The history of boats, ships, and water travel as a whole, goes back to approximately 900,000 years ago. The oldest discovered boat in the world is the three-metre long Pesse Canoe, believed to have been made in the 8th Millennium BCE. However, a rock carving dating a few centuries before that, from Azerbaijan shows a reed boat manned by about 20 paddlers. Yet, the very first seaworthy boats were most probably built long before that, about 800,000 years ago, not by man but by his predecessor Homo Erectus. It was a smart naked ape who first learned how to use tools and fire.
Dinara Hettiarachchi
Grade 8, Ananda College
Colombo 10.
Theppama – Sri Lanka
The Theppama is a small fishing craft used by fishermen for fishing by casting nets. These are made of four or five roughly shaped logs pegged and/or tied together. It is steered with long bamboo poles. One has to stand on this craft, much like riding a surfboard.
Coracle –India and Middle East
This is a primitive boat in terms of design, its first use dating back to prehistoric times. The circular coracle uses wicker baskets for the frame, and its diametre can go up to 2.6 metres. As water can leak through the wicker, it was water proofed with animal hide, but nowadays a layer of tar is applied for the purpose.
Jukung – Indonesia
The jukung is a traditional fishing boat made of Bornean Ironwood. Now, the jukung is used for SCUBA diving, and there is a modern version of this boat, which is made of HDPE pipes and has sealed air as the source of its buoyancy.
Dhoni – Maldives
The Dhoni is built domestically with coconut palm timber, and can carry eight to twelve people. Originally, these were used for sailing, but during the Industrial Revolution, most of the Dhonis in the Maldives were mechanised with outboard motors.
Paopao – Samoa
The paopao is a canoe with a support float at the side, known as an outrigger. The largest of these can carry up to six adults.
This type of canoe is divided into three categories, such as Vaitupu, Nanumea and the general paopao. The paopao ranges from 1.3 metres in length to 2.9 metres.