various types of outrigger and twin-hulled canoes and

6528-590: The 8–9th century AD. Austronesians (especially from western Island Southeast Asia ) were trading in the Indian Ocean as far as Africa during this period. By around 50 to 500 AD, a group of Austronesians, believed to be from the southeastern coasts of Borneo (possibly a mixed group related to the modern Ma'anyan , Banjar , and/or the Dayak people ) crossed the Indian Ocean and colonized Madagascar . This resulted in

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6656-731: The Admiral Zheng He . Six voyages were conducted under the Yongle Emperor's reign, the last of which returned to China in 1422. After the Yongle Emperor's death in 1424, his successor the Hongxi Emperor ordered the suspension of the voyages. The seventh and final voyage began in 1430, sent by the Xuande Emperor . Although the Hongxi and Xuande Emperors did not emphasize sailing as much as the Yongle Emperor, they were not against it. This led to

6784-499: The Chinese vessels during this era were essentially fluvial (riverine). True ocean-going Chinese fleets did not appear until the 10th century Song dynasty . There is considerable knowledge regarding shipbuilding and seafaring in the ancient Mediterranean. Large multi-masted seafaring ships of Southeast Asian Austronesians first started appearing in Chinese records during the Han dynasty as

6912-648: The Chinese, from the Old Javanese parahu , Javanese prau , or Malay perahu – large ship. Southern Chinese junks showed characteristics of Austronesian ships that they are made using timbers of tropical origin, with keeled, V-shaped hull. This is different from northern Chinese junks, which are developed from flat-bottomed riverine boats. The northern Chinese junks were primarily built of pine or fir wood, had flat bottoms with no keel, water-tight bulkheads with no frames, transom (squared) stern and stem, and have their planks fastened with iron nails or clamps. It

7040-634: The Eastern one). Estimates put the combined population of the settlements at their height between 2,000 and 10,000, with recent estimates trending toward the lower figure. Archeologists have identified the ruins of approximately 620 farms: 500 in the Eastern Settlement, 95 in the Western Settlement, and 20 in the Middle Settlement. It is very likely that Erik the Red held a leadership position in

7168-476: The Einarfjord and was the episcopal see of Greenland. The largest agricultural property - even before Brattahlid - was owned by the church. Garðar Cathedral Ruins , dedicated to Saint Nicholas , of which little more than the foundation walls remain, was 27 m long when completed at the beginning of the 13th century and 16 m wide in the cross choir including the side chapels. It had windows made of greenish glass and

7296-432: The Eriksfjord, which extends to the east, required a longer journey from the coast to the east. The fjord is surrounded by rolling hills and characterized by numerous small and tiny islands. In the sheltered areas in the interior of the fjord, subarctic vegetation blooms lushly in summer. The climate is still the mildest in Greenland today. The eastern settlement is the oldest Grænlendingar settlement, comprised 192 farms and

7424-561: The Han dynasty junk ship design in the same century. The Chinese were using square sails during the Han dynasty and adopted the Austronesian junk sail later in the 12th century. Iconographic remains show that Chinese ships before the 12th century used square sails, and the junk rig of Chinese ships is believed to be developed from tilted sails . Southern Chinese junks were based on keeled and multi-planked Austronesian ship known as po by

7552-695: The Harappan maritime trade. Ships from the harbour at these ancient port cities established trade with Mesopotamia . Shipbuilding and boatmaking may have been prosperous industries in ancient India. Native labourers may have manufactured the flotilla of boats used by Alexander the Great to navigate across the Hydaspes and even the Indus , under Nearchos . The Indians also exported teak for shipbuilding to ancient Persia . Other references to Indian timber used for shipbuilding

7680-485: The Neo-Eskimo culture (Skrælingar). The following spring, Erik sailed further north and entered a large fjord that was named Eiriksfjord (Eriksfjord) after him. At the end of the fjord, at a latitude of around 61°, he founded his farm Brattahlíð (Brattahlid) in the most climatically favorable area of Greenland. First he built a rectangular wooden hall. From there he undertook several exploratory trips that took him beyond

7808-571: The Red . Archeology has now produced results that can be used to check individual reports. The Viking expansion in the Early Middle Ages had its roots in two main social characteristics. The inheritance law in force among the Nordic peoples at the time favored the firstborn son . When new arable and pastureland in Scandinavia could no longer be developed due to the relatively dense settlement,

