Editing Ship (section)

==== Mediterranean developments ====
[[File:Maler der Grabkammer des Menna 013.jpg|thumb|Egyptian sailing ship, c.&nbsp;1422–1411 BC]]
[[File:Phoenician ship.jpg|thumb|A [[Ancient Rome|Roman]] ship carved on the face of the [[Ship sarcophagus|"Ship Sarcophagus"]], c.&nbsp;2nd century AD]]

The earliest historical evidence of boats is found in Egypt during the 4th millennium BCE<ref name="Britannica - History of ships"/> The [[Ancient Greece|Greek]] [[historian]] and [[geographer]] [[Agatharchides]] had documented ship-faring among the early [[Ancient Egypt|Egyptians]]:  ''"During the prosperous period of the [[Old Kingdom]], between the [[30th century BC|30th]] and [[25th century BC|25th centuries BC]], the [[Nile River|river]]-routes were kept in order, and [[Ancient Egypt|Egyptian]] ships sailed the [[Red Sea]] as far as the [[myrrh]]-country."''<ref>{{Cite book |author=[[Agatharchides]] |others=in [[Wilfred Harvey Schoff]] (Secretary of the [[Philadelphia Civic Center|Commercial Museum of Philadelphia]]) with a foreword by W.P. Wilson, Sc. Director, [[University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology|The Philadelphia Museums]]. |title=[[Periplus of the Erythraean Sea]]: Travel and Trade in the Indian Ocean by a Merchant of the First Century, Translated from the Greek and Annotated |publisher=Longmans, Green, and Co. |year=1912 |location=New York |pages=50; 57 (for quote)}}</ref> [[Sneferu]]'s ancient cedar wood ship [[Praise of the Two Lands (ship)|Praise of the Two Lands]] is the first reference recorded (2613 BC) to a ship being referred to by name.<ref>Anzovin, item # 5393, p. 385 ''Reference to a ship with a name appears in an inscription of 2613 BC that recounts the shipbuilding achievements of the fourth-dynasty Egyptian pharaoh Sneferu. He was recorded as the builder of a cedarwood vessel called "Praise of the Two Lands."''</ref>

The [[ancient Egypt]]ians were perfectly at ease building sailboats. A remarkable example of their [[shipbuilding]] skills was the [[Khufu ship]], a vessel {{convert|143|ft|m}} in length entombed at the foot of the [[Great Pyramid of Giza]] around 2500 BC and found intact in 1954.

The oldest discovered sea faring hulled boat is the [[Late Bronze Age]] [[Uluburun]] shipwreck off the coast of Turkey, dating back to 1300 BC.<ref>{{cite journal |title=The Uluburun shipwreck: an overview |journal=International Journal of Nautical Archaeology |volume=27|issue=3|page=188 |first = Cemal |last = Pulak |year=1998 |doi=10.1111/j.1095-9270.1998.tb00803.x}}</ref>

By 1200 B.C., the [[Phoenicia]]ns were building large merchant ships. In world maritime history, declares Richard Woodman, they are recognized as "the first true seafarers, founding the art of pilotage, [[cabotage]], and navigation" and the architects of "the first true ship, built of planks, capable of carrying a deadweight cargo and being sailed and steered."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Woodman |first=Richard |title=The History of the Ship |publisher=Lyons Press |year=1987 |location=New York |pages=16 |quote=Cabotage refers to navigation along the coastline}}</ref>