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Iberian caravel
The caravel was a light ocean-going sailing vessel developed on the Iberian Peninsula in the 15th century, combining lateen and square sails with a s…
Timeline
- c. 1450–1490Portuguese coastal shipbuilding centers · PortugalFrom the mid-15th century Portuguese shipwrights combined lateen and square sails on slender hulls, creating the shallow-draft, agile caravel suited to African coastal trade and inshore patrol, laying the hull foundation for later ocean exploration.
- 1492–1500Atlantic exploration routes · Atlantic OceanIn Columbus's 1492 first voyage and later expeditions such as da Gama's rounding of Africa, the caravel was widely used as a light advance and scouting vessel; its shallow draft facilitated coastal surveying and anchoring, making it the iconic vessel of Iberian maritime expansion in the 1490s.
Sources
- The Age of Reconnaissance: Discovery, Exploration, and Settlement, 1450 to 1650 — J. H. Parry (1981)