History of Canoes
Posted by Knowledge Guy in Education and Training, Society Issues, Travel and World, Vacations and Sightseeing, tags: Ads History, Adventurers, Birch Bark, Birch Trees, Canoe Industry, Caribbean Island, Fur Trade, Fur Traders, History of Canoes, Indian Canoes, Kilograms, Mountainous Terrain, Native American Tribes, New Terrain, North American Indians, Pine Resin, Relaxation Time, Watercraft, Waterproof Material, Waterproofing, Wooden Ribs[ad#ads]
History of Canoes
While many people see the canoe as a boat that gives them hours of relaxation time and a quiet connectivity to nature, the canoe has also been (and still remains) a useful tool. The origins of the canoe are certainly worth looking into, as the history of how it began and its importance in discovery and aid to furthering economy is quite something.
There is no single “starting point” for the canoe. Many different Native American tribes created boats of a similar nature used for very similar purposes. The Carib people of the Caribbean island, for example, created boats for moving from island to island. Many inland tribes of people would create boats for traveling rivers, carrying supplies or freshly-hunted food.
The North American Indians are the people that are credited with the most recognized version of the canoe. Their watercraft used a frame of wooden ribs and the covering of the boat was birch bark, a waterproof material that is also light and durable. Also, birch bar is smooth, which meant that the canoes of the Indians could slip through water easily. Birch trees were common in the area and the bark was easy to harvest, which helped make it a perfect material for construction. The joints of the Indian canoes were held with twists of white pine root and waterproofing came from the use of hot pine or spruce resin.
Those historical people who began the fur trade and other adventurers mapping out new terrain both used the canoe as their choice of watercraft. For explorers, canoes were swift and easy to portage over mountainous terrain or use to descend small rapids. Fur traders had far different requirements. The canoes they used were huge affairs able to carry 12 people and a cargo of 2,400 kilograms. Both these types of individuals had demands that helped spur the canoe industry into opening its first factory in 1750 at Trois-Rivières, Quebec.
Canoes have come a long way from their ancestors of pine resin and birch bark, but while the materials may have changed to more durable ones of aluminum and fiberglass, it’s interesting to note that the basic design and shape of today’s technologically-crafted canoes haven’t changed very much at all in over 200 years.
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