Re: Amerindian navigators and Eurocentrism in scholarship

[hgibbons@spamproof.stic.net (Hugh Gibbons)]

In article <5vpu8d$5fj@panix2.panix.com>, gans@panix.com (Paul J. Gans) wrote:

> Hugh Gibbons (hgibbons@spamproof.stic.net) wrote:
> 
> [other material on coracles deleted]
> 
> >As I said, they were round.  It's different than most boats in that
> >it's not long and relatively narrow.  I don't know why the made them
> >that way, but they did.  They wouldn't be very easy to steer or move
> >in the water, but maybe not as bad as a rectangular raft.  I was just
> >pointing out that early Amerindians weren't the only people to ever 
> >take to sea in boats that were not like typical modern ones.
> 
> Someone in an earlier post said that coracles were used
> primarily for riverine work.  That would explain the
> shape, which is not so important in such situations.
> It is likely that ease and cheapness of construction
> would be the dominant factors.
> 
> For example, rafts were in use on the Mississippi far
> into the 19th century, but folks did not venture out
> into the Gulf of Mexico in them.

There's another factor at work in rivers.  People don't want to 
use boats with a keel because they get hung up easily on sandbars
and other stuff on the bottom of the river.  A raft or riverboat
floats over stuff like this.

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