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7936-579: The Saga of the Greenlanders, Erik's son Leifr (Leif Eriksson) brought Christianity to Greenland around 1000. The Óláfs saga Tryggvasonar ("Story of Olaf Tryggvason") reports the same thing in the Heimskringla . According to this report, he already had a priest with him. The Grœnlendinga saga did not mention him, but the fact that the wife of Erik the Red Þórhildr (Thorhild, after the baptism Þjóðhildr - Thjodhild) had

8064-462: The Snæfellsnes peninsula with the outlaws Þorbjörn (Thorbjörn), Eyjólfr (Eyjolf) and Styrr (Styr) to find Gunnbjörn's land. He reached the Greenland coast at "Miðjökull" (Midjökul; probably today's Amassalik in East Greenland), then sailed south and rounded Cape Farvel to find suitable land for settlement. He spent his first winter on an island off the south coast. According to the Íslendingabók, he found traces of settlement there, which probably came from

8192-428: The United States in a 15-year period just before the war was a grand total of two. During the war, thousands of Liberty ships and Victory ships were built, many of them in shipyards that did not exist before the war. And, they were built by a workforce consisting largely of women and other inexperienced workers who had never seen a ship before (or even the ocean). After World War II , shipbuilding (which encompasses

8320-537: The Western Settlement, which dates back to between 1000 and 1400 AD. The excavation results provided important insights into the architecture and construction of a Viking residential building as well as the residents' food supply. The excavation field is located on a hill at the end of the Lysufjord, about 80 kilometers east of Nuuk. The rectangular residential building measuring 12 × 5 m was built entirely from peat sods , which were stacked on top of each other at an angle of approx. 45° and formed walls 1.9 m thick. The roof

8448-406: The area and burned down the birch bushes that originally grew there to create pastures. In summary, the excavation results so far allow us to conclude that the living conditions were significantly less favorable than in the eastern settlement. The northern hunting area played an important role in the food supply and in the procurement of export goods. It was probably located at a latitude of 70° in

8576-477: The area of today's Disko Bay. There are no known permanent Viking settlements north of the Arctic Circle, but written sources provide evidence of annual hunting expeditions in the summer months. These ventures served to provide the essential supply of meat as a nutritional supplement, but also to procure walrus ivory, narwhal teeth, seal and polar bear fur, eider down, muskox horns and caribou antlers. Norðrsetur could be reached by rowed boats in 30 days from

8704-424: The common grave, 23 were between 30 and 50 years old. Of the 39 women, there were only three, and only one got older. There are also a few from a group whose age over 20 could not be determined. The average height of men was 171 cm - quite a few were 184–185 cm - and that of women was 156 cm; this is higher than the average in Denmark around 1900. All had good teeth, although significantly worn, and there

8832-456: The diet of Scandinavian Greenlanders. He found that the meat diet consisted on average of 20 percent beef, 20 percent goat and sheep meat, 45 percent seal meat, 10 percent caribou and 5 percent other meat, with the proportion of caribou and seal meat being significantly higher in the poorer western settlement was than in the eastern settlement. Apparently the inhabitants also regularly fished; because floats and weights from fishing nets were found in

8960-407: The early days of the colony. In contrast to Norway, Iceland and the Faroe Islands, Greenland was never politically organized as a coherent state. There is no evidence of an official leadership personality for the subsequent period. But the chief in Brattahlid can be said to have a special influence due to its central location and tradition. Since the 14th century, Brattahlid provided the Lögsögumaður ,

9088-421: The eastern settlement. So far, the remains of around 300 farms, 16 community churches (plus several chapels), a Benedictine monastery of St. Olaf near Unartok and a monastery on the Tasermiut Fjord are known. The excavations at Brattahlid, especially more so those of a farmstead near Narsaq in the 1950s and '60s, give a good idea of what the settlements looked like. The typical Grænlendingarhof consisted of

9216-495: The end of the Ming dynasty in 1644. During this period, Chinese navigation technology did not make any progress and even declined in some aspect. In the Islamic world, shipbuilding thrived at Basra and Alexandria . The dhow , felucca , baghlah , and the sambuk became symbols of successful maritime trade around the Indian Ocean from the ports of East Africa to Southeast Asia and the ports of Sindh and Hind (India) during

