Maritime History

"To mark the tenth anniversary of the 2001 attacks in the United States, the British historian Timothy Garton Ash published an article entitled " 11 - S look like a detour in the story." According to Garton Ash, during the period in which US- and by extension the West, has been concentrated in protected cross threat of terrorism , as well as fight in two territories included what Zbigniew Brzezinski called " Eurasian Balkans " , the great history - one that is built around the states has continued its course.



The "uncertainty " and " unipolarity " which referred to almost all existing strategic formulations that occurred when the 11 - S have become , in just over a decade , to a scheme characterized by two trends - "globalization " and " powers" , in this case re-emerging - that share a common denominator : the redistribution of global power . Therefore, any analysis that is intended to study the international reality has to incorporate both references , and maritime spaces are no exception .


Con motivo del décimo aniversario de los atentados de 2001 en Estados Unidos, el historiador británico Timothy Garton Ash publicó un artículo titulado “El 11-S parecerá un desvío en la historia”. Según Garton Ash, durante el periodo en que EE UU –y por extensión Occidente– ha estado concentrado en protegerse de la amenaza transversal del terrorismo, así como en combatir en dos terri­torios comprendidos en lo que Zbigniew Brzezinski denominó “Balcanes euroasiáticos”, la gran historia –aquella que se articula en torno a los Estados– ha continuado su curso.



La “incertidumbre” y la “unipolaridad” a la que hacían referencia la práctica totalidad de formulaciones estratégicas vigentes en el momento que se produjeron los atentados del 11-S han vuelto, en poco más de una década, a un esquema caracterizado por dos tendencias –“globalización” y “potencias”, en este caso reemergentes– que comparten un mismo denominador: la redistribución del poder global. Por esta razón, cualquier análisis que tenga como finalidad el estudio de la realidad internacional ha de incorporar ambas referencias, y los espacios marítimos no son una excepción.
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"The thesis explores the shipbuilding industry of the most important commercial and maritime centre of the Aegean in the 19th century. It highlights economic, institutional, technical and social
aspects of the shipbuilding activity and its protagonists, and places them in historical context. The thesis employs interdisciplinary theoretical tools from economic geography, economic sociology and institutional economics and adopts new interpretive models and views with relation to Modern Greek historiography on the subject."

Recent excavations undertaken within the framework of the “Magdala Project” in the ancient city of Magdala/Tarichaee, located on the western shore of Sea of Galilee (northern Israel), have unearthed a harbour structure extending for more than 100 m, dating from the late Hellenistic (167–63 BC) to the middle Roman (70–270 AD) period, with well-preserved quays and mooring stones. An integrated (sedimentological, micropalaeontological and archaeological) study of the late Holocene sedimentary succession buried beneath the ancient harbour area reveals the harbour's main evolutionary stages, shedding new light on the natural versus anthropogenic control on sedimentation. Three sedimentary sequences, a few decimeters thick, reflect the recent palaeoenvironmental evolution of the Magdala area. These include: 1) a pre-harbour foundation sequence; 2) a harbour sequence; and 3) a harbour abandonment sequence. Above the natural sandy beachface deposits, subject to wave reworking (pre-harbour facies), the abrupt transition to dark silty sands with high metal concentrations reveals the onset of an anthropogenic control on coastal sedimentation through the construction of harbour structures (harbour facies). The overlying, vertically stacked sand and gravel beach deposits (post-harbour facies), record harbour siltation and abandonment at the transition from the Middle to the Late Roman period (270–350 AD).

From AD 1274 Chinese emperor Kublai Khan dispatched fleets of ships in a series of attempts to expand the empire's hegemony and extend his rule into East Asia (Japan) and Southeast Asia (Vietnam, Champa and Java). Archaeological remains associated with the fleets and battles have been found at Takashima Island, Japan and on the Bạch Ðằng River, Vietnam. This paper develops a thematic approach to these sites within a framework of naval battlefield archaeology. It compares the similarities and differences in environmental conditions and archaeological contexts of the two sites in Japan and Vietnam. It also outlines recent archaeological research conducted between 2008 and 2010 on the physical remains at the Bạch Ðằng River battlefield site.

""Lesvos is the third largest Greek island, after Crete and Euboea, with an area of 1,630 km2. Because of its exceptional geographical location, its fertile soil, its rich springs of water and its bays which abound in fish, the island has been inhabited without a break, according to the archaeological remains, from the end of the fourth millennium BC to the present day. In the Early Bronze Age, the island of Lesvos was one of the most important centres of the so-called Trojan civilisation. The most important sites with settlement remains of this period have been discovered on the east coast of the island, opposite the Asia Minor coast. They lie in the bay of Kalloni, in places where there were natural harbours sheltered from the winds, which were reinforced by wind breaks. There were similar reasons for the choice of site for the settlement of the Mycenaean period on the west side of the bay of Yeras.
In historical times, the island was divided at first into six and subsequently into five city-states. It is significant that all the cities of Lesvos were founded on the coasts of the island, on choice sites that were sheltered from the winds and suitable for the development of harbours, while the rich hinterland contributed to the wealth of the island and the strengthening of trade with the whole of the ancient world, as is attested by the archaeological record.
According to the historical, literary sources and epigraphic evidence, Mytilene was the most important of the cities on Lesvos, partly on account of its geographical position opposite the coast of Asia Minor, but mainly because of the excellent harbours to the north and south of the city. Recent excavations in the so-called Euripos (channel) which connected the two harbours, have brought to light the bridges that linked their banks, the moles, the jetty, the stoas and the sanctuaries, which were built around the harbour and the Euripos, with the result that the commercial, political and religious life of the city was concentrated on this area.""

