Humanity has spent most of its time locked to the largest of landmasses, hunting and gathering for eons, spreading slowly from the mother’s cradle along the arid grasslands, low-lying forests and wave-smacked shorelines. Some of our kind travelled great distances in this time. Some so far as the other side of the globe (only to be trapped by rising sea levels) but always limited by where land stopped and water began. It was like this until roughly 10,000 years ago when one of our early ancestors decided that the endless seas and crashing waves were no longer an obstacle but a means of travel. So… we decided to use what nature provides to fight against her natural barriers. We took wood, leaf, and vine and, through much trial and error, created one of the first boats. The earliest recovered boat-like vessel is the Pesse Canoe, found in the Netherlands and dates to 8000BCE. It, like many early rafts, would have been used for a fishing platform and travelling relatively short to medium distances.

I should be clear, this is likely when humanity, meaning Homo sapiens, first invented a boat-like craft. However, it has been theorised that our not-so-distant ancestors, Homo erectus, were the true inventors of the boat. Around 600,000-800,000 years ago, Homo erectus travelled from Africa to Asia, covering great swaths of ocean. Although no remains of these early sea-faring crafts have been found, we know from geographical findings that some of the places that their remains were found could only be reached by some form of sea voyaging.

Using likely bamboo rafts, another hominid had beat us to the punch. Fast forward to 10,000 years ago and humanity rediscovered the boat, and as our population and intelligence grew, so did the efficiency and design of boats. Native Americans began using canoes in colder climates to fish out remote locations. Small rafts would be used widely for river crossings, eventually being made into much larger craft carrying tens and twenties of people. Eventually we went from wind and manpower to steam and oil. No longer were captains subject to the whim of the wind, they now could travel anywhere and much more quickly. Cruise liners tripled in size, touring all corners of the planet. Destroyers and air carriers are larger and more devastating than ever and now our boats can dive and travel to some of the furthest and most unexplored regions of our oceans. The boat was a necessity for early humans (sapien and erectus alike) for travel and fishing; now the uses of boats vary from a personal form of transport to competitive sports and war games. They ship our food, our clothes and just about anything you can think of. Not bad for only ten thousand years of innovation.

Skyler Herzog is studying creative writing and game design at Brunel University. He is a founding member of Chasing Cow Productions.