Ancient India was the richest nation on the earth,and europe was dependent on india for it's commercial needs and economy.ottoman turks conquered constantinopole and increased the tax for the trade between india and europe,india was a self sufficient and prosperous country,so they did not care about it.there were two people searching for india,one was columbus,but instead of east he went west and found america,and that's why he named the natives red Indians and the place where he landed as west indies.and the other was vasco da gama,his idea was to come to India through south africa but on reaching cape town,he had an confusion whether to go west or east to his luck,he saw an Gujarati trader(named Kanha) with a ship 12 times vasco da gama's own ship(vasco da gama's ship was the largest in europe of his time),it was just a trading ship forget about military ship.he told the way to india and that is how he landed n present day goa,so the place vasco da gama must be named kanha right.this incident is narrated in vasco da gama's own journal which is in lisbon today.indians were already trading with europe,but vasco da gama is the first european to find a sea route to india.the world's oldest naval dock is found in lothal(3000 bce).
the word navigation originated from sanskrit work navghathi
1. The world's oldest navigation dock has been discovered at Lothal port in Gujarat. Lothal port is at least 4500 years old.
2. The world's oldest literary evidence of navigation is found in the Rigveda which talks about merchant ships over the great waters. There is the incident of naval expedition of Bhujya, whose ship got wrecked and was saved by Ashwins in their boat. Then it is said that Varuna knew all of the world's ocean routes.
3. The world's oldest literary evidence of a complete set of nautical terms is found in Amarakosha like nau (ship), naubandhana (anchorage), naukaranadhara(helmsman), naukarana(helm of the ship), nausadhanotyatan (naval fleet) etc. 3. Mahabharata says that the navy is one of the angas of a complete army. Sahadeva crossed the sea and brought many islands under his sway after defeating the Mlecchas (people of non-Indian origin).
4. In Ramayana, Hanuman crossing the ocean to Lanka, is compared to a ship tossed by winds on the high seas. Sugriva speaks of Sumatra, Java and even the Red Sea while sending Vanaras in search of Sita.
5. Mesopotamian inscriptions indicate that Indian merchant ships brought copper, hardwoods, ivory, pearls, gold, etc.
6. Archaeological research at sites in Mesopotamia, Bahrain, and Oman has led to the recovery of artifacts shipped from Indus Valley.
7. The world's oldest detailed evidence of a naval force of an empire is found in a complete chapter dedicated to the navy of the Mauryan Empire in Chanakya's Arthashastra. There is also a testimony of Greek ambassador Megasthense on this.
8. The world's oldest evidence of ship building yards is found in the ancient Sangam Tamil literature in the west coast of India. There is also reference to this legendary city and port of Puhar in Kumari Khandam which is said to have been swallowed by sea later.
http://news.oneindia.in/2007/07/14/vasco...
Source: Yahoo Answers