9344-457: The first half of the 17th century. The design process saw the early adoption of the logarithm (invented in 1615) to generate the curves used to produce the shape of a hull , especially when scaling up these curves accurately in the mould loft . Shipbuilding and ship repairs, both commercial and military, are referred to as naval engineering . The construction of boats is a similar activity called boat building . The dismantling of ships

9472-575: The government, under command of the Ministry of Public Works . During the early years of the Ming dynasty, the Ming government maintained an open policy towards sailing. Between 1405 and 1433, the government conducted seven diplomatic Ming treasure voyages to over thirty countries in Southeast Asia, India, the Middle East and Eastern Africa. The voyages were initiated by the Yongle Emperor , and led by

9600-404: The houses. The stables were also built from stones and sod. The cowshed always had two connected rooms, the cattle shed itself with the stalls and a larger feed chamber. The approximately 1.5 m thick outer wall, made of field stone, was preceded by a several meter thick wall made of sod and earth to insulate it from the cold. There are stone blocks weighing up to 10 tons. The more important farms had

9728-507: The infrastructure required to transport the trees from their point of origin to the shipyards. Shipbuilders were usually divided into different groups and had separate jobs. Some were responsible for fixing old ships; some were responsible for making the keel and some were responsible for building the helm. After 1477, the Ming government reversed its open maritime policies, enacting a series of isolationist policies in response to piracy . The policies, called Haijin (sea ban), lasted until

9856-524: The introduction of outrigger canoe technology to non-Austronesian cultures in the East African coast. The ancient Chinese also built fluvial ramming vessels as in the Greco-Roman tradition of the trireme , although oar-steered ships in China lost favor very early on since it was in the 1st century China that the stern -mounted rudder was first developed. This was dually met with the introduction of

9984-485: The keel, the hull was made by overlapping nine strakes on either side with rivets fastening the oaken planks together. It could hold upwards of thirty men. Sometime around the 12th century, northern European ships began to be built with a straight sternpost , enabling the mounting of a rudder, which was much more durable than a steering oar held over the side. Development in the Middle Ages favored "round ships", with

10112-511: The large pasture areas required for livestock breeding, the farms were widely separated from each other and were effectively self-sufficient. The Norwegian textbook Konungs skuggsjá (King's Mirror) reports in the 13th century that the Greenlandic farmers lived primarily on meat, milk (Skyr, a sour milk product similar to our quark), butter and cheese. Archaeologist Thomas McGovern from the City University of New York used rubbish piles to study

10240-540: The larger eastern settlement (Eystribyggð) around today's Qaqortoq and the smaller western settlement (Vestribyggð) around today's city of Nuuk - both of which are located on the west coast of Greenland. Due to the far reaches of the Gulf Stream , the climate in these areas is significantly more favorable than in all other areas of Greenland. Between the two settlements there were still a few scattered farms (near today's Ivittuut ), which are summarized in some publications as

10368-470: The latter half of the 19th century, providing great savings when compared with iron in cost and weight. Wood continued to be favored for the decks. During World War II , the need for cargo ships was so great that construction time for Liberty ships went from initially eight months or longer, down to weeks or even days. They employed production line and prefabrication techniques such as those used in shipyards today. The total number of dry-cargo ships built in

10496-408: The men - quite a few over 1.80 m tall - were between 40 and 60 years old. Many of them showed clear signs of arthritis and badly worn teeth. There is a mass grave in the cemetery containing the remains of 13 people. These skeletons, as well as several others, show traces of sword and ax blows, which suggest endemic violence. Gardar (today Igaliku ) lies on a fertile plain between the Eriksfjord and

10624-412: The mid-18th century and from the mid-19th century onwards. This was partly led by the shortage of "compass timber", the naturally curved timber that meant that shapes could be cut without weaknesses caused by cuts across the grain of the timber. Ultimately, whole ships were made of iron and, later, steel . The earliest known depictions (including paintings and models) of shallow-water sailing boats

