:
Shooting the Rapids (Quebec) (1879), Voyageur canoe It is assumed that the word
canoe came into English from the term 'canoa' that is used for the Caribbean dugout canoe in
Columbus' travelogues in 1493. Possibly that word 'canoa' comes from the Taino word `kanawa' that the original inhabitants of the Caribbean used for this vessel. Following its incorporation into Spanish, the term "canoa" made its way into the French language. While the French adopted a form similar to the Spanish, such as "canoë" or "canot," there is also evidence suggesting a potential influence from other indigenous languages encountered by French explorers in North America, like the French word "casnouey" adopted from the Saint-Lawrence Iroquoians language in the 1535 Jacques Cartier Relations translated in 1600 by the English geographer
Richard Hakluyt.
Dugouts type in the
Solomon Islands Many peoples have made dugout canoes throughout history, carving them out of a single piece of wood: either a whole
trunk or a slab of trunk from particularly large trees. Dugout canoes go back to ancient times. The
Dufuna canoe, discovered in Nigeria, dates back to 8500–8000 BC. The
Pesse canoe, discovered in the Netherlands, dates back to 8200–7600 BC. Excavations in
Denmark reveal the use of dugouts and paddles during the
Ertebølle period, (). Canoes played a vital role in the colonisation of the
pre-Columbian Caribbean, as they were the only means of reaching the Caribbean Islands from mainland South America. Around 3500 BC, ancient
Amerindian groups colonised the first Caribbean Islands using single-hulled canoes. Only a few pre-Columbian Caribbean canoes have been found. Several families of trees could have been used to construct Caribbean canoes, including woods of the
mahogany family (Meliaceae) such as the
Cuban mahogany (
Swietenia mahagoni), that can grow up to tall and the red cedar (
Cedrela odorata), that can grow up to tall, as well as the
ceiba genus (Malvacae), such as
Ceiba pentandra, that can reach in height. It is likely that these canoes were built in a variety of sizes, ranging from fishing canoes holding just one or a few people to larger ones able to carry as many as a few dozen, and could have been used to reach the Caribbean Islands from the mainland. Reports by historical
chroniclers claim to have witnessed a canoe "containing 40 to 50
Caribs [...] when it came out to trade with a visiting English ship". There is still much dispute regarding the use of sails in Caribbean canoes. Some archaeologists doubt that oceanic transportation would have been possible without the use of sails, as winds and currents would have carried the canoes off course. However, no evidence of a sail or a Caribbean canoe that could have made use of a sail has been found. Furthermore, no historical sources mention Caribbean canoes with sails. One possibility could be that canoes with sails were initially used in the Caribbean but later abandoned before European contact. This, however, seems unlikely, as long-distance trade continued in the Caribbean even after the prehistoric colonisation of the islands. Hence, it is likely that early Caribbean colonists made use of canoes without sails. Native American groups of the
north Pacific coast made
dugout canoes in a number of styles for different purposes, from western red cedar (
Thuja plicata) or yellow cedar (
Chamaecyparis nootkatensis), depending on availability. Different styles were required for ocean-going vessels versus river boats, and for
whale-hunting versus
seal-hunting versus
salmon-fishing. The
Quinault of
Washington State built shovel-nose canoes with double bows, for river travel that could slide over a
logjam without needing to be
portaged. The
Kootenai of the Canadian province of British Columbia made
sturgeon-nosed canoes from pine bark, designed to be stable in windy conditions on
Kootenay Lake. In recent years,
First Nations in British Columbia and
Washington State have been revitalizing the ocean-going canoe tradition. Beginning in the 1980s, the
Heiltsuk and
Haida were early leaders in this movement. The Paddle to
Expo 86 in Vancouver by the
Heiltsuk and the 1989 Paddle to
Seattle by multiple Native American tribes on the occasion of Washington State's centennial year were early instances of this. In 1993 a large number of canoes paddled from up and down the coast to
Bella Bella in its first canoe festival – Qatuwas. The revitalization continued, and
Tribal Journeys began with trips to various communities held in most years.
Aboriginal Australian people made canoes from hollowed out
tree trunks, as well as from tree bark. The indigenous people of the
Amazon commonly used
Hymenaea (
Fabaceae) trees.
Bark canoes Australia Some
Aboriginal Australian peoples made bark canoes. Because of the porosity of the bark, these bark canoes only lasted about two years. Another type of bark canoe was made out of a type of
stringybark gum known as messmate stringybark (
Eucalyptus obliqua), pleating the bark and tying it at each end, with a framework of cross-ties and ribs. This type was known as a pleated or tied bark canoe. Bark strips could also be sewn together to make larger canoes, known as sewn bark canoes.
