I had thought Africans had never built ships.Then I saw this on the Wikipedia article on Carthage, a civilization that was in North Africa,in present day Tunisa,centuries before its eventual domination by Arabs:
"The navy of Carthage was one of the largest in the Mediterranean, using serial production to maintain high numbers at moderate cost. The sailors and marines of the Carthaginian navy were predominantly recruited from the Punic citizenry, unlike the multi-national allied and mercenary troops of the Carthaginian armies. The navy offered a stable profession and financial security for its sailors. This helped to contribute to the city's political stability, since the unemployed, debt ridden poor in other cities were frequently inclined to support revolutionary leaders in the hope of improving their own lot.[10] The reputation of her skilled sailors implies that there was in peacetime a training of oarsmen and coxswains, giving their navy a cutting edge in naval matters. The trade of Carthaginian merchantmen was by land across the Sahara and especially by sea throughout the Mediterranean and far into the Atlantic to the tin-rich islands of Britain and to West Africa. There is evidence that at least one Punic expedition under Hanno sailed along the West African coast to regions south of the Tropic of Cancer, describing how the sun was in the north at noon".
I was even more struck to read that the Romans upgraded their warships through the adaptation of Carthaginian ships:
"Polybius wrote in the sixth book of his History that the Carthaginians were "more exercised in maritime affairs than any other people."[11] Their navy included some 300 to 350 warships. The Romans, who had little experience in naval warfare prior to the First Punic War, managed to finally defeat Carthage with a combination of reverse engineering captured Carthaginian ships, recruitment of experienced Greek sailors from the ranks of its conquered cities, the unorthodox corvus device, and their superior numbers in marines and rowers. In the Third Punic War Polybius describes a tactical innovation of the Carthaginians, augmenting their few triremes with small vessels that carried hooks (to attack the oars) and fire (to attack the hulls). With this new combination, they were able to stand their ground against the superior Roman numbers for a whole day."
The article describes the culture and records of Carthage as destroyed by Rome at the end of the Third Punic War.
The effect of this Roman victory on global civilization is so described:
"Over the course of the next century, these three major conflicts between Rome and Carthage would determine the course of Western civilization. The wars included a Carthaginian invasion led by Hannibal, which nearly prevented the rise of the Roman Empire. Eventual victory by Rome was a turning point which meant that the civilization of the ancient Mediterranean would pass to the modern world via Southern Europe instead of North Africa".It is vital to cross-check Wikipedia with more definitive scholarly data. I expect this information is accurate,though, on account of the fame of Carthage in its wars against Rome,in which it is described as occupying Italy for some years.
Thanks
Toyin
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