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Maritime: 'The Battle of Leghorn, 4 March 1653'. Oil on canvas painting by Willem Hermansz van Diest (c. 1600-1678), mid-17th century. The naval Battle of Leghorn (the Dutch call the encounter by the Italian name Livorno) took place on 14 March (4 March Old Style) 1653, during the First Anglo-Dutch War, near Leghorn (Livorno), Italy. It was a victory of a Dutch fleet under Commodore Johan van Galen over an English squadron under Captain Henry Appleton. Afterward an English fleet under Captain Richard Badiley, which Appleton had been trying to reach, came up but was outnumbered and fled.
The area around Taormina was inhabited by the Siculi even before the Greeks arrived on the Sicilian coast in 734 BC to found a town called Naxos. The theory that Tauromenion was founded by colonists from Naxos is confirmed by Strabo and other ancient writers.
The area around Taormina was inhabited by the Siculi even before the Greeks arrived on the Sicilian coast in 734 BC to found a town called Naxos. The theory that Tauromenion was founded by colonists from Naxos is confirmed by Strabo and other ancient writers.
The area around Taormina was inhabited by the Siculi even before the Greeks arrived on the Sicilian coast in 734 BC to found a town called Naxos. The theory that Tauromenion was founded by colonists from Naxos is confirmed by Strabo and other ancient writers.
The area around Taormina was inhabited by the Siculi even before the Greeks arrived on the Sicilian coast in 734 BC to found a town called Naxos. The theory that Tauromenion was founded by colonists from Naxos is confirmed by Strabo and other ancient writers.
The ancient Greek theatre of Taormina was built in the third century BCE.<br/><br/> The area around Taormina was inhabited by the Siculi even before the Greeks arrived on the Sicilian coast in 734 BC to found a town called Naxos. The theory that Tauromenion was founded by colonists from Naxos is confirmed by Strabo and other ancient writers.
The ancient Greek theatre of Taormina was built in the third century BCE.<br/><br/> The area around Taormina was inhabited by the Siculi even before the Greeks arrived on the Sicilian coast in 734 BC to found a town called Naxos. The theory that Tauromenion was founded by colonists from Naxos is confirmed by Strabo and other ancient writers.
The Catalan Atlas (1375) is the most important Catalan map of the medieval period. It was produced by the Majorcan cartographic school and is attributed to Cresques Abraham, a Jewish book illuminator who was self-described as being a master of the maps of the world as well as compasses. It has been in the royal library of France (now the Bibliotheque nationale de France) since the late 14th century.
The Catalan Atlas (1375) is the most important Catalan map of the medieval period. It was produced by the Majorcan cartographic school and is attributed to Cresques Abraham, a Jewish book illuminator who was self-described as being a master of the maps of the world as well as compasses. It has been in the royal library of France (now the Bibliotheque nationale de France) since the late 14th century.
The Catalan Atlas (1375) is the most important Catalan map of the medieval period. It was produced by the Majorcan cartographic school and is attributed to Cresques Abraham, a Jewish book illuminator who was self-described as being a master of the maps of the world as well as compasses. It has been in the royal library of France (now the Bibliotheque nationale de France) since the late 14th century.
Hammamet (from the Arabic al-hammamat, 'the baths') has been known since Roman times for the healing property of its waters. Roman ruins still survive at the nearby sites of Siagum and Pupput, but Hammamet in its present form dates from the mid-15th century, when the old city, known as the medina, and the suq, or main bazaar, were built.<br/><br/> Mediaeval Hammamet was prepared for defence – the Spaniards fortified the kasbah in the 16th century – but in fact the history of the town has been pleasantly peaceful. There are no records of invaders troubling the small fishing settlement, which acquired a reputation for religious learning through the number and proficiency of its murabitin, or saints and holy men.
