Greatest Seafaring Nations/People of History

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daft

The fargone
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Thread dedicated to opinions about the naval/seafaring history of Civilization.
Which nations and individuals were the most brilliant/inventive seafarers of history? Compare naval power of nations (of corresponding era if nec.), who was the greatest Admiral of all time? Which nations produced the best (naval) vessels and explorers of distant lands?, name those ships and individuals. Finally, which nations were best at colonization, and why?
Discuss comparisons of ships of their time, comparisons of famous naval officers/leaders and seafaring nations.
( to moderators: if no one willing to post anything interesting here please delete the thread soon, thanks!)
 
Zheng He.

/closethread
 
This is too broad a topic, really, as is typical of you. Seafaring, on a national scale, is much more than shipbuilding and having brilliant seamen, explorers or whatever. It is more a matter of national policy, budgets, industry (re)orientation and many, many more economic and political factors. Take a brief look into the history of the British fleet f. ex. to see what I mean, maybe the Dutch too.
 
In ancient times, the Phoenicians and Greeks are the obvious standouts, in early modern times the Spanish and Portuguese, then the Dutch, and eventually the English/British starting in the late 17th Century, and America starting in the 1940s if not before.
 
Yeah, frankly, once the Polynesians get brought up, everything else pales in comparison.
 
Louis XXIV said:
Yeah, frankly, once the Polynesians get brought up, everything else pales in comparison.
Click to expand...

They just had a horrible civ-start location. By itself it is not that interesting or important to move from tiny island to tiny island. By the time you get your wooden boat to the last island some other civ lands a tank there :scan:
 
Ancient Greeks were excellent seafarers and excelled in colonizing Aegean and whole Mediterranean. I don't think enough credit is given to the Greeks, although I guess they weren't much of explorers.
Phoenicians were the best merchant seafarers and explorers of the ancient era.
 
Ajidica said:
Zheng He.

/closethread
Click to expand...

? That's all you got? And you call yourself an expert?

There are several more questions asked in the thread, not only who the greatest naval officer/explorer was.

Why don't you shine more light on this individual? Something more than just a copy of wiki page.
On the other hand, why bother?
I'm done here.
 
daft said:
? That's all you got? And you call yourself an expert?

There are several more questions asked in the thread, not only who the greatest naval officer/explorer was.

Why don't you shine more light on this individual? Something more than just a copy of wiki page.
On the other hand, why bother?
I'm done here.
Click to expand...

It's a longstanding joke of cfc wh.

The epitome of bad history
 
daft said:
? That's all you got? And you call yourself an expert?

There are several more questions asked in the thread, not only who the greatest naval officer/explorer was.

Why don't you shine more light on this individual? Something more than just a copy of wiki page.
On the other hand, why bother?
I'm done here.
Click to expand...
Look, history isn't about saying "Who was objectively the best seafaring people/smartest person/best general/greatest empire?" You can't measure such things.
 
I'm not entirely sure, but this is probably the oldest known depiction of a boat, it is up to 30,000 years old:

"This painting from 20 000 to 30 000 years BP depicted on a panel of Bradshaw rock paintings in the northwest Kimberley region of Australia shows a large canoe containing four people, and the paddles that were used for propulsion. Note also the high front prow and smaller rear raised stern, useful for sea voyages where significant waves will be encountered." Source: http://www.donsmaps.com/aboriginals.html



It seems, however, that Australians later forgot the technology of producing such canoes. Each continent had its "Dark Ages".
 
Louis XXIV said:
Yeah, frankly, once the Polynesians get brought up, everything else pales in comparison.
Click to expand...
You know, weirdly, as a Polynesian I was always kind of ehhhh about that. There was lots of cooler stuff like the Maori Wars, empire building in Hawaii, and so on. It's only now as I've got older and realized how vast the Pacific is... that I've come to realize how insane my ancestors were. I'm proud don't get me wrong but I suspect I'm proud in the same sort of way that the families and descendants of VC winners are... "So, ah, grandpa? Why'd you charge a machine-gun nest and capture fifty dudes while naked?"
 
Recently read about battle of Cap Bon, AD 468, between combined forces of Western and Eastern(Byzantine) Roman navies and the Vandals (based in Carthage).
Over 1100 Roman ships took part, what a sight to see that must have been!
Did Roman ships(galleys) differ in those times much from the ones they used during the times of the Punic Wars? In what way?
Rome lost the battle, unbelievable! Wonder what that combustible material was that the Vandal tribe used (on their Fire Ships) to burn the Roman ships, predecessor of the Greek Fire ships?
Vandal King Gaiseric, that was one heck of a military leader! Or does Byzantium's Belisarius rank close?
 
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