Americas canoe,
Mi'kmaq camp,
Matapedia,
Quebec,
Alexander Henderson, ,
Canada Many
indigenous peoples of the Americas built
bark canoes. They were usually skinned with
birchbark over a light wooden frame, but other types could be used if
birch was scarce. At a typical length of and weight of , the canoes were light enough to be
portaged, yet could carry a useful amount cargo, even in shallow water. Although susceptible to damage from rocks, they are easily repaired. Their performance qualities were soon recognized by early European
settler colonials, and canoes played a key role in the
exploration of North America, with
Samuel de Champlain canoeing as far as the
Georgian Bay in 1615. In 1603 a canoe was brought to
Sir Robert Cecil's
house in London and rowed on the
Thames by
Virginian Indians from
Tsenacommacah. In 1643
David Pietersz. de Vries recorded a
Mohawk canoe in Dutch possession at
Rensselaerswyck capable of transporting 225
bushels of maize.
René de Bréhant de Galinée, a French
missionary who explored the
Great Lakes in 1669, declared: "The convenience of these canoes is great in these waters, full of cataracts or waterfalls, and rapids through which it is impossible to take any boat. When you reach them you load canoe and baggage upon your shoulders and go overland until the navigation is good; and then you put your canoe back into the water, and embark again." American painter, author and traveler
George Catlin wrote that the bark canoe was "the most beautiful and light model of all the water crafts that ever were invented". are in the courtyard of the Old Military Hospital in the
Historic Center of Quito, Ecuador. The first explorer to cross the North American continent,
Alexander Mackenzie, used canoes extensively, as did
David Thompson and the
Lewis and Clark Expedition. In the
North American fur trade, the
Hudson's Bay Company's
voyageurs used three types of canoe: • The
rabaska (French:
canot du maître, from the surname of Louise Le Maître, an artisan in the Province of Quebec, though the term would literally mean "master canoe" otherwise) — also referred to as the "Montreal canoe" — was designed for the long haul from the
St. Lawrence River to western
Lake Superior. Its dimensions were length, approximately ; beam, ; and height, about . It could carry 60 packs weighing , and of provisions. With a crew of eight or ten paddling or rowing, they could make three knots over calm waters. Four to six men could portage it, bottom up.
Henry Schoolcraft declared it "altogether one of the most eligible modes of conveyance that can be employed upon the lakes".
Archibald McDonald of the Hudson's Bay Company wrote: "I never heard of such a canoe being wrecked, or upset, or swamped ... they swam like ducks." • The
du nord (French: "canoe of the north"), a craft specially made and adapted for speedy travel, was the workhorse of the fur trade transportation system. About half the size of the rabaska, it could carry about 35 packs weighing and was manned by four to eight men. It could in turn be carried by two men and was portaged in the upright position. By then the manufacture of birchbark canoes had long paused, and their methods of construction were nearly lost to history until resuscitation by
Tappan Adney. The
indigenous peoples of eastern Canada and the northeast United States made canoes using the bark of the
paper birch, which was harvested in early spring by stripping off the bark in one piece, using wooden wedges. Next, the two ends (
stem and
stern) were sewn together and made watertight with the
pitch of
balsam fir. The ribs of the canoe, called
verons in
Canadian French, were made of
white cedar, and the hull, ribs, and thwarts were fastened using
watap, a binding usually made from the
roots of various species of
conifers, such as the
white spruce,
black spruce, or
cedar, and
caulked with
pitch.
Skin canoes Skin canoes are constructed using animal skins stretched over a framework. Examples include the
kayak and
umiak.
Modern canoes In 19th-century North America, the birch-on-frame construction technique evolved into the wood-and-canvas canoes made by fastening an external waterproofed
canvas shell to planks and ribs by
boat builders such as
Old Town Canoe,
E. M. White Canoe,
Peterborough Canoe Company and at the
Chestnut Canoe Company in
New Brunswick. Though similar to bark canoes in the use of
ribs, and a waterproof covering, the construction method is different, being built by bending ribs over a solid mold. Once removed from the mold, the decks,
thwarts and
seats are installed, and canvas is stretched tightly over the hull. The canvas is then treated with a combination of
varnishes and
paints to render it more durable and
watertight. Although canoes were once primarily a means of transport, with industrialization they became popular as
recreational or sporting watercraft.
John MacGregor popularized canoeing through his books, founding the
Royal Canoe Club in London in 1866 and the
American Canoe Association in 1880. The
Canadian Canoe Association was founded in 1900 and the
British Canoe Union in 1936. In Sweden, naval officer
Carl Smith was both an enthusiastic promoter of canoeing and a designer of canoes, some experimental, at the end of the 19th century.
Sprint canoe was a
demonstration sport at the
1924 Paris Olympics and became an Olympic discipline at the
1936 Berlin Olympics. When the
International Canoe Federation was formed in 1946, it became the umbrella organization of all national canoe organizations worldwide. ==Hull design==