10752-555: The most famous shipyards was Long Jiang Shipyard ( zh:龙江船厂 ), located in Nanjing near the Treasure Shipyard where the ocean-going ships were built. The shipbuilders could build 24 models of ships of varying sizes. Several types of ships were built for the voyages, including Shachuan (沙船), Fuchuan (福船) and Baochuan ( treasure ship ) (宝船). Zheng He's treasure ships were regarded as Shachuan types, mainly because they were made in

10880-428: The north and male skeletons in the south of the church. The greater the distance from the church, the more superficial the burial, which suggests that the distance of the grave from the church depended on the social status of the dead person. The Greenlandic economy was based primarily on three pillars: livestock farming, hunting and catching animals, which provided food, and trade goods in varying proportions. Because of

11008-461: The oldest ships yet unearthed are known as the Abydos boats . These are a group of 14 ships discovered in Abydos that were constructed of wooden planks which were "sewn" together. Discovered by Egyptologist David O'Connor of New York University , woven straps were found to have been used to lash the planks together, and reeds or grass stuffed between the planks helped to seal the seams. Because

11136-425: The only alternative left to those born later was to build up their own property outside the established structures. This was promoted by the high value that personal daring, willingness to take risks and physical resilience had in the local society. With advances in shipbuilding around the 8th century, the tools became available to travel to the edge of the known world and found settlements there. The springboard for

11264-404: The only evidence of the memory of the Eskimos on this topic. From the 14th century, the most important source is the description of Greenland by Ívarr Bárðarson , who stayed there for several years. The Skarðárannáll also enjoys a high reputation, although some dating errors can be found in later additions. Written sources can be confusing, for example, it is not possible to determine whether a date

11392-467: The planking has defined the hull shape. Carvel construction then took over in the Mediterranean. Northern Europe used clinker construction , but with some flush-planked ship-building in, for instance, the bottom planking of cogs . The north-European and Mediterranean traditions merged in the late 15th century, with carvel construction being adopted in the North and the centre-line mounted rudder replacing

11520-492: The quarter rudder of the Mediterranean. These changes broadly coincided with improvements in sailing rigs, with the three masted ship becoming common, with square sails on the fore and main masts, and a fore and aft sail on the mizzen. Ship-building then saw a steady improvement in design techniques and introduction of new materials. Iron was used for more than fastenings ( nails and bolts ) as structural components such as iron knees were introduced, with examples existing in

11648-592: The relatively comfortable living conditions in Norway and travel to inhospitable Greenland. He was represented there by a vicar. He and his successors did not forego the Greenlanders' Church tithe . The lack of an overarching power meant that local rulers found themselves in an endless series of conflicts. In order to end the constant disputes, the Greenland colony subordinated itself to the Norwegian crown in 1261. King Hákon Hákonarson had also been working towards this step for

11776-416: The resilient and salt-resistant pandanus leaves. These sails allowed Austronesians to embark on long-distance voyaging. The ancient Champa of Vietnam also uniquely developed basket-hulled boats whose hulls were composed of woven and resin - caulked bamboo, either entirely or in conjunction with plank strakes . They range from small coracles (the o thúng ) to large ocean-going trading ships like

11904-511: The respective landlord, and he was therefore – initially – also entitled to the taxes payable by the parish. Until the 11th century, Greenland was under the Archdiocese of Bremen . The Grœnlendinga saga reports that in 1118 the colony sent Einarr Sokkason to Norway to persuade King Sigurðr Jórsalafari (Sigurd the Jerusalem Rider) to assign Greenland its own bishop. The first Greenlandic bishop

12032-493: The sea," from which Greenland gets its name., is obviously fabulous. The news found in Rimbert 's Vita Anskarii that Pope Gregory had also appointed Ansgar of Bremen legate for Greenland and that Pope Nicholas I had commissioned him to proselytize in Greenland, is considered a later, false insertion. However, Adam's news that Archbishop Adalbert had ordained the first bishop Ísleifur Gissurarson for Iceland and also for Greenland

12160-703: The seafarer Gunnbjörn Ulfsson was on a voyage from Norway to Iceland and his ship drifted towards a western coast, probably in the area of today's Cape Farvel on the southern tip of Greenland. He had sighted icebergs , skerries and a desolate, inhumane landscape and therefore did not go ashore. Erik the Red acquired the Haukadalr farm on the Icelandic Breiðafjörður (Breidafjord; near today's Búðardalur in northwest Iceland) through marriage. The Althing sent him into exile for three years for committing murder. The Landnámabók reports that in 982 he sailed west from

