Ships and Ideas
Abrigon Gusiq
Good short, got some ideas on ships from our past, to include
ideas for Chinese Junks for the what if theme of "What if China
had not contracted c.1400).
http://scalemodel.net/Gallery/Chineseship.aspx
For the 1400 crowd.
1421 when China discovered America? Hum, interesting ideas. sort
of what if as well. And part of the "What if" above. There is
much about our world we know little about, or care to, such as
trade routes up the coast of the west coast of the
US/Canada/Alaska, or across the Caribean to/from the Mississippi
delta and the Aztec or Mayans? The Hopi and others as well.. To
bad there is not much evidents so far, but .. Heh, the
Polynesians got close to the South American continent but went
North instead?
The Inuit (Eskimos) got as far as Greenland and stopped, why? I
fyou look at things from the Polar orientation, its almost
stupid they did not go further, or did they but ... How much do
we know about the Missippian culture/civilization of the middle
of the US? All along the river and its tributaries but we hear
little of it? The Mound Builders.. They died off c.1650 or so...
Likely about the time disease or horses got to them, or the
trade with the south ended or ... likely disease, French and
Spanish explorers was common in the area by 1550 or there
abouts? Likely not one culture, but several. See the Mandan for
ideas? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mound_builder_(people) for
some beginning.
From the above URL:
During 1405 to 1433, the famous Chinese explorer, Cheng Ho, had
made seven voyages to explore the western world. He had reached
as far as the east coast of Africa and the Red Sea, and the time
was 87 years earlier than Columbus's voyage (1492). Cheng's
fleet consists of as many as 27,800 crews, including sailors,
soldiers, and merchants. The fleet were made up by hundreds of
sailing ships like this model, except even the smallest one was
much larger. Several Chinese historical records, including the
official Ming dynasty chronicle -MingShi, indicated that the
largest ones (the Treasure Ships) were huge ships having nine
masts, weighted 1500 tons, more than 120 meters (400 feet) in
length*, and can carry over 1000 passengers. I have seen several
fisherman's ship like this model in a small village at south
Taiwan when I was a kid, but they are no longer exist.
Nevertheless, you may still find these ships sailing on the
rivers in Mainland China, and perhaps also can find some in Hong
Kong.
* Recent archaeological finds and researches suggest somewhat
much more conservative estimation of 40 to 55 meters in length.