Jangada
Encyclopedia
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
. Some claim the historical legacy of the jangada dates back to the ancient Greeks and that it was Ulysses
Odysseus
Odysseus or Ulysses was a legendary Greek king of Ithaca and the hero of Homer's epic poem the Odyssey. Odysseus also plays a key role in Homer's Iliad and other works in the Epic Cycle....
' vessel in The Odyssey.
The construction of the jangada incorporates some improvements in neolithic
Neolithic
The Neolithic Age, Era, or Period, or New Stone Age, was a period in the development of human technology, beginning about 9500 BC in some parts of the Middle East, and later in other parts of the world. It is traditionally considered as the last part of the Stone Age...
handcraft - better materials were found and the physics of sailing was better observed through experimentation. The details are closely guarded by artisans.
Its triangular sail makes use of some effects of fluid dynamics
Fluid dynamics
In physics, fluid dynamics is a sub-discipline of fluid mechanics that deals with fluid flow—the natural science of fluids in motion. It has several subdisciplines itself, including aerodynamics and hydrodynamics...
. Also known as a "latin" (lateen
Lateen
A lateen or latin-rig is a triangular sail set on a long yard mounted at an angle on the mast, and running in a fore-and-aft direction....
) sail, it allows one to sail against the wind, taking advantage of the pressure difference on the air that rises on its external face (the one that becomes convex for the internal wind pressure) and its internal face (the one that becomes concave, the side where the sailor goes). Some big watercraft also used the Latin sail, but in a limited manner, because its successful use was crucially dependent on the presence of the sailor, who must be aware of the wind movements: the pressure difference is manipulated constantly whilst sailing against the wind. The same principles are used to keep a plane in the air, thanks to its wing geometry.
In the jangada, there is a gracious curve almost parabolic on the upper part of the triangle, and another one more extended and short, below. This asymmetry is due to the manipulation high of the mast
Mast (sailing)
The mast of a sailing vessel is a tall, vertical, or near vertical, spar, or arrangement of spars, which supports the sails. Large ships have several masts, with the size and configuration depending on the style of ship...
, that turns gently - this time using the lever mechanic principle - around its axis.
Construction
Its construction depends on the correct use of materials such as fluctuation woods (like the Brazilian balsaBalsa
Ochroma pyramidale, commonly known as the balsa tree , is a species of flowering plant in the mallow family, Malvaceae. It is a large, fast-growing tree that can grow up to tall. It is the source of balsa wood, a very lightweight material with many uses...
, and other rare species), artisan tissues and ropes. The traditional Jangada doesn't have any metallic elements like nails; its structure is completely put together with joints and lashings using ropes made of hand-woven fibers.
The jangada is typically made using 6 wooden logs rafted together in parallel: two in the center (called "meios", or means), 2 more on either side of those (called "mimburas", a Tupi
Tupian languages
The Tupi or Tupian language family comprises some 70 languages spoken in South America, of which the best known are Tupi proper and Guarani.-History, members and classification:...
word), and 2 on the outside, called "bordos". The 4 most central logs ("meios" and "mimburas") are united using hard wooden pegs, made of stronger wood than the logs. The "bordos" are then bound to the "mimburas" using more wooden pegs, so they can be more elevated.
On this basic platform, two wooden seats are installed, each one supported by 4 elegant wooden rods, locked on the "mimburas". On these rods, a piece of wood is fixed to make the seat. The most central seat supports the jangada's mast. The other seat, also called the "master seat", because the man who sits on it sails and steers the jangada with an oar. The master's oar is fixed between one of the "mimburas" and one of the "meios". There is another opening between the two meios, to allow for the "bolina" board (from the English "bowline"). This board acts as a centerboard, and can be adjusted in height and angle (in a more limited way, on the medial plan of the watercraft). The "bolina" board reduces the sideways motion of the jangada when it is sailed close-hauled.
Its crew, on the traditional versions of the jangada, ranges from 3 to 5 people. This group works on a space of approximately 5 to 7 meters, on average (although there are jangadas larger than 8 meters), and a space of 1.4 to 1.7 meters on its smaller extension.
Its dimensions are the results of a series of nautical limitations, including: the size of the available wood, the resistance of the joints and lashings, the necessary strength to move it over the waves, the size of the sail and the work the wind makes over them, the human force needed, so that just one man (once a time, taking turns) can operate it. It is ergonomically designed and administrated, when this artisan watercraft is examined through the eyes of modern designers.
