How did Europeans seize control on the world oceans? ?
Europeans were the second great regional-based naval power in the world. The first were Chinese, who developed large sailing ships and sailed large fleets around the south Pacific (I believe their most famous admiral was a eunuch named Zheng He). However, the Chinese leadership became isolationist and shipping was reduced to coastal transport. Meanwhile the Europeans independently developed seafaring technology, and tended to set off in ones or twos (Columbus and his three ships, which to us would be like very large boats, notwithstanding). It had much less to do with warfare (though like most technology, it was driven by military research which then trickled into commercial use, like microwave ovens and GPS in recent decades) and more with exploration and trade. The “holy grail” of trade was to find an easy route to the far east, whose products (silk, tea, jade etc.) were only available at great expense over land-based trade routes, often through hostile territory. Whoever could achie
