3 ms·

Just imagine in the 1500's deciding to set sail to Asia. Hardly having a map. No communication means, food that's not easy to store, nothing more then a compass

Just imagine in the 1500's deciding to set sail to Asia. Hardly having a map. No communication means, food that's not easy to store, nothing more then a compass and if lucky a shitty map. If things go wrong no one is coming to help. Wild times. Was actually the reason they founded the Amsterdam stock market to spread & share the risk of the ships not returning. I know many bad things happen at well, but it's still a very interesting perspective.

twic 3y ago
This makes me think of this haunting 1919 painting of Elcano's return from the first circumnavigation of the earth in 1522: https://artsandculture.google.com/story/gAXBe3j1qN_gLQ https://artsandculture.google.com/story/gAXBe3j1qN_gLQ
- jacquesm 3y ago
  What an incredibly moving picture and story. Thank you.
- oh_sigh 3y ago
  Those are the faces of men who wished they stayed in Brazil.
srj 3y ago
I can't imagine how the polynesians discovered Hawaii. Sailing thousands of miles in a small wooden boat and finding a speck of land in the pacific ocean.
- wpietri 3y ago
  Polynesian navigational techniques are very interesting: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polynesian_navigation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polynesian_navigation
  - kqr 3y ago
    The power of oral tradition is nuts. It can preserve information for thousands of years.
    - twic 3y ago
      Speaking of Polynesian navigation being nuts: https://melmagazine.com/en-us/story/testicular-navigation https://melmagazine.com/en-us/story/testicular-navigation
  - dehrmann 3y ago
    To what extent were they good at navigating, and to what extent is there a survivorship bias?
    - btilly 3y ago
      This came up in a college course I took. Traditional Polynesian boats were operating alongside modern technology in the 1950s and 1969s. The Polynesian boats put up a better safety record! So yeah, they really were good at navigating. And to think, they did it lying on their back! The cues that they were using were from the swell, the stars, and birds. You feel the swell most clearly lying down. The other two are above you.
- asdfman123 3y ago
  Apparently they could sink their double-hulled canoes into the water a little if storms hit so they didn’t get the full brunt of the waves.
cjrp 3y ago
Also why things like Lloyds of London started; to insure the risk of ships not returning.
- jiggywiggy 3y ago
  Yeah seems to be one of the foundational pieces of modern finance
  - simonh 3y ago
    The stock exchange was about spreading risk too. You could raise equity from many small investors that individually are assuming a relatively low risk. So arguably this was the foundation of modern capitalism too, just in time for the development of capital intensive industry to take advantage of the same financial structures.

twic 3y ago

This makes me think of this haunting 1919 painting of Elcano's return from the first circumnavigation of the earth in 1522: https://artsandculture.google.com/story/gAXBe3j1qN_gLQ https://artsandculture.google.com/story/gAXBe3j1qN_gLQ

jacquesm 3y ago
What an incredibly moving picture and story. Thank you.
oh_sigh 3y ago
Those are the faces of men who wished they stayed in Brazil.

srj 3y ago

I can't imagine how the polynesians discovered Hawaii. Sailing thousands of miles in a small wooden boat and finding a speck of land in the pacific ocean.

wpietri 3y ago
Polynesian navigational techniques are very interesting: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polynesian_navigation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polynesian_navigation
- kqr 3y ago
  The power of oral tradition is nuts. It can preserve information for thousands of years.
  - twic 3y ago
    Speaking of Polynesian navigation being nuts: https://melmagazine.com/en-us/story/testicular-navigation https://melmagazine.com/en-us/story/testicular-navigation
- dehrmann 3y ago
  To what extent were they good at navigating, and to what extent is there a survivorship bias?
  - btilly 3y ago
    This came up in a college course I took. Traditional Polynesian boats were operating alongside modern technology in the 1950s and 1969s. The Polynesian boats put up a better safety record! So yeah, they really were good at navigating. And to think, they did it lying on their back! The cues that they were using were from the swell, the stars, and birds. You feel the swell most clearly lying down. The other two are above you.
asdfman123 3y ago
Apparently they could sink their double-hulled canoes into the water a little if storms hit so they didn’t get the full brunt of the waves.

cjrp 3y ago

Also why things like Lloyds of London started; to insure the risk of ships not returning.

jiggywiggy 3y ago
Yeah seems to be one of the foundational pieces of modern finance
- simonh 3y ago
  The stock exchange was about spreading risk too. You could raise equity from many small investors that individually are assuming a relatively low risk. So arguably this was the foundation of modern capitalism too, just in time for the development of capital intensive industry to take advantage of the same financial structures.