The Colossus of Rhodes was a statue of the Greek Titan Helios, erected in the city of Rhodes on the Greek island of Rhodes by Chares of Lindos between 292 and 280 BC. It is considered one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. It was constructed to celebrate Rhodes' victory over the ruler of Cyprus, Antigonus I Monophthalmus, whose son unsuccessfully besieged Rhodes in 305 BC. Before its destruction, the Colossus of Rhodes stood over 30 meters (107 ft) high, making it one of the tallest statues of the ancient world.
The Roman mythographer Julius Pollux, writing in the 2nd century BCE, asserts (Onomasticon I, 45–49) that Purple Tyrian dye was first discovered by Heracles, or rather, by his dog, whose mouth was stained purple from chewing on snails along the coast of the Levant.
Michael of Rhodes, a Venetian galley commander, wrote a manuscript describing his knowledge of mathematics, ships and shipbuilding, navigation, and time reckoning. It contains some of the earliest surviving portolan aids to navigation and is the world's first known treatise on shipbuilding.
A portolan chart from 1492, the oldest known signed and dated chart of Portuguese origin. Cartography technologies greatly advanced during the Age of Discovery. Iberian mapmakers in particular focused on practical charts to use as navigational aids.<br/><br/> Unlike Spanish maps which were considered a state secret, Portuguese maps were used by other countries, and Portuguese cartographers drew upon the skill and knowledge of other cultures, notably Islamic, as well.
Beirut (Arabic: Bayrūt) is the capital and largest city of Lebanon with a population ranging from some 1 million to more than 2 million as of 2007. Located on a peninsula at the midpoint of Lebanon's coastline with the Mediterranean, it serves as the country's largest and main seaport, and also forms the Beirut Metropolitan Area, which consists of the city and its suburbs. The first mention of this metropolis is found in the ancient Egyptian Tell el Amarna letters, dating to the 15th century BC, and the city has been continuously inhabited since.
The naval Battle of Leghorn (the Dutch call the encounter by the Italian name Livorno) took place on 14 March (4 March Old Style) 1653, during the First Anglo-Dutch War, near Leghorn (Livorno), Italy. It was a victory of a Dutch fleet under Commodore Johan van Galen over an English squadron under Captain Henry Appleton. Afterward an English fleet under Captain Richard Badiley, which Appleton had been trying to reach, came up but was outnumbered and fled. The battle gave the Dutch command of the Mediterranean, placing the English trade with the Levant at their mercy, but Van Galen was mortally wounded, dying on 23 March.
Throughout the Renaissance, Venice’s relationship with the Ottoman Empire was sustained by trade but punctuated by conflict. In this naval battle, 22 ships from Venice and Malta defeated the Turkish fleet of 36 galleys.
The naval Battle of Leghorn (the Dutch call the encounter by the Italian name Livorno) took place on 14 March (4 March Old Style) 1653, during the First Anglo-Dutch War, near Leghorn (Livorno), Italy. It was a victory of a Dutch fleet under Commodore Johan van Galen over an English squadron under Captain Henry Appleton. Afterward an English fleet under Captain Richard Badiley, which Appleton had been trying to reach, came up but was outnumbered and fled. The battle gave the Dutch command of the Mediterranean, placing the English trade with the Levant at their mercy, but Van Galen was mortally wounded, dying on 23 March.
The Messageries Maritimes is an old French maritime company. It was originally created in 1851 as Messageries Nationales, later called Messageries Impériales, and in 1871, Compagnie des Messageries Maritimes.<br/><br/> From 1871 to 1914, the Compagnie des Messageries maritimes experienced its Golden Age. This was the period of the colonial expansion and of the French interventionism in the Middle and Far East. In the Far East Saigon became the regional headquarters of the company, with regular sailings to Hanoi, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Australia and New Caledonia.<br/><br/> The Compagnie des chemins de fer de Paris à Lyon et à la Méditerranée (usually known simply as the PLM) was a French railway company.<br/><br/> Created between 1858 and 1862 from the amalgamation of the earlier Paris-Lyon and Lyon-Méditerranée companies, and subsequently incorporating a number of smaller railways, the PLM operated chiefly in the south-east of France, with a main line which connected Paris to the Côte d'Azur by way of Dijon, Lyon, and Marseille. The company was also the operator of railways in Algeria.
