This long (12-minute) video uses data from ships' logs to plot a hundred years' worth of ocean traffic. It is not comprehensive, because it can only use available data, but it does generate some interesting graphics.
This shows mostly Spanish, Dutch, and English routes--they are surprisingly constant over the period (although some empires drop in and out of the record), but the individual voyages are fun. And there are some macro patterns--the move of British trade towards India, the effect of the American Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars, and so on.
Each ship leaves a dimming trail behind it. I set them for four days long for the one-year visualization, and 180 days for the 100-year one. That lets one see more clearly, for example, that what appear to be two different trade routes on some maps are simply out-and-back on prevailing winds. On a long scale, this lets you see individual voyages; on a short one, predominant direction.
Seasonality is a geographical phenomenon as well as a temporal one, so I positioned the month labels directly beneath the location of the sun at noon over Africa. This looks better to me than a time ticker, and captures the way the location of the sun enables greater sailing.A second video at the Sapping Attention source shows the same data compressed into one year.
There aren't many truly seasonal events, but a few stand out. There are regular summer voyages from Scotland to Hudson's Bay, and from Holland up towards Spitsbergen, for example: both these appear as huge convoys moving in sync. (What were those about?) Trips around Cape Horn, on the other hand, are extremely rare in July and August. More interestingly, the winds in the Arabian sea seem to shift directions in November or so. I also really like the way this one brings across the conveyor belt nature of trade with the East.I watched the whole thing, though most viewers will want to skip around. There's discussion of technical details at the link.
Via Neatorama.
Interesting. i clicked ahead a few years, and then finished it out. i expected a much bigger influx of shipping from/to San Francisco after 1849. Perhaps it took more than a year to get things going once the gold rush started?
ReplyDeleteAlso, at :11, there's a route/ship that appears out of nowhere in the middle of the south Atlantic. it caught my eye the first time and i've watched it a few more times now to confirm.
i LOVED the way the convoys appeared as a huge wide line of ships...
Great visualization.
Did you notice that over time the routes become "tighter"? Even though there is more traffic, the shipping lanes become very precise. I suspect this is because of the availability of commercially affordable precision clocks and their use in navigation.
ReplyDeleteThe first clocks were made in the late 1760's. It took a while for them to be refined and mass produced so that ships other than the Royal Navy could afford them.
Interesting. I hadn't noticed that before.
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