The expansion of cash-crop production in French West Africa (FWA) was the consequence of the end of slave trade in the French Empire in 1848 and the economic transformations linked to the Industrial Revolution. The main cash-crops developed on a regional scale were peanuts, palm-oil and kernels, karité oil and other commodities such as gum, wax, gold and hides. The transportation and telecommunications revolution (steam shipping, railways, telegraph) during the second half of the nineteenth century supported the expansion of colonial empires where commodities played a key role  in the new economic structures (Curry-Machado, 2013) [...]

Maritime history seems to be suffering an identity crisis, rising in popularity but unsure of its place within historical scholarship and divided in approach. Seafarers, as a consequence, have remained marginal within mainstream history. This article argues that only by integrating the study of maritime topics into wider historical debates can maritime history overcome these doubts, taking as a case study the role of seafarers and the navy in British politics during 1625−42. First examining previous interpretations offered by scholars, largely based on a conception of seafarers as politically and socially isolated from developments ashore, the article then reassesses the available evidence for popular political activity within the maritime community. It argues that seafarers were deeply involved in the political and religious divisions that drove Britain into civil war in 1642; and, more broadly, that scholars should recognize the importance of both local and global approaches to maritime history – that they should think outside the gundeck.

This paper will focus on the relationship between Italian merchants operating in the eastern Mediterranean and the papacy, especially the unpublished petitions made by representatives of the republics at the Curia for “trade licences” found in the Vatican Registra Supplicationum. These licences granted merchants temporary permission to transgress the papal embargo on trade with Muslims in return for payment, or at times a more “pious” gesture, such as the equipping of galleys for the defence of Latin territories in the east or participation in a naval league. The licences therefore shed considerable light on cross-cultural trade in the Mediterranean, both in terms of how the merchants attempted to overcome boundaries imposed by the Church on trade between different religious groups, and how the Church introduced new boundaries to cross-cultural commerce by legislating which groups could be traded with. Furthermore, these licences help to improve our understanding of the complex interaction between mercantile objectives and religion in the late medieval period, by, for example, demonstrating that merchants were more concerned with their spiritual welfare and the ramifications of illegal trade than has often been presumed, and that the papacy was aware of the need for merchants to have contact with the “infidel”, in contradiction to the commonly-held black and white papal perception of the Islamic east.

The Senkaku/Diaoyu Tai Islands dispute between China and Japan has ramped up in a heated season of discontent, but given the position China has backed itself into through official pronouncements and military showmanship, Japan, Taiwan, and the United States have the opportunity to resolve the dispute. They can do this by forcing China to recognize a transfer of administrative control of the islands to Taiwan, or rather, the Republic of China (ROC), the legally binding designee of World War II–era diplomatic agreements. This action would accomplish a number of things:

"Amongst the most obvious developments to the maritime technology of the ancient Mediterranean was the invention and development of the fore-and-aft sailing rig. The invention of the lateen sail is the most commonly cited example, although the ancient world also witnessed the development of the sprit-sail. In particular, the development of the former sail-plan is often credited as providing Mediterranean mariners with an improved sailing rig; better upwind performance, increased manoeuvrability and higher maximum speed. Such improvements would have an obvious impact on the merchant shipping plying the waters of the Mediterranean; cargoes could be delivered faster, more easily and with less reliance on favourable winds to determine trade-routes and sailing times.

Recently completed research by the author offers an alternative interpretation of the available evidence. Analysis of the potential performance of ancient Mediterranean sailing vessels, detailed investigation into rigging and sail-handling practices in conjunction with wider contextual analysis allow the development of Mediterranean sailing rigs to be reconsidered. The invention and adoption of the lateen sail did not result in any of the technological improvements that are widely accepted in the current academic literature. However, an explanation for the radical change in maritime technology that the lateen sail represents can be offered. This emphasises the role that economic factors played in shaping the selection and adoption of maritime technology in the ancient Mediterranean.

Key word: Maritime technology, lateen-sail, square-sail, Mediterranean"

DOWNLOAD A COPY OF THIS REPORT FROM THE INTERNET ARCHIVE AT THE LINK BELOW. Maritime Heritage Minnesota (MHM) conducted a side and down-imaging sonar survey of Aitkin County in August 2010 as part of the Mississippi River Aitkin County Survey (MRACS) Project. With the completion of the MRACS Project, the 104-mile portion of the Mississippi River in Aitkin County was the first section of any body of water in Minnesota to be systematically surveyed archaeologically using sonar. Prior to the MRACS Project, two steamboat wrecks sites had been identified within Aitkin Countyâs portion of the Mississippi River, the Andy Gibson (21-AK0109) and Swan (21-AK0084) in Aitkin. MHM identified three maritime archaeological sites during the MRACS Project: the Mississippi Landing Railroad Spur and Bridge Remains Site (21-AK0115), the Mississippi Landing Logging Pier Site (21-AK0116), and the Sandy River Steamboat Crib Site (21-AK0117). MHM also identified 40 submerged anomalies that may be human-made objects during the survey. Six of these anomalies were targeted during the Aitkin County Shipwrecks (ACS) Project for further scrutiny and a further goal of this project was to determine the port side survival of the Andy Gibson wreck site using SCUBA. MHM located a new wreck in Aitkin, the Red Mill Wreck (21-AK0122), and identified two more maritime archaeological sites (21-AK0123, 21-AK0124) in the Headwaters Mississippi River. This report presents the findings of the ACS Project. This project was funded by a Minnesota Historical and Cultural Heritage Grant, part of the Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund of the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment. In Copyright. Copyright to this work is held by Maritime Heritage Minnesota, Ann Merriman, and Christopher Olson. It cannot be downloaded and sold for profit, changed in any way, or redistributed.