Our ancient ancestors lived by eating fish and shellfish from rivers and seas. Ancient civilization also developed in regions near rivers and seas. Therefore, it could be said that the history of shipbuilding developed to meet the utmost necessity to using rivers and seas is in line with the development of human civilization.
In addition, all countries that conquered the world from the ancient times to today were at one time superpowers who dominated the sea. The Greeks, Romans, and Phoenicians ruled the Mediterranean Sea, the Normans in the Middle Age dominated the North Sea, and Spain and Portugal conquered the Five Oceans and gained wealth and prosperity.
Furthermore, England was able to construct an empire on which the sun never set by acquiring dominance over the sea by defeating the Spanish Armada . Japan also gained immense power by destroying the Russian fleet in the Russo-Japanese War in early 20th century and become a leader in Asia, spurring the Second World War. In fact, its defeat to the US could be explained by Japan's underestimation of the US naval power. As witnessed, the rise and fall of countries is intricately related to the control of the sea, and the most important factor in controlling the sea is of course, the ship. Here, explanations will be provided on the development of ships.
All cradles of human civilization were located close to rivers, and they all saw early development of ship transportation. In particular, Egypt developed ship transportation using the Nile River. A mural from 2500BC has a clear drawing of a ship with sails and oars, pointing to advanced shipbuilding.
While Egypt developed shipbuilding by tapping into the Nile River, the Phoenicians built ships suitable to cross the Mediterranean Sea and consequently gained commercial power in the region. The Phoenicians also developed warships, which served as a model for Greek galleys.
※ The texts were written based on the outcome of "Development of Ocean Education Textbook" and "Development of Contents for Ocean Education Textbook" projects conducted by the Korea Maritime Foundation in 2010 and 2011.
