Gather round now children, and I will tell you the story of how it all began.
You see there was this new kind of boat that was developed in Portugal in the 1200s AD. It was small and light, and could be handled by a small handful of men.
It was also easy to navigate. It used a triangular sail, called a lanteen, that could pivot to catch the wind in any direction very efficiently. This made it very maneuverable, and it could sail closer to the shoreline than the square-rigged sailing ships.
This lanteen sail was old technology even then, having been used by the Romans, but combined with the new ship's lightness and speed, and it's distinctive curved hull, the caravel became the world's fastest and most efficient ship of its day.
As curiosity and need to find ways to access new products from far away lands, the caravel became an obvious starting point.
Christopher Columbus set out to find India with three Portuguese caravels. He did not find India, nor even North America, but he did travel all the way across the Atlantic and back in a relatively short time, and successfully, which promoted the advancement of caravel design, which added more masts and a square sail in the bow, with lanteen sails elsewhere.
This caravel then became why the small country of Portugal could rule the waves and advance the exploration and access of new lands for products, making it hugely wealthy and imfluential.
The "caravela" is now an iconic image of Portugal and its history, and its image crops up everywhere.
Ok, so, now let's go outside and play spot the caravel!
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