History of Ancient Sea Travel: Trade, Burials and Maritime Cultures

The history of seafaring and sea travel is expansive and can be traced back thousands of years to the ancient world. This video is going to explore the development of ships and seafaring in the ancient world, the trade which was possible through boats and ships, and the curious use of boats in burials for people of high honour. Not to mention, the fascinating voyage of the Greek merchant Pytheas all in honour of the International Day of the Seafarer!

Sea travel most likely developed independently in many different regions as a response to a specific need. The earliest evidence of sea travel is claimed by a number of modern-day nations - Australia, China, and countries of the Near East among them - who support their claims by defining “sea travel” in different ways.

The Sumerians are credited with creating the first sail in c. 3600 BCE but boats existed long before then. The people of Mesopotamia and Egypt both began with reed-boats. Trade between nations often required maritime travel in unpredictable weather and, sometimes, along coasts a captain was unfamiliar with resulting in shipwrecks and sinkings. The shipwrecks of Uluburun and Cape Gelidonya are two of the earliest shipwrecks which have been excavated by underwater archaeologists, and have both been dated to the Late Bronze Age. The Indus Valley Civilization traded with Mesopotamia and Egypt as early as circa 5500 BCE. The Mediterranean sea became a trade hub in antiquity which contributed to the rise of many great cultures along its coasts. The Phoenicians from modern-day Lebanon and Syria were famous sailors, and became highly skilled in shipbuilding. It is believed that they may have been the first to circumnavigate Africa, and Phoenician sailors were also known to have travelled as far north as Britain. But it was their colony Carthage which became the greatest maritime empire of the Mediterranean Sea basin.

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— CHAPTERS —
0:00​ Introduction
0:47 Early Sea Travel
2:56 Prominent Maritime Cultures, Trade and Ancient Shipwrecks
7:32 Boats and Ships in Archaeology and Burials
11:04 Outro

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— ATTRIBUTIONS —

The music used in this recording is the intellectual copyright of Michael Levy, a prolific composer for the recreated lyres of antiquity, and used with the creator's permission. Michael Levy's music is available to stream at all the major digital music platforms. Find out more on:

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World History Encyclopedia

[WorldHistoryEncyclopedia]

Why do you think these cultures put the time and effort into burying people of high honour in boats? Let us know what you think!

[stevenbrown]

Your content is brilliant. Definitely one of the best YouTube channels and apparently under appreciated. I hope more people find you soon.

[wantsumbread]

How can you not have the greatest ancient seafarers in human history. The polynesians in here while everyone was still figuring out if the world was flat, and wood can float. They already conquered the biggest ocean in the world

[phabove]

The lothal sea port excavated in Gujarat, India was part of Indus Valley civilisation and is one of the oldest known sea port.

[dasuklangrynghang]

Very informative content! Thanks for making a video about it.

[ronrossi]

Traveling the world was the way to see, learn and create the world we now live in. The first travelers were open to seeing the world we live in.

[Andy_Babb]

Great video! I love how we continue to learn more and more, pushing dates back further than we ever imagined. White Sands footprints could have INCREDIBLE implications for throwing off dates we thought for human migration out of Africa! This is fascinating and I wonder if in the near future we’ll find evidence of a culture using sea travel even earlier. I wish we could know all the answers as to how we started, interbred, migrates, used sea travel and trade and just all of it haha

[vikaskumar-bfzc]

Special birds were used to identify land in ancient period...

[StevenTorrey]

For those who don't know: @3:46--sailors went up the Levant Coast and descended the Mediterranean southerly from Greece/Crete to catch the appropriate winds for best sailing, in a counter clockwise pattern (Patrick McGovern--ANCIENT WINE, page 344.)

[Ikine]

I'm going to use this video for school! Teacher school specifically lol, I'm going to use it in a unit planning project. It's exactly what I was looking for.

[Peppermint]

I am curious what was the risk of death when sea travelling in the past centuries ? What percentage of people were dying at sea from accidents/weather ? Of course, it will depend on the sea, ship type and size, etc

[kaushiksheshnagraj]

I liked your videos so much your channel is my favourite in YouTube your videos are so much knowledgeful and educative your channel is a inspiration for other history Youtube channels I get various
Knowledge from your videos I am your old supporter and subscriber from 1k so I have a humble request for you can you make a video on Skanderbeg please please

[evaliu]

Excellent conrent. Some viewers may benefit from subtitles. 👍👍👍👏👏👏💯💯💯

[iqbalmaulana]

Why this good video don't have high views and subscribe???😭

[stevenwatsham]

The boat or ship was the most important means of transportation as the car and white van were many centuries away

[PaulStClair-orgj]

Boats are very important forms of transport. Remember... LAND WAS CREATED TO SAIL FROM. ⛵⚓

[amamgain]

India and China were dominant sea traders for thousands of years. They had superior navy and ports then world till 1700.

[regattak]

Wish she uses a Mic on her T-shirt to improve the quality of the audio. Thanks

[dontcrydoomer]

"perhaps they were lovers" ... yeah, I doubt it XD

[timbrickman]

Very nice maps, but at 724 should say Newfoundland not Nova Scotia.