Editing Sailing (section)

=== Exploration and research ===
[[File:SantaMaria.jpg|thumb|Replica of [[Christopher Columbus]]'s [[carrack]], ''[[Santa María (ship)|Santa María]]'' under sail]]
The earliest image suggesting the use of sail on a boat may be on a piece of pottery from [[Mesopotamia]], dated to the 6th millennium BCE. The image is thought to show a bipod mast mounted on the hull of a reed boat – no sail is depicted.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Carter |first=Robert |date=2012-12-08 |title=The Neolithic origins of seafaring in the Arabian Gulf |url=https://scienceopen.com/document?vid=478c51b0-5235-43f4-8d95-5385202b8bce |journal=Archaeology International |volume=6 |doi=10.5334/ai.0613 |issn=2048-4194|doi-access=free }}</ref> The earliest representation of a sail, from Egypt, is dated to circa 3100 BCE.<ref name="Casson 1995"/>{{rp|figure 6}} The [[Nile]] is considered a suitable place for early use of sail for propulsion. This is because the river's current flows from south to north, whilst the prevailing wind direction is north to south. Therefore, a boat of that time could use the current to go north – an unobstructed trip of 750 miles – and sail to make the return trip.{{r|Casson 1995|p=11}} Evidence of early sailors has also been found in other locations, such as Kuwait, Turkey, Syria, Minoa, Bahrain, and India, among others.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kimball |first=John |url=https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/mono/10.1201/9781420073775/physics-sailing-john-kimball |title=Physics of Sailing |year=2009 |doi=10.1201/9781420073775|isbn=9781420073775 }}</ref>

[[Austronesian peoples]] used sails from some time before 2000 BCE.<ref name="Horridge 2006">{{cite book |last1=Horridge |first1=Adrian |editor1-last=Bellwood |editor1-first=Peter |title=The Austronesians : historical and comparative perspectives |date=2006 |location=Canberra, ACT |isbn=978-0731521326}}</ref>{{rp|144}} Their expansion from what is now Southern China and [[Taiwan]] started in 3000 BCE. Their technology came to include [[Outrigger ship|outriggers]], [[catamaran]]s,<ref name="Doran1974">{{cite journal|last1=Doran| first1=Edwin Jr. |date=1974|title=Outrigger Ages|url=http://www.jps.auckland.ac.nz/document//Volume_83_1974/Volume_83%2C_No._2/Outrigger_ages%2C_by_Edwin_Doran_Jnr.%2C_p_130-140/p1|journal=The Journal of the Polynesian Society|volume=83|issue=2|pages=130–140}}</ref> and [[crab claw sail]]s,<ref name="Mahdi1999">{{cite book|last1=Mahdi|first1=Waruno|title=Archaeology and Language III: Artefacts languages, and texts|publisher=Routledge|year=1999|isbn=978-0415100540|editor1-last=Blench|editor1-first=Roger|series=One World Archaeology|volume=34|pages=144–179|chapter=The Dispersal of Austronesian boat forms in the Indian Ocean|editor2-last=Spriggs|editor2-first=Matthew}}</ref> which enabled the [[Austronesian Expansion]] at around 3000 to 1500 BCE into the islands of [[Maritime Southeast Asia]], and thence to [[Micronesia]], [[Island Melanesia]], [[Polynesia]], and [[Madagascar]]. Since there is no commonality between the boat technology of China and the Austronesians, these distinctive characteristics must have been developed at or some time after the beginning of the expansion.<ref name="Horridge">{{cite book |last1=Horridge |first1=Adrian |title=The Austronesian Conquest of the Sea — Upwind |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/j.ctt2jbjx1.10.pdf |website=www.jstor.org |year=2006 |pages=143–160 |publisher=ANU Press |jstor=j.ctt2jbjx1.10 |isbn=0731521323 |access-date=16 June 2022}}</ref> They traveled vast distances of open ocean in [[outrigger canoe]]s using navigation methods such as [[Marshall Islands stick chart|stick charts]].<ref>{{cite journal|last1=O'Connor|first1=Tom|date=September–October 2004|title=Polynesians in the Southern Ocean: Occupation of the Auckland Islands in Prehistory|journal=New Zealand Geographic|volume=69|issue=6–8}}</ref><ref name="Doran1981">{{cite book|last1=Doran|first1=Edwin Jr.|title=Wangka: Austronesian canoe origins|date=1981|publisher=Texas A&M University Press|isbn=9781585440863}}</ref> The windward sailing capability of Austronesian boats allowed a strategy of sailing to windward on a voyage of exploration, with a return downwind either to report a discovery or if no land was found. This was well suited to the prevailing winds as Pacific islands were steadily colonized.{{r|Horridge}}

By the time of the [[Age of Discovery]]—starting in the 15th century—square-rigged, multi-masted vessels were the norm and were guided by navigation techniques that included the magnetic compass and making sightings of the sun and stars that allowed transoceanic voyages.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|last1=Anderson|first1=Romola|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=h-QvjRbK0DAC|title=A Short History of the Sailing Ship|last2=Anderson|first2=R. C.|date=1 September 2003|publisher=Courier Corporation|isbn=9780486429885|language=en}}</ref>

During the Age of Discovery, sailing ships figured in European voyages around Africa to China and Japan; and across the Atlantic Ocean to North and South America. Later, sailing ships ventured into the Arctic to explore northern sea routes and assess natural resources. In the 18th and 19th centuries sailing vessels made [[Hydrographic survey]]s to develop charts for navigation and, at times, carried scientists aboard as with the voyages of [[James Cook]] and the [[Second voyage of HMS Beagle|Second voyage of HMS ''Beagle'']] with naturalist [[Charles Darwin]].