12288-420: The second half of the 14th century. The Kalmar Union was to prove disastrous for trade with Greenland because the remote outpost was of little interest to the Danish royal family and trade dried up. The extent to which the Hanseatic League filled the gap, defying the Norwegian monopoly, still requires further investigation. In the literature, a distinction is made between two Icelandic settlements in Greenland -

12416-408: The settlement of Greenland was the settlement of Iceland . According to current estimates, 50,000 to 60,000 people lived in Iceland in the 10th century. A stable social structure had been established and good land was in legally secure ownership. This stable distribution of land, several years of bad harvests and a famine provided the setting to look for new settlement areas in the 970s. Around 900,

12544-416: The settlements. Finds of hand mills in some farms in the eastern settlement suggest that grain was also grown to a small extent in favored locations. But it was probably mainly imported. The Konungs skuggsjá reports that only the most powerful Bonden (with farms in the best locations) grew some grain for their own use. An important source of vitamins was "Kvan" ( Angelica ), which was brought to Greenland by

12672-607: The settlers and can still be found in gardens there today. Stems and roots can be prepared as a salad or vegetable. The constant lack of wood proved to be a problem. At the turn of the millennium, only small Dwarf Birchs and Dwarf Willows grew in Greenland, and their use as timber was limited. The driftwood washed ashore with the Gulf Stream was of inferior quality. Therefore, lumber was an important (and expensive) imported commodity. Other crucial imports were iron implements and weapons. There were no known ore deposits in Greenland at

12800-450: The shipbuilder learned the techniques of shipbuilding from his family and is very likely to earn a higher status in the shipyard. Additionally, the shipbuilder had access to business networking that could help to find clients. If a shipbuilder entered the occupation through an apprenticeship, the shipbuilder was likely a farmer before he was hired as a shipbuilder, or he was previously an experienced shipbuilder. Many shipbuilders working in

12928-456: The ships are all buried together and near a mortuary belonging to Pharaoh Khasekhemwy , originally they were all thought to have belonged to him, but one of the 14 ships dates to 3000 BC, and the associated pottery jars buried with the vessels also suggest earlier dating. The ship dating to 3000 BC was about 75 feet (23 m) long and is now thought to perhaps have belonged to an earlier pharaoh. According to professor O'Connor,

13056-429: The ships built were financed by consortia of investors. These considerations led to the documentation of design and construction practices in what had previously been a secretive trade run by master shipwrights and ultimately led to the field of naval architecture , in which professional designers and draftsmen played an increasingly important role. Even so, construction techniques changed only very gradually. The ships of

13184-422: The shipyard were forced into the occupation. The ships built for Zheng He's voyages needed to be waterproof, solid, safe, and have ample room to carry large amounts of trading goods. Therefore, due to the highly commercialized society that was being encouraged by the expeditions, trades, and government policies, the shipbuilders needed to acquire the skills to build ships that fulfil these requirements. Shipbuilding

13312-433: The shipyards, the marine equipment manufacturers, and many related service and knowledge providers) grew as an important and strategic industry in a number of countries around the world. This importance stems from: Historically, the industry has suffered from the absence of global rules and a tendency towards ( state - supported ) over-investment due to the fact that shipyards offer a wide range of technologies, employ

13440-649: The site of Portus in Rome revealed inscriptions in a shipyard constructed during the reign of Trajan (98–117) that indicated the existence of a shipbuilders guild . Roughly at this time is the last migration wave of the Austronesian expansion , when the Polynesian islands spread over vast distances across the Pacific Ocean were being colonized by the (Austronesian) Polynesians from Island Melanesia using double-hulled voyaging catamarans . At its furthest extent, there

13568-476: The speaker of the law; it is not certain whether he performed the same function as in Iceland. Although according to tradition Erik the Red was not a Christian, the colony was soon Christianized. However, the Íslendingabók and the Grœnlendinga saga (Saga of the Greenlanders) unanimously report that at the first settlement Herjólfr (Herjolf), a companion of Erik, had a Christian from the Hebrides on board. According to

