Canoe
A canoe is a lightweight, narrow water vessel, typically pointed at both ends and open on top, propelled by one or more seated or kneeling paddlers facing the direction of travel and using paddles.
In British English, the term canoe can also refer to a kayak, whereas canoes are then called Canadian or open canoes to distinguish them from kayaks. However, for official competition purposes, the American distinction between a kayak and a canoe is almost always adopted. At the Olympics, both conventions are used: under the umbrella terms Canoe Slalom and Canoe Sprint, there are separate events for canoes and kayaks.
Culture
Canoes were developed in cultures all over the world, including some designed for use with sails or outriggers. Until the mid-19th century, the canoe was an important means of transport for exploration and trade, and in some places is still used as such, sometimes with the addition of an outboard motor.Where the canoe played a key role in history, such as the Northern United States, Canada, and New Zealand, it remains an important theme in popular culture. For instance, the birch bark canoe of the largely birch-based culture of the First Nations of Quebec, Canada, and North America provided these hunting peoples with the mobility essential to this way of life.
Canoes are now widely used for competition — indeed, canoeing has been part of the Olympics since 1936 — and pleasure, such as racing, whitewater, touring and camping, freestyle and general recreation.
The intended use of the canoe dictates its hull shape, length, and construction material. Although canoes were historically dugouts or made of bark on a wood frame, construction materials later evolved to canvas on a wood frame, then to aluminum. Most modern canoes are made of molded plastic or composites such as fiberglass, or those incorporating kevlar or graphite.
History
It is assumed that the word canoe came into English from the term 'canoa' that is used for the Caribbean dugout canoe in Columbus' travelogues in 1493. Possibly that word 'canoa' comes from the Taino word `kanawa' that the original inhabitants of the Caribbean used for this vessel. Following its incorporation into Spanish, the term "canoa" made its way into the French language. While the French adopted a form similar to the Spanish, such as "canoë" or "canot," there is also evidence suggesting a potential influence from other indigenous languages encountered by French explorers in North America, like the French word "casnouey" adopted from the Saint-Lawrence Iroquoians language in the 1535 Jacques Cartier Relations translated in 1600 by the English geographer Richard Hakluyt.Dugouts
Many peoples have made dugout canoes throughout history, carving them out of a single piece of wood: either a whole trunk or a slab of trunk from particularly large trees. Dugout canoes go back to ancient times. The Dufuna canoe, discovered in Nigeria, dates back to 8500–8000 BC. The Pesse canoe, discovered in the Netherlands, dates back to 8200–7600 BC. Excavations in Denmark reveal the use of dugouts and paddles during the Ertebølle period,.Canoes played a vital role in the colonisation of the pre-Columbian Caribbean, as they were the only means of reaching the Caribbean Islands from mainland South America. Around 3500 BC, ancient Amerindian groups colonised the first Caribbean Islands using single-hulled canoes. Only a few pre-Columbian Caribbean canoes have been found. Several families of trees could have been used to construct Caribbean canoes, including woods of the mahogany family such as the Cuban mahogany, that can grow up to tall and the red cedar, that can grow up to tall, as well as the ceiba genus, such as Ceiba pentandra, that can reach in height. It is likely that these canoes were built in a variety of sizes, ranging from fishing canoes holding just one or a few people to larger ones able to carry as many as a few dozen, and could have been used to reach the Caribbean Islands from the mainland. Reports by historical chroniclers claim to have witnessed a canoe "containing 40 to 50 Caribs when it came out to trade with a visiting English ship".
There is still much dispute regarding the use of sails in Caribbean canoes. Some archaeologists doubt that oceanic transportation would have been possible without the use of sails, as winds and currents would have carried the canoes off course. However, no evidence of a sail or a Caribbean canoe that could have made use of a sail has been found. Furthermore, no historical sources mention Caribbean canoes with sails. One possibility could be that canoes with sails were initially used in the Caribbean but later abandoned before European contact. This, however, seems unlikely, as long-distance trade continued in the Caribbean even after the prehistoric colonisation of the islands. Hence, it is likely that early Caribbean colonists made use of canoes without sails.
Native American groups of the north Pacific coast made dugout canoes in a number of styles for different purposes, from western red cedar or yellow cedar, depending on availability. Different styles were required for ocean-going vessels versus river boats, and for whale-hunting versus seal-hunting versus salmon-fishing. The Quinault of Washington State built shovel-nose canoes with double bows, for river travel that could slide over a logjam without needing to be portaged. The Kootenai of the Canadian province of British Columbia made sturgeon-nosed canoes from pine bark, designed to be stable in windy conditions on Kootenay Lake.
