Thanks nicollo and BenLurkin.
Very cool stuff. Roger Crowley wrote a nice book on the rise of the Portuguese empire: “Conquerors: How Portugal Forged the First Global Empire”
Unfortunately, the book skims over the rise of the Portuguese maritime capabilities, which I’d love to learn more about. My understanding is that Portuguese cod fishing taught them the lessons of long-distance ocean travel, especially ballast, employment of the caravel with its combination of lateen and square sails, and Atlantic Ocean currents.
Would love to learn more about that.
Thanks nicollo and BenLurkin.
“My understanding is that Portuguese cod fishing taught them the lessons of long-distance ocean travel”
That would most likely be the Basques rather than the Portuguese. The Basques encountered the Vikings in the 9th century and began building boats like them. And that may not have been the only thing that Basques learned from the Vikings. The Basques were supplying Europe with cod for years and wouldn’t reveal their source, but it surely had to be the Grand Banks off of then ‘undiscovered’ North America.
There’s two books by Mark Kurlansky that should be good sources on this, ‘Cod: the fish that changed the world’ and ‘The Basque History of the World’
