Trade route systems, Mediterranean and Indian Ocean

There was much diversity between Mediterranean Sea and Indian Ocean trade. For example, in the Mediterranean, sailors used square sails and long banks oars to maneuver among the sea's many islands. But the traders of the Indian Ocean built sails the shape of triangles and did not use oars. Another example would be that the Indian Ocean ship builders would make the ships by piercing and tying planks of wood and then caulking them together …

…sailors used square sails and long banks oars to maneuver among the sea's many islands. But the traders of the Indian Ocean built sails the shape of triangles and did not use oars. Another example would be that the Indian Ocean ship builders would make the ships by piercing and tying planks of wood and then caulking them together with bitumen. The shipbuilders of the Mediterranean, however, simply nailed the planks to form their ships.