13696-478: The stronger flushed deck design derived from Indian designs, and the increasing use of iron reinforcement. The flushed deck originated from the Bengal rice ships, with Bengal being famous for its shipbuilding industry at the time. Iron was gradually adopted in ship construction, initially to provide stronger joints in a wooden hull e.g. as deck knees, hanging knees, knee riders and the other sharp joints, ones in which

13824-461: The time of the Vikings. The already not very productive smelting of iron ore quickly reached its limits due to the lack of suitable fuel (charcoal), so that the settlements were almost entirely dependent on imports. An example shows how dramatic the iron shortage was: During excavations in the Western Settlement in the 1930s, a battle ax was found. It was modeled down to the smallest detail on an iron ax, but made from whale bone. Besides drying, curing

13952-416: The tradition of writing was not firmly established at the time. This article about an Icelandic writer or poet is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Shipbuilding Shipbuilding is the construction of ships and other floating vessels . In modern times, it normally takes place in a specialized facility known as a shipyard . Shipbuilders , also called shipwrights , follow

14080-549: The treasure shipyard in Nanjing. Shachuan , or 'sand-ships', are ships used primarily for inland transport. However, in recent years, some researchers agree that the treasure ships were more of the Fuchuan type. It is said in vol. 176 of San Guo Bei Meng Hui Bian (三朝北盟汇编) that ships made in Fujian are the best ones. Therefore, the best shipbuilders and laborers were brought from these places to support Zheng He's expedition. The shipyard

14208-603: The waterline, the introduction of copper sheathing as a deterrent to shipworm and fouling, etc. In the early decades of the Industrial Revolution (1760 to 1825) western ship design remained largely based on its traditional pre-industrial designs and materials and yet greatly improved in safety as "the risk of being wrecked for Atlantic shipping fell by one-third, and of foundering by two thirds, reflecting improvements in seaworthiness and navigation respectively." The improvement in seaworthiness has been credited to adopting

14336-518: The western settlement and in 50 days from the eastern settlement. In this area there may also have been encounters with the Inuit of the Thule culture. As early as 2500 BC. Settlements and hunting grounds of the Eskimo cultures have been documented at Disko Bay (Sermermiut). There is also clear evidence of occasional expeditions even further north. In 1824 three cairns were discovered on Kingittorsuaq Island at

14464-493: Was Arctic char ( Salvelinus alpinus ), followed by cod ( Gadus morhua ) and capelin ( Mallotus villosus ). The bird bones found and identified come primarily from ptarmigan ( Lagopus muta ) and to a lesser extent from mallards ( Anas platyrhynchos ) and eider ducks ( Somateria mollissima ). Important food animals from the mammalian fauna were seals and reindeer. The excavated remains of the breeding animals come - in roughly equal proportions - mainly from sheep and goats as well as from

14592-448: Was Arnaldr from 1126, whose presumed remains were unearthed under the floor of the church of Garðar (other assumptions go to Bishop Jón Smyrill, died 1209). Several other bishops followed, for whose support significant benefices were set up. Around 1350 the church owned the largest farm and around two thirds of the best pasture land. The last Greenlandic bishop died in 1378. A successor was also appointed for him, but he refused to give up

14720-466: Was built about 500 km north of the East Settlement, but it always had to exist under less favorable conditions. By 1000, practically all climatically relevant areas of Greenland were populated. The Norse settled in three separate locations in south-western Greenland: the larger Eastern Settlement , the smaller Western Settlement, and the still smaller Middle Settlement (often considered part of

14848-399: Was even more highly prized. It was assumed that the snail-like, twisted and pointed horn came from the legendary unicorn . Ari Thorgilsson Ari Þorgilsson (1067/1068 – 9 November 1148; Old Norse : [ˈɑre ˈθorˌɡilsˌson] ; Modern Icelandic : [ˈaːrɪ ˈθɔrˌcɪlsˌsɔːn] ; also anglicized Ari Thorgilsson ) was Iceland 's most prominent medieval chronicler. He

