Sailing begins in the Sumerian or southern Mesopotamian regions of river deltas and marshes. Boats and rafts at first are made of flexible reed bundles caulked with bitumen. Reeds are light, buoyant and abundant at the doorsteps of civilization.
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For caulking and glue, bitumen is a preferred choice among people since the Paleolithic Age, c. 40,000 years ago. Bitumen is used to adhere handles to tools and weapons such as hammers and axes.
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Evidence of the first sails comes from excavations of the Ubaid period (c. 6000 - 4300 BCE) in southern Mesopotamia. About the same time, use of the sail develops in the southeast Asian Islands.
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Around 3300 BCE Egypt is also using sails in the river and marsh systems. The wind power is helpful traveling south along the north-flowing river Nile. A sail at first is a piece of hide or woven mat of reeds.
Both Mesopotamians and Egyptians are building homes, watercraft, boxes and baskets with packed, bundled or woven reeds. Among Egyptians the papyrus plant is held in high favor for making boats, houses, sails and paper.
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Reeds used by the Sumerians include the common reed (Phragmites australis) and giant reed (Arundo donax). Hemp (Cannabis sativa) is cultivated in Egypt and Mesopotamia.
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Hemp is already grown to make ropes and sacks, and has been used in textile and medicine since c. 8000 BCE. A versatile fiber for early fabric sails, woven hemp is light and easy to manipulate without breakage. Jute might also be used too, but it's less durable.
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The first sailing ships are single sail square rigs of Mesopotamia. Ancient Sumerians are using square rigged sailing boats about the same time as Egypt. The South Asian Island people, who create the outrigger and catamaran, also use sailboats to travel between islands.
Sumerian and South Asian cultures are trading via sea routes to the Indus Valley in the area of today's Pakistan. Use of sails and square-rig boats spread through the cultures of the ancient Egyptians, Phoenicians and Greeks.
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Later the Romans, Scandinavians, Germanic people and Slavs also adopted the single square-rigged sail. It becomes a defining characteristics of classic Viking ships.
Greeks and Phoenicians begin trading by ship by c. 1500 - 1200 BCE. Both seafaring trade cultures, they work toward economy and efficiency of ship design. The Phoenicians have access to forests of cedar, which they claim are guarded by ferocious monsters.
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At busy coastal cities such as Phoenician Byblos, boat-building is a major occupation. Phoenicians build ships specially designed for trade or for war. Egyptians call the deep-sea traveling vessels "Byblos ships".
The Phoenicians become the foremost trade and sailing nation after the Bronze Age collapse of c. 1200 BCE, establishing colonies throughout the Mediterranean. Their innovative ships of wood, sails billowing, appear in fleets of up to 50 vessels on the seas.
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The Phoenicians invent the alphabet, but before that they invent the maritime battering ram on the ship's bow and the cutwater, a narrow metal addition to the hull allowing a ship to "cut through" the water with less resistance.
Sails undergo several changes. Material use varies from cotton, grown in Egypt c. 2600 BCE, to linen (from c. 9000 BCE). Cotton canvas is water-resistant and catches the wind well. It's more lightweight than linen, but linen is stronger.
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Favorite sail material of the early ages varies between cotton and linen, though linen eventually prevails. Lightweight with a durable dense weave and easy to handle, linen is a popular trade item on the maritime routes.
Fabrics for clothing might have a finer weave than industrial use linens. A product of the fibrous flax plant, linen has already been used in Egypt for thousands of years in clothing, funerary shrouds, trade currency and home decor.
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In the Bronze Age linen fabric is coarser than today's textile but beloved by rich and poor for its light weave and natural breathability in the hot climate. Fine linen is also considered an appropriate gift for royalty.
Both linen and cotton are used to make sails, along with blends of hemp, linen, cotton and wool. The Vikings of the North (c. 800 - 1100 CE) use wool as sailcloth.
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After c. 1400 CE, the Renaissance years, linen and cotton are both most popular as sail fabric. Linen has a brief surge in the 18th century as the fabric of choice. Synthetics hit the market in the 20th century.
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