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Knowledge of winds and currents are essential in maritime travel. Sailors in the Indian Ocean world developed an understanding of the winds and currents there beginning in the early Foundations period. Atlantic winds and currents however remained a mystery until Columbus sailed across it in 1492.
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Indian Ocean Winds & Currents
Indian Ocean Winds & Currents
Monsoon Winds: the seasonal winds and currents of the Indian Ocean, blowing from the southwest in summer and from the northeast in winter. These winds and currents are very predictable. As a result, sailors in the Indian Ocean world figured them out very early in the classical period. Knowledge of Monsoon wind and current patterns allowed Southeast Asian and Indian sailors to navigating Indian Ocean waters as early as 100 BCE.
Atlantic Ocean Winds & Currents
Atlantic Ocean Winds & Currents
Unlike the seasonal winds of the Indian Ocean, the winds and currents in the Atlantic Ocean spun in giant gyres all year long. In the North Atlantic the westerlies blow north east while the trade winds blow southwest to create the Northern Gyre which spun counterclockwise. In the South Atlantic the Southern Gyre spins counterclockwise.
Unlike the seasonal winds of the Indian Ocean, the winds and currents in the Atlantic Ocean spun in giant gyres all year long. In the North Atlantic the westerlies blow north east while the trade winds blow southwest to create the Northern Gyre which spun counterclockwise. In the South Atlantic the Southern Gyre spins counterclockwise.
These winds are much more complicated than Indian Ocean winds and therefore took European mariners much longer to figure out.
These winds are much more complicated than Indian Ocean winds and therefore took European mariners much longer to figure out.
The Volta do Mar
The Volta do Mar
Volta do mar (the phrase in Portuguese means literally 'turn of the sea' but also 'return from the sea') is a navigational technique perfected by Portuguese navigators during the Age of Discovery in the late fifteenth century, using the dependable phenomenon of the great permanent wind circle, the North Atlantic Gyre. This was a major step in the history of navigation, when an understanding of winds in the age of sail was crucial to success: the European sea empires would not have been established without an understanding of the trade winds.
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