Expansion of overseas travel
During the late 1400's and the 1500's, such European explorers as Christopher Columbus, Ferdinand Magellan, and Sir Francis Drake made great ocean voyages. As a result of these and later voyages, European civilization continued to spread westward--first to North and South America and then to Australia and New Zealand. However, this expansion of European culture took several hundred years. In spite of the improvements in ship construction, ocean travel remained extremely slow.
Overseas trade began to increase rapidly during the 1600's. Shipbuilders launched bigger and bigger cargo vessels to handle the growing trade. The bigger ships had to have more sails, and the added sails helped increase speeds. By the mid-1800's, the fastest merchant ships had as many as 35 sails and traveled at speeds up to 20 knots. These clipper ships could sail from New York City, around South America, to San Francisco in three to four months. The overland journey from New York to California took twice as long as the voyage by clipper ship.
Excerpt adapted from the "Transportation" article, The World Book Encyclopedia, © 1999