Maritime history is the foundation for maritime strategy. Man has been deeply involved with the sea, since antiquity. This book is a step towards writing a definitive maritime history of India.
The book contains well researched articles contributed by the expert nautical archaeologists, maritime historians and navigators. The papers deal with ancient ships and shipping, maritime trade and contacts of Harappans with the Mesopotamians, later Indian trading and power systems, Indian ports in international trade, pottery and ceramics to study the movement of goods, relative technologies of the western and Indian seafarers, vital aspects in the fields of shipbuilding, sailing outfits, cannon making, navigation and producing the national infrastructure to support a maritime industry, sociological factors prevalent in Indian mariners, role of mathematicians, engineers, metallurgists, astronomers and scientists in development of shipping and seafaring, pioneering work and foundation of nautical ethnography, British strategic vision, practical uses of the stellar compass and the Kamal in inter-tropical ocean navigation, importance and status of maritime heritage researches in the Indian ocean.
Reports on the excavation of an ancient shipwreck, Princes Royal, in the Arabian Sea, demonstrate India's preparedness to search, study and preserve her underwater cultural heritage. Profusely illustrated this book would be of interest not only to archaeologists, historians, mariners and nautical engineers but also to students and common readers. |