In recent years, First Nations in British Columbia and Washington State have been revitalizing the ocean-going canoe tradition. Beginning in the 1980s, the Heiltsuk and Haida were early leaders in this movement. The Paddle to Expo 86 in Vancouver by the Heiltsuk and the 1989 Paddle to Seattle by multiple Native American tribes on the occasion of Washington State's centennial year were early instances of this. In 1993 a large number of canoes paddled from up and down the coast to Bella Bella in its first canoe festival – Qatuwas. The revitalization continued, and Tribal Journeys began with trips to various communities held in most years.
Aboriginal Australian people made canoes from hollowed out tree trunks, as well as from tree bark. The indigenous people of the Amazon commonly used Hymenaea trees.
Bark canoes
Australia
Some Aboriginal Australian peoples made bark canoes. They could be made only from the bark of certain trees and during summer. After cutting the outline of the required size and shape, a digging stick was used to cut through the bark to the hardwood, and the bark was then slowly prised out using numerous smaller sticks. The slab of bark was held in place by branches or handwoven rope, and after separation from the tree, lowered to the ground. Small fires would then be lit on the inside of the bark to cause the bark to dry out and curl upwards, after which the ends could be pulled together and stitched with hemp and plugged with mud. It was then allowed to mature, with frequent applications of grease and ochre. The remaining tree was later dubbed a canoe tree by Europeans.Because of the porosity of the bark, these bark canoes only lasted about two years. They were mainly used for fishing or crossing rivers and lakes to avoid long journeys. They were usually propelled by punting with a long stick. Another type of bark canoe was made out of a type of stringybark gum known as messmate stringybark, pleating the bark and tying it at each end, with a framework of cross-ties and ribs. This type was known as a pleated or tied bark canoe. Bark strips could also be sewn together to make larger canoes, known as sewn bark canoes.
Americas
Many indigenous peoples of the Americas built bark canoes. They were usually skinned with birchbark over a light wooden frame, but other types could be used if birch was scarce. At a typical length of and weight of, the canoes were light enough to be portaged, yet could carry a useful amount cargo, even in shallow water. Although susceptible to damage from rocks, they are easily repaired. Their performance qualities were soon recognized by early European settler colonials, and canoes played a key role in the exploration of North America, with Samuel de Champlain canoeing as far as the Georgian Bay in 1615.In 1603 a canoe was brought to Sir Robert Cecil's house in London and rowed on the Thames by Virginian Indians from Tsenacommacah. In 1643 David Pietersz. de Vries recorded a Mohawk canoe in Dutch possession at Rensselaerswyck capable of transporting 225 bushels of maize. René de Bréhant de Galinée, a French missionary who explored the Great Lakes in 1669, declared: "The convenience of these canoes is great in these waters, full of cataracts or waterfalls, and rapids through which it is impossible to take any boat. When you reach them you load canoe and baggage upon your shoulders and go overland until the navigation is good; and then you put your canoe back into the water, and embark again." American painter, author and traveler George Catlin wrote that the bark canoe was "the most beautiful and light model of all the water crafts that ever were invented".
File:Historic Center of Quito - World Heritage Site by UNESCO - Photo 437.jpg|thumb|These antique dugout canoes are in the courtyard of the Old Military Hospital in the Historic Center of Quito, Ecuador.
The first explorer to cross the North American continent, Alexander Mackenzie, used canoes extensively, as did David Thompson and the Lewis and Clark Expedition.
In the North American fur trade, the Hudson's Bay Company's voyageurs used three types of canoe:
- The rabaska — also referred to as the "Montreal canoe" — was designed for the long haul from the St. Lawrence River to western Lake Superior. Its dimensions were length, approximately ; beam, ; and height, about. It could carry 60 packs weighing, and of provisions. With a crew of eight or ten paddling or rowing, they could make three knots over calm waters. Four to six men could portage it, bottom up. Henry Schoolcraft declared it "altogether one of the most eligible modes of conveyance that can be employed upon the lakes". Archibald McDonald of the Hudson's Bay Company wrote: "I never heard of such a canoe being wrecked, or upset, or swamped... they swam like ducks."
- The du nord, a craft specially made and adapted for speedy travel, was the workhorse of the fur trade transportation system. About half the size of the rabaska, it could carry about 35 packs weighing and was manned by four to eight men. It could in turn be carried by two men and was portaged in the upright position.
- The express canoe was about long and was used to carry people, reports, and news.
The indigenous peoples of eastern Canada and the northeast United States made canoes using the bark of the paper birch, which was harvested in early spring by stripping off the bark in one piece, using wooden wedges. Next, the two ends were sewn together and made watertight with the pitch of balsam fir. The ribs of the canoe, called verons in Canadian French, were made of white cedar, and the hull, ribs, and thwarts were fastened using watap, a binding usually made from the roots of various species of conifers, such as the white spruce, black spruce, or cedar, and caulked with pitch.