G131 HOME
INFORMATION
SCHEDULE
RESOURCES
EXERCISES
NOTES
Links to summaries of key issues for each topic
PREAMBLE
Introduction
PART I
Ocean World
History
Plate Tectonics
Margins/Basins
Review 1
Sediments
Chemistry
PART II
Atmosphere
Ocean Circuln.
Waves
Tides
PART III
Coasts
Ocean Life
Primary Prodn.
Mar. Animals
Communities
Mar. Resources
Env. Concerns
VISUALS
Links to images employed in lectures on a topic-by-topic basis
TEXT
Link to chapter outlines at online learning center
NOTES
Links to summaries of key issues for each topic
 
A History of Oceanography

Notes on Topic:

  • The notes identify the learning objectives within dominant themes
  • They present summaries of key issues for each topic
  • They emphasize the terminology used to describe the various phenomena.
1. Ancient Use and Understanding of the Ocean:
Learning Objective:
  • Recognition of human use of the oceans.
Use of the Oceans for Trading and Human Migration:
  • Phoenicians (from 2000 BC) within Mediterranean, Red Sea, Indian Ocean & N. Atlantic to Britain; circumnavigated Africa ~590 BC.  Arab traders (1500 - 500 BC) within Indian Ocean
  • Micronesians in Pacific from ~4000-2000 BC. to 800 AD. (reached New Zealand) using stick charts (rebillib) to denote positions of islands and wave patterns
Greek and Roman Contributions
  • Developed maps, primarily of coastlines (e.g. Herodotus, ~450 BC), introduced the idea of geography
  • Pytheas (~325 BC) measured latitude from the angle of the horizon to Polaris (North Star)
  • Eratosthenes (~264-194 BC) calculated Earth's circumference as ~40,250 km (it's actually 40,067 km)
  • Posidonius (~135-50 BC) measured ocean depths (~1800m)
  • Pliny the elder (~23-79 AD) related moon and tides
  • Roman world map by Ptolemy (~150 AD) miscalculated Earth's circumference (~29,000 km), but included "Terra Australis Incognita"
2. Ocean Expeditions:
Learning Objectives:
  • Recognition of growth of knowledge of the oceans from voyages of exploration 
  • Navigational challenges that confronted early ocean explorations.
Voyages of Exploration and Colonization:
  • Early Discoveries
    • Bede:(~670) wrote that ocean tides were controlled by the Moon
    • El-Mas'údé (~950): seasonal reversal of currents by monsoon winds;
    •  navigational devices:  magnetic compasses from ~1200's; tide tables 
  • Vikings: 
    • Erik the Red, Bjami Herjolfsson, Leif Eriksson from Iceland to Greenland, Baffin Island and Vinland (Newfoundland) 
  • ~900's Ming dynasty: 
    • expeditions in Indian Ocean and SE. Asia to extend Chinese influence in early 1400
  • Late 1400's to early 1600's:
    • Indian Ocean: Bartholomeu Dias, Vasco da Gama
    • Americas: Christopher Columbus, Amerigo Vespucci, Vasco Núñez de Balboa, Juan Ponce de Léon 
    • Northwest Passage: sought by John Cabot, Martin Frobisher, Henry Hudson, William Baffin. 
    • Circumnavigation: Ferdinand Magellan (then Juan Sebastian del Caño in 1520/1521); later Sir Francis Drake (1577-80)
3. Technological Developments:
Learning Objectives:
  • Comprehension of role of technology in improvements in ocean travel and navigation.
Navigational Tools:
  • Facilitated by improvements in:
    • ship design and navigational aids, especially positional accuracy improved by chronometers (John Harrison, 1761; £20,000 prize)
    • concepts of latitude and longitude formalized.

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Department of Geological Sciences, 
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Phone: (812) 855-5582  Last updated: 26 September 2002
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Copyright 2002, The Trustees of Indiana University