The naval Battle of Leghorn (the Dutch call the encounter by the Italian name Livorno) took place on 14 March (4 March Old Style) 1653, during the First Anglo-Dutch War, near Leghorn (Livorno), Italy. It was a victory of a Dutch fleet under Commodore Johan van Galen over an English squadron under Captain Henry Appleton. Afterward an English fleet under Captain Richard Badiley, which Appleton had been trying to reach, came up but was outnumbered and fled. The battle gave the Dutch command of the Mediterranean, placing the English trade with the Levant at their mercy, but Van Galen was mortally wounded, dying on 23 March.
The naval Battle of Leghorn (the Dutch call the encounter by the Italian name Livorno) took place on 14 March (4 March Old Style) 1653, during the First Anglo-Dutch War, near Leghorn (Livorno), Italy. It was a victory of a Dutch fleet under Commodore Johan van Galen over an English squadron under Captain Henry Appleton. Afterward an English fleet under Captain Richard Badiley, which Appleton had been trying to reach, came up but was outnumbered and fled. The battle gave the Dutch command of the Mediterranean, placing the English trade with the Levant at their mercy, but Van Galen was mortally wounded, dying on 23 March.
The Italian cities of Venice and Genoa dominated trade with the East in the 1300s though they were often at war with each other. Situated on the Adriatic Sea, Venice traded regularly with the Byzantine Empire and the Muslim world extensively.<br/><br/> By the late 13th century, Venice was the most prosperous city in all of Europe. At the peak of its power and wealth, it had 36,000 sailors operating 3,300 ships, dominating Mediterranean commerce. During this time, Venice's leading families vied with each other to build the grandest palaces and support the work of the greatest and most talented artists. Venice's decline was swift though—in between plagues of the Black Death in 1348 and 1575 that devastated the population, Venice was defeated by the Ottoman Turks and lost influence in Constantinople by the 1450s.<br/><br/> After Columbus discovered the New World, new trade routes were established to the East via the Americas, and Venice's monopoly of trade routes via the Arabian Sea was promptly ignored by other European powers.
Bolinus brandaris (originally called Murex brandaris by Linnaeus), and commonly known as the purple dye murex or the spiny dye-murex, is a species of medium-sized predatory sea snail, an edible marine gastropod mollusk in the family Muricidae, the murex snails or the rock snails.<br/><br/> Tyrian purple (Greek, πορφύρα, porphyra, Latin: purpura), also known as royal purple, imperial purple or imperial dye, is a purple-red natural dye, which is a secretion produced by certain species of predatory sea snails in the family Muricidae, a type of rock snail by the name Murex. This dye was probably first used by the ancient Phoenicians. The dye was greatly prized in antiquity because the color did not easily fade, but instead became brighter with weathering and sunlight.<br/><br/> Tyrian purple was expensive: the 4th-century-BC historian Theopompus reported, 'Purple for dyes fetched its weight in silver at Colophon' in Asia Minor. The expense meant that purple-dyed textiles became status symbols, and early sumptuary laws restricted their uses. The production of Tyrian purple was tightly controlled in Byzantium and was subsidized by the imperial court, which restricted its use for the colouring of imperial silks, so that a child born to a reigning emperor was styled 'porphyrogenitos' or 'born in the purple'.
The Roman mythographer Julius Pollux, writing in the 2nd century BCE, asserts (Onomasticon I, 45–49) that Purple Tyrian dye was first discovered by Heracles, or rather, by his dog, whose mouth was stained purple from chewing on snails along the coast of the Levant.<br/><br/> However, the recent archaeological discovery of substantial numbers of Murex shells on Crete suggests that the Minoans may have pioneered the extraction of Imperial purple centuries before the Tyrians. Dating from collocated pottery suggests the dye may have been produced during the Middle Minoan period in the 20th–18th century BCE. Accumulations of crushed murex shells from a hut at the site of Coppa Nevigata in southern Italy may indicate production of purple dye there from at least the 18th century BCE.
