![]() ![]() Local coastal routes soon were linked and extended to Indonesia. Indian Ocean and the Monsoon Trade: There are no barriers to trade along the coast between the Red Sea and Japan. South China has a number of good ports, but the country inland is hilly or mountainous, which restricts trade. North China had few ports and little coastwise trade. It is easy to sail south and link up with the Indian Ocean trade. There are records of unlucky Japanese fishermen being blown to North America, but no records of any who sailed home. The Kuroshio Current tends to push ships northeast into the westerlies and towards North America. In East Asia: Sailing east from China, Korea, or Japan, sailors find only thousands of miles of empty ocean and a few tiny islands. Although the Polynesians were able to sail the Pacific and people regularly sailed north and south across the Mediterranean, before the time of Columbus nearly all sailing was coastal pilotage. Navigation, in one sense, is the art of sailing long distances out of sight of land. ![]() Pilotage or cabotage, in one sense, is the art of sailing along the coast using known landmarks. For an outline to the main wind systems see Global wind patterns. During the age of sail winds and currents determined trade routes and therefore influenced European imperialism and modern political geography. They also had to discover the pattern of winds and currents that would carry them where they wanted to go. The early European explorers were not only looking for new lands. using contrary wind to pull (sic) the sails, was always possible but wasted time because of the zigzagging required, and this would significantly delay long voyages. Since a sailing ship is usually pushed by winds and currents, its captain must find a route where the wind will probably blow in the right direction. The captain of a steam ship naturally chooses the shortest route to nearby destinations. This article may need to be rewritten to comply with Wikipedia's quality standards. ![]()
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