14976-530: Was familiar with Latin chronicler traditions, but at the same time he is widely regarded as excelling in the Icelandic oral storytelling tradition. It is believed that Ari later became a Christian priest in Staður by Ölduhryggur, now known as Staðastaður , but otherwise little is known about his life, despite the fact that he is one of the very few medieval writers who wrote down his family history. Íslendingabók

15104-466: Was made of wooden rafters (probably driftwood) and was covered with wattle and daub with long pieces of peat resting on it. In the middle of the house there was a long fireplace (Langeldr) with seats in the two side aisles. A cooking zone with a separate fireplace (Maleldr) was on the north side. As can be concluded from the excavated waste, the inhabitants' diet included both wild animals (fish, birds and mammals) and domesticated animals. The main food fish

15232-525: Was much more accomplished than had been thought and has described the distribution of clinker vs. carvel construction in Western Europe (see map [1] ). An insight into shipbuilding in the North Sea/Baltic areas of the early medieval period was found at Sutton Hoo , England, where a ship was buried with a chieftain. The ship was 26 metres (85 ft) long and 4.3 metres (14 ft) wide. Upward from

15360-525: Was no tooth decay. The most common disease found in the skeletons was severe Gout in the back and hips. Some were so crooked and stiff in the joints that they could not be laid down for burial. However, gout was widespread in Scandinavia during the Viking Age . Other diseases can no longer be diagnosed today. The custom of the burial place was also adopted from Norway and Iceland: female skeletons predominate in

15488-539: Was not the sole industry utilising Chinese lumber at that time; the new capital was being built in Beijing from approximately 1407 onwards, which required huge amounts of high-quality wood. These two ambitious projects commissioned by Emperor Yongle would have had enormous environmental and economic effects, even if the ships were half the dimensions given in the History of Ming . Considerable pressure would also have been placed on

15616-741: Was the author of Íslendingabók , which details the histories of the various families who settled Iceland. He is typically referred to as Ari the Wise ( Ari fróði ), and according to Snorri Sturluson was the first to write history in Old Norse . Ari was a part of the Haukdælir family clan and studied in the school in Haukadalur as a student of Teitur Ísleifsson (the son of Ísleifur Gissurarson , first bishop of Iceland). There he became acquainted with Classical education . His writings clearly indicate that he

15744-444: Was the first radical new design, being built entirely of wrought iron. Despite her success, and the great savings in cost and space provided by the iron hull, compared to a copper-sheathed counterpart, there remained problems with fouling due to the adherence of weeds and barnacles. As a result, composite construction remained the dominant approach where fast ships were required, with wooden timbers laid over an iron frame ( Cutty Sark

15872-497: Was the most important in the eastern settlement; it was excavated in the 1930s. An extensive complex with several interconnecting residential buildings contained an 80-foot-long hall that served as a central living and meeting room. Two stable buildings accommodated 50 cows. The dimensions of the boxes and the bone finds suggest that the cattle, with a shoulder height of around 1.20 m, were much smaller than today's cattle. The foundations of several storehouses and farm buildings as well as

16000-522: Was the only way to preserve meat. This required salt, which also had to be imported. The settlement also had a number of export goods that were very popular in the rest of Europe: The white Gyrfalcons of Greenland were a very sought-after export item and reached the Arab countries along complex trade routes. The narwhal tusk, which was believed in European royal and princely courts to be able to neutralize poison,

16128-414: Was three years old, one was seven years old and four were eleven to twelve years old. The infant mortality rate in Iceland in 1850 was of a similar magnitude, even if one takes into account that not all dead newborns were buried at the church. The small number of older children who died indicates good living conditions. Nor do any infectious diseases appear to have raged on a large scale. Of the 53 men outside

16256-426: Was under the command of Ministry of Public Works . The shipbuilders had no control over their lives. The builders, commoner's doctors, cooks and errands had lowest social status. The shipbuilders were forced to move away from their hometown to the shipyards. There were two major ways to enter the shipbuilder occupation: family tradition, or apprenticeship. If a shipbuilder entered the occupation due to family tradition,

16384-414: Was unknown when the Chinese people started adopting Southeast Asian (Austronesian) shipbuilding techniques. They may have been started as early as the 8th century, but the development was gradual and the true ocean-going Chinese junks did not appear suddenly. The word "po" survived in Chinese long after, referring to the large ocean-going junks. In September 2011, archeological investigations done at

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