Timeline for What would keep traders away from a specific area of the ocean?
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
21 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Aug 8, 2020 at 6:25 | comment | added | Mast | @Cadence Why wouldn't there be ports? I'd expect a sea trade-route of sorts along the eastern edge of the continent connecting medium-small harbor towns. | |
| Aug 8, 2020 at 0:13 | comment | added | user51614 | Adding to reason #1 (distance): time ( and spoilage) can also be an issue. Maybe there are valuable goods that won't keep - or the sailor's food will go bad. Or someone on the trader's continent is hidebound and determined to use the "traditional contract" which imposes strict time limits between when goods leave and payment for them comes back. "Required by law" could also substitute for hidebound/traditional contract. | |
| Aug 6, 2020 at 21:08 | comment | added | Fattie | @AlexP Ahhh! thanks, I did not notice the age of that article. superpanamax is here .. good one ! | |
| Aug 6, 2020 at 19:14 | comment | added | AlexP | @Fattie: They expanded the Panama canal locks and since the mid-2016 it can accomodate ships up to 120,000 tons deadweight or 15,000 TEU. The incentive of avoiding the Drake Passage was really strong... But yes, there are even much larger ships, which won't ever fit. | |
| Aug 6, 2020 at 16:56 | comment | added | John Dvorak | As for distance: this was the case with exotic food - if you decide to go the long way, it will no longer be edible when you arrive. | |
| Aug 6, 2020 at 16:54 | comment | added | John Dvorak | One obvious reason to avoid all ports would be if the cargo was illicit in the country of port or had the tendency to disembark when unobserved. | |
| Aug 5, 2020 at 20:02 | comment | added | Aubreal | @Brian if the port is operated by the state, rather than run as a private business, all you need is a stubborn politician intent on having a trade war and impose tariffs on the sailors. | |
| Aug 5, 2020 at 18:31 | comment | added | Brian | It's not sufficient to make alternatives to the port more expensive than the port; a port will naturally set their prices below the cost of not using the port. Hank needs the tariffs to be expensive enough to justify digging a tunnel to avoid the port (i.e., because that's how he wants his story to play out). Accomplishing this via market forces requires that alternatives to the port also be more expensive than digging a tunnel. | |
| Aug 5, 2020 at 17:56 | comment | added | Cadence | Another consideration: ports. If there are all those big stonking mountains around the south shore, there may be few or even no towns of any real size. A ship probably could carry enough supplies to make that trip without resupplying, but that doesn't make it pleasant, efficient, or safe in the case of emergency. A trip past a shore dotted with ports is easier on the ship and crew, and less risky. | |
| Aug 5, 2020 at 11:30 | history | edited | AlexP | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
More examples
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| Aug 5, 2020 at 11:24 | comment | added | AlexP | @Hankrecords: Distance is the obvious answer. You really don't want your ship to stay at sea more than necessary. Wind patterns are the second answer; going around Africa west to east was very difficult until sailors learned that the correct route is to go all the way to Rio de Janeiro instead of trying to go around the coast; and trying to go around South America east to west was considered almost suicidal before the advent of steam engines. | |
| Aug 5, 2020 at 11:22 | comment | added | Jontia | Hmm 23 to 62. That is a bit wider than I though. :) | |
| Aug 5, 2020 at 11:21 | comment | added | Hankrecords | @AlexP ok, I'll rephrase: what could there be in that southern passage that's so expensive (in terms of time, resources and/or human lives) that they just not even take that route in consideration? I'm trying to reverse-engineer my final situation, which is the empire (from which the traders come) deciding to build a tunnel through the mountains rather than paying the tariffs, but without even considering going south because [reasons]. | |
| Aug 5, 2020 at 11:19 | comment | added | AlexP | @Jontia: The Roaring Forties are well in the "temperate" zone. It's just that what is "temperate" may not be "placid". | |
| Aug 5, 2020 at 11:18 | comment | added | AlexP | @Hankrecords: The point of the answer is that the invisible hand of the market is a very very potent force. Ships can always go around, but they won't if there is a more economically efficient way. In the Antiquity, shipping companies preferred to transship goods over the Isthmus of Corinth (which was definitely not easy given the technological level) instead of going around Greece (which is much smaller than a continent). | |
| Aug 5, 2020 at 11:16 | comment | added | Jontia | It's in the question; "ice (I would rather not; this area should have a temperate climate)" But the roaring 40s itself presents a rather prosaic answer. At least for one direction of travel. | |
| Aug 5, 2020 at 11:14 | comment | added | AlexP | @Jontia: What makes you believe that the southern route is temperate? For all we know it could be in the Roaring Forties. | |
| Aug 5, 2020 at 11:05 | comment | added | Jontia | Given the map in the question, aren't the dangers of the Drake Passage more likely to apply to the Northern route? Narrow sea passage between two land masses, one ice bound? Sounds like the Southern temperate route would be much preferable. | |
| Aug 5, 2020 at 11:05 | comment | added | Hankrecords | This would be a very simple explanation, yes, but it seems very plain... my end goal is having them forced to choose between tariffs and the mountains, so that next their faction (empire/kingdom/whatever) decides that, out of rivalry, rather than paying tariffs for the strait they're going to build the tunnel cutting through the mountain range, as in the other question of mine I have linked. I will edit the question so that this is more clear. | |
| Aug 5, 2020 at 11:02 | comment | added | Li Jun | the south africa sea also has strong storm, reason why they have name cape of good hope or cape of storm, at least thats what my school teach me. | |
| Aug 5, 2020 at 10:57 | history | answered | AlexP | CC BY-SA 4.0 |