The traditional fisherman always obeyed the known rules of the use of the tides, the wind rules, the currents and the seasonal effects on fishing. Due to these factors the incursions on the sea vary much in relation to the duration of the voyage, the course followed and the type of fish netted. A common voyage used to last three days to a week (sometimes more, according to old fishermen) on the high seas, up to 120 km from the coast. This type of voyage is getting rarer as the jangada sailer now rarely sails for more than three days and will sail no farther than 50 km out from the coast. At the same time groups of jangadas voyaging together are getting rarer; the most common voyage now is a single fishing crew on a single jangada.
However, in many points along the coast especially Ceará
Ceará
Ceará is one of the 27 states of Brazil, located in the northeastern part of the country, on the Atlantic coast. It is currently the 8th largest Brazilian State by population and the 17th by area. It is also one of the main touristic destinations in Brazil. The state capital is the city of...
, there are jangada races, being very famous the one that occurs on the Mucuripe port, Fortaleza
Fortaleza
Fortaleza is the state capital of Ceará, located in Northeastern Brazil. With a population close to 2.5 million , Fortaleza is the 5th largest city in Brazil. It has an area of and one of the highest demographic densities in the country...
. Dozens of jangadas take part on popular competitions, in a single spectacle on the broad Brazilian coast.
Popularity of the Jangada in the isolated Brazilian north
The jangada reached BrazilBrazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
as a part of the rich exchange between India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
, Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
, China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
, and Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
, mostly in the two first centuries of the Brazilian colonization by the Portuguese people. It also uses native Brazilian techniques for the cutting and processing of wood, and the weaving of fibers into rope. It comes from the people involved with shipping other people, goods, animals, plants, knowledge, and of course, the knowledge from the sailors of the Indian ocean and the Mozambique coast, who used fishing boats similar to the Brazilian jangada.
The word jangada brings this Asiatic origin. It comes from "jangada", a word from Malayalam and South Asian languages.
Today it appears that the jangadas only show up in the northern region of Brazil starting at Rio Grande do Norte
Rio Grande do Norte
Rio Grande do Norte is one of the states of Brazil, located in the northeastern region of the country, occupying the northeasternmost tip of the South American continent. Because of its geographic position, Rio Grande do Norte has a strategic importance. The capital and largest city is Natal...
and ending at Piauí
Piauí
Piauí is one of the states of Brazil, located in the northeastern part of the country.Piauí has the shortest coastline of any of the non-landlocked Brazilian states at 66 km , and the capital, Teresina, is the only state capital in the north east to be located inland...
for curious historic reasons, because we could have jangada sailors all over the Brazilian coast.
This was due to the systematic elimination of all sailing craft that weren't controlled by the Portuguese, a law applied since the 17th century with the exploration of Minas Gerais
Minas Gerais
Minas Gerais is one of the 26 states of Brazil, of which it is the second most populous, the third richest, and the fourth largest in area. Minas Gerais is the Brazilian state with the largest number of Presidents of Brazil, the current one, Dilma Rousseff, being one of them. The capital is the...
(central-southern area of Brazil). The law was in place to halt illegal gold trafficking. This part of the north Brazilian coast was unpopulated and impassable for the transatlantic sailing ships, since it is brushed by the powerful ocean currents from Guyana
Guyana
Guyana , officially the Co-operative Republic of Guyana, previously the colony of British Guiana, is a sovereign state on the northern coast of South America that is culturally part of the Anglophone Caribbean. Guyana was a former colony of the Dutch and of the British...
, which made it very difficult for the European boats to sail in.
The first jangada sailors threw their boats into the sea between the abandon of those centuries and isolation and loneliness, yet they were part of the diverse groups of immigrants that populated the interior of the Brazilian north during the middle of the 17th century, bringing and raising cattle, whose meat fed the mining workers.
With its admirable capacity of sailing upwind, and using the force of the wind to beat the ocean currents, the jangada found this part of the Brazilian coast as its ideal place, until the arrival of motorized boats which made (curiously, a few, until today) ports since the 19th century.
Knowledge of constructing this family of artisan watercraft is nearing extinction - although there are still communities of fishermen present from the original group to occupy the Brazilian coast, the traditional jangada is no longer built from logs of varying size. The current jangada is made from industrial wooden boards, or formed with mechanical cutting instruments.