A Venetian cartographer, Coronelli (1650-1718) cites his sources for this Nile map, including the Portuguese Jesuits Pedro Páez and Jerónimo Lobo, and contrasts his work with an inset showing the “original” (that is, outdated) course of the Nile as presented by past geographers, who followed the Ptolemaic tradition of two source lakes.<br/><br/> Páez and Lobo had visited Ethiopia in the early 1600s, and both gave accounts of having seen the springs that natives believed to be the river’s source, though the Jesuits failed to distinguish between the two branches of the river. Coronelli’s Nile is the Blue Nile, and his geography is fairly accurate for that branch, identifying the significance of Lake Tsana and the clockwise unfolding of the river as it descends from there.
The son of a mapmaker, Fer turned the family business into a flourishing map publishing company in Paris and was appointed geographer to the French dauphin. This map, printed in the last year of Fer’s life, credits a number of Jesuits, including Pedro Páez and Jerónimo Lobo, for its geographic information.<br/><br/> The sources of the Blue Nile are called 'les yeux du Nil' (the eyes of the Nile), probably based on Lobo’s descriptions of the two springs, and they are shown on or in a mountain. The White Nile is barely represented.
The focus of this map is clearly the route of the Blue Nile to its junction with the White Nile at Khartoum and the combined river’s course to the Mediterranean. Numerous place-names are shown, as are the six cataracts of the river between Aswan and Khartoum. The Mountains of the Moon (montagnes de la lune) are present in the lower left corner, where the sources of the White Nile still elude discovery.<br/><br/> At the time this map was published, Burton and Speke were in Tanzania pursuing just that information.
A trireme (from Latin triremis, literally 'three-oarer') was a type of galley, a Hellenistic-era warship that was used by the ancient maritime civilizations of the Mediterranean, especially the Phoenicians, ancient Greeks, Persians and Romans.<br/><br/> The trireme derives its name from its three rows of oars on each side, manned with one man per oar. The early trireme was a development of the penteconter, an ancient warship with a single row of 25 oars on each side, and of the bireme, a warship with two banks of oars, probably of Phoenician origin. As a ship it was fast and agile, and became the dominant warship in the Mediterranean from the 7th to the 4th centuries BC, when they were largely superseded by the larger quadriremes and quinqueremes. Triremes played a vital role in the Persian Wars, the creation of the Athenian maritime empire, and its downfall in the Peloponnesian War.
This Assyrian ship was probably built and possibly manned by Phoenicians employed by Sennacherib, the son of Sargon II of Akkad, whom he succeeded on the throne of Assyria (705 – 681 BC).<br/><br/> It is a bireme, with two rows of oars. Shields are fastened around the superstructure, as on the fortifications of some city walls. The pointed bow is a ram, for piercing enemy shipping.
A trireme (from Latin triremis, literally 'three-oarer') was a type of galley, a Hellenistic-era warship that was used by the ancient maritime civilizations of the Mediterranean, especially the Phoenicians, ancient Greeks, Persians and Romans.<br/><br/> The trireme derives its name from its three rows of oars on each side, manned with one man per oar. The early trireme was a development of the penteconter, an ancient warship with a single row of 25 oars on each side, and of the bireme, a warship with two banks of oars, probably of Phoenician origin. As a ship it was fast and agile, and became the dominant warship in the Mediterranean from the 7th to the 4th centuries BC, when they were largely superseded by the larger quadriremes and quinqueremes. Triremes played a vital role in the Persian Wars, the creation of the Athenian maritime empire, and its downfall in the Peloponnesian War.