Were the Tamil people, ship builders?
Were the Tamil people capable to traveling great distance by ship?
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M$6 Answers
Tamils have travelled all over the world and have lived there many centuries keeping their traditions and culture live. You must come to tamilnadu to see the links to peruian and other culture. Ancient Cholas discovered South America long before Columbus did and that the Inca Sun Worshippers of Peru are none but the descendants of "our Chola ancestors" (vide Neelakanta Sastri-History of S. India and M. Monohan’s "Chola’s in America 1976" – pp11-20).
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The proof is that the boats/ships of they used are not so updated(not upto the standard at those days too).
Enclopedias/wikipidias may not agree with me. but, this is my opinion & my small research results!
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M$
This shows that the tamilians must have been good ship builders.
The Tamil have a long history of achievement; sea travel, city life, and commerce seem to have developed early among them. Tamil trade with the ancient Greeks and Romans is verified by literary, linguistic, and archaeological evidence.
Kerala and parts of southern Tamil Nadu formed the erstwhile Chera kingdom with Tiruvanchikulam near Cranganore as its main capital. They rivaled the neighboring dynasties of Cholas and Pandyas in prosperity. Cheras had strong overseas trade links with Romans in natural produce such as spices, ivory and sandal.
Pandyas are also mentioned in Sangam Literature, as well as by Greek and Roman sources during this period. Megasthenes in his Indika mentions the Pandyan kingdom.22 The Pandyas controlled the present districts of Madurai, Tirunelveli, and parts of south Kerala. They had trading contacts with Greece and Rome.23 With the other kingdoms of Tamilakam, they maintained trading contacts and maritial relationships with Tamil merchants from Eelam.
The kingdom of the Cheras comprised the modern state of Kerala, along the western or Malabar Coast of southern India. Their proximity to the sea favoured trade with Africa.
The port city of Puhar on the east coast and Muziris on the west coast of south India were emporia of foreign trade, where huge ships moored, offloading precious merchandise.31 This trade started to decline after the second century CE and the direct contact between the Roman empire and the ancient Tamil country was replaced by trade with the Arabs and the Auxumites of East Africa
These tell us that tamils were ofcourse intrnational travellers and were capable of travelling long distances.
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This navy army played a big role in the expansion of may religions including Hinduism, Buddhism and Dravidian Architecture in the neighbouring countries.
There were many ports including Kaveripattinam and Nagapattinam through which Roman Ships found their way to enter the Chola dynasty.
There were citations in many books by great travelers that South Indian traders were exchanging spices and textiles and stuff in Rome, China and Myanmar.
''Built of fir timber, having a sheath of boards laid over the planking in every part, caulked with iron nails. The bottoms were smeared with a preparation of quicklime and hemp, pounded together and mixed with oil from a certain tree which is a better material than pitch'' - MARCO POLO (1292 AD).
Tamil kingdoms became prosperous and encouraged sea trade by developing harbours and providing quarters, warehouses and workshops for Roman sailors and merchants. The ports had navigational facilities like wharfs, repair yards, pilotage and even light houses. ''
The Chera and Pandya kingdoms too played a significant role in the ancient maritime history of India. Unfortunately, they did not succeed in expanding their trade relationships in the west as well as the east like the Cholas.
Hope the above helped ! See the links in the source section below to get some more knowledge of the Indian maritime history. :-)
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Also, The ancient Tamils were known as Tamiles / Tamales / Tamals. In ancient era Tamil Nadu region it is called ‘Tamal’ and their people are ‘Tamales’. The ancient Tamils were international traders and colonizers. Wherever they went in the world, they left an unmistakable imprint of their presence, such as place names, foods, games, and temple buildings. Their temple buildings were usually zikharis (tiered or premedical temple platforms). It was the ancient southern dark (Tamil) Indians (DNA M-130) who populated entire India and central Asia, middle-east- and also European lands about 40,000 years ago and eventually many sub-tribes may have returned with their new knowledge to other parts of the earth and also to ancient India about 20,000 years ago, just like the modern migration patterns what we see today, say since 1492 AD onwards after criminal Columbus’ arrival with Spaniards.