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A Brief History of Human Powered Transportation

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The Vikings

The sequence of pictures illustrates the development of Scandinavian boats that were ancestors to the Viking longships. The long, slender hull is key to their performance.

The top diagram is of a Danish dugout canoe dated as circa 2500 BCE The middle diagram is of a Norwegian beaked war canoe (circa 1000 - 500 BCE). The lowest diagram shows an oared Danish warship of circa 300 CE that has a keel and side-rudder. The photograph is of the Gokstad ship of circa 890 that was found in a Norwegian burial mound. It has a length of 23.3 m, a beam of 5.2 m, and a depth from gunnel to keel of 2 m. Thirty-two oarsmen were used and a helmsman steered the ship. Estimates indicate that 70 to 80 people could be carried by the craft.