Michael Baizerman Author

I decided to upload my fresh research from the third project: the European quest for the maritime route to India in the XVth century. See my site  https://independent.academia.edu/BaizermanMichael/Papers The article is titled "How Wide Spans the Ocean Sea".  Herodotus recorded several naval accounts:  however, are they trustworthy and, if positive, to what extent? The Phoenician ship replica attests to the seaworthiness of their vessels rather than to the details of the epic 2700-year-old voyage across Africa. For most intellectuals of the European Middle Ages, the ocean was a dangerous place. Only toward the close of the fifteenth century, some mapmakers endeavored to visualize the 'latitudinal' route connecting the remote West with the Far East. Columbus was a diehard prisoner of his ambition; he could not help manipulating his figures and engaged in wishful thinking to make his dream come true. The research includes two parts: the first one reviews the ...

Courtesy: John Carlton  https://www.quora.com/Why-don%E2%80%99t-modern-civilian-cargo-ships-also-use-sails-in-addition-to-engine-power-to-reduce-fuel-consumption   I am remodeling my old article titled "How Wide Spans the Ocean Sea".  It consists of two parts. The first section covers maritime explorations carried out during the VI and V centuries BCE; it was so vividly described by Herodotus. We refer to the Phoenician expedition which is reported to have circumnavigated Africa, as well as the exploits of Sataspes, Scylax of Caryanda, and Hanno the Navigator.     The other segment collects the views of classical and medieval geographers concerning the prospect of crossing the Atlantic Ocean that was believed to separate Spain (or, in another version, Marocco) from China and Japan.  These scholars discuss such issues as the existence of a landmass in between or an unbroken expanse of the deep blue. Among them, we find Aristotle, Eratosthe...

Phoenician cargo ship  Courtesy: https://wikis.engrade.com/phoenicianships  My fourth chapter deals with the issue of the dimensions of the ocean and the perspectives of navigation in the Atlantic.  I describe the voyages of ancient explorers from Egypt to West Africa (Sataspes, Hanno the Navigator) and from India to East Africa (Scylax). I also recount the views on crossing the Atlantic expressed by philosophers (Aristotle, Eratosthenes, Posidonius, Strabo, Seneca, Pierre d'Ailly), mapmakers (Henricus Martellus, Martin Behaim), and navigators (Christopher Columbus).  The chapter is accompanied by the table, Estimation of the Breadth of the Ocean Sea. This is an extract which refers to the voyage across Africa carried out by Phoenician mariners in the time of Pharaoh Necho: The first expedition, commissioned by Pharaoh Necho, who reigned at the turn of the seventh and sixth centuries BCE, set a task of exploring the confines of the Dark Conti...