Who were the best sailors of the ancient world?

Answer 1

The ancestors of the people of the Kingdom of Tonga.

They bequeathed themselves an extensive maritime empire ruling many polynesian island groups including Samoa and Fiji. They expanded their sphere of influence even greater from Kiribati and Solomon Islands to the reaches of Easter Island and even Hawai'i.

There is speculation they traded and exhanged intellectual property with Aztec and/or Inca on the west coast of the Americas who coincidently were at the height of their powers around the same time. Certain similarities such as the distinctive large monolithic engineering stonework found in Tonga as well the Americas and the shape of the crowns worn by Tongan Kings incite such speculations. Interestingly enough though, it's reported that around the same time 13th -16th century was when Aztec tattooing flourished. An art retained by Polynesians for thousands of years.

Ancient Tongans travelled on a large double hulled voyaging canoes called a 'Kalia'. Certain Kalias were built for Tongans in Fiji and Samoa. One Kalia could occupy up to 100 men if needed for hundreds even thousands of kilometers of ocean travel. Kalias formed a powerful and enduring navy that were also responsible for policing the empire, fending off raiders and chasing down assassins plus seeing to it that conquered islands (for hundreds of years) would pay offerings to the King. Prisoners/workers were also transported through the perilous seas on Kalias.

Along with stars, birds, vegetation in water and reading water currents whilst making usage of the right passage of wind, Tongan sailors surprisingly and mainly used geological knowledge to navigate themselves. Secrets of the polynesian mastery of the ocean is orally kept from generation to generation of sailors to even modern sailors in the Kingdom today that use conventional steam engine ships. The main secret was deciphering the geological formation of the earth underneath the ocean using the geographical knowledge of hundreds of scattered islands, like SONAR Navigational Systems utilized by submarines to construct images of geology of the ocean floor. A concept undeveloped until WWII. Instead of using electrical radars or frequencies of sound waves, these polynesians had to imagine and illustrate an image of where there is most likely to be the next uprising of land or island.

Tonga is an Archipelago. Archipelagos are defined as clusters of islands that were tectonically formed. Canadian archaeologist, Professor David V. Burley from Simon Fraser University and his team uncovered fragments of pottery on a small fishing village on the main island that cradle Tonga as the oldest settlement in the pacific. These people and their culture have been living on these waters for thousands of years. Thousands of years of living, sailing and navigating in an archipelago would most likely help these islanders understand the geological (in relation to geographical positioning) nature of islands.

Polynesians have unique genetic traits that separate them from the rest human population in the tropics. Dr. Boyd Swinburn from the Univesity of Auckland School of Medicine revealed in a study that polynesians naturally have a significantly higher BMI (Body Mass Index) than European BMI. Further the study found that bone density for polynesians were also heavier than European. Tongans, Samoans and Fijians are well aligned with African-Americans and Nordics as most muscular of races. It's common to find them today thriving in professional sports in nearby countries like Australia, United States and New Zealand. As well as engaging warfare, polynesian sailors like the Tongans experienced harsh cold conditions, these factors led to survival of strong, big and smart population of polynesians. It's interesting to note that currently the Kingdom of Tonga also has the highest number of PhD's per capita in the world.

Prior to the Tongan conquests and advancement, polynesians in general travelled on large sailing canoes for thousands of ocean kilometers for exploration and search of new land like New Zealand. The Tongan "maritime" empire conducted an era of frequent sailing between tiny islands over a large ocean space. Sailing to explore, sailing to conquer and sailing to govern. From ancient days when the whole world was afraid of falling over the edge of the earth, this race of warriors flirted with the horizon of the largest and deepest ocean in the world and lived in the blur where the sky meets the ocean to this day. Life in the Tongan Archipelago still is heavily intertwined with travelling past ocean bodies from island to island, although now planes and conventional steam engine ships are used.

Answer 2

The Carthaginians.