A multi-criteria simulation of European coastal shipping routes in the ‘age of sail’

Abstract

This article introduces a new method to model sailing routes before the age of steam based on real-world sailing conditions. Using a broad range of historical meteorological data, it offers monthly routing predictions for historical shipping corridors and tests them against historical evidence. In this article the model was applied to French and British ports. The output reveals the presence of historical shipping corridors and offer the first journey-time metrics to and from all European ports.