The great maritime odyssey of human languages

PalmCharles Darwin, in his book The Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex (1871) stated that "the formation of different languages and different species, as well as the evidence that both have developed through a gradual process, are curiously the same." In the 19th century, a language was compared to a living organism: it is born, grows, and dies. And also, like certain organisms, it can multiply and expand. This can happen more or less quickly, or more slowly.

Languages are one of the traits that characterize a culture, a population. Populations, their cultures, and their languages are not immutable. The three elements are linked and normally change little by little over time. And this happens (almost) without us fearing it.

The expansion of languages has traditionally been linked to the expansion of the population. For example, Catalan is one of the forms in which Roman Latin evolved. Roman culture experienced a rapid expansion throughout much of Western Europe and also on both sides of the Mediterranean (remember that due to the fact that they dominated it militarily, they called it Mare nostrum). One of the first things they did to consolidate territorial control and promote their growing language and culture was to build roads, such as the famous Via Augusta (which ran from Rome to Tarraco, present-day Tarragona). Roman roads streamlined the movement of people, trade, military troops, and, with them all, the spread of Latin. The spread of Latin was one of the most important linguistic events of that time (of course, with the consequent disappearance of dozens of languages and cultures).

The spread of languages

Other languages have spread to other continents, sometimes slowly, sometimes very quickly. For example, the Huns, a horse-loving culture, emerged from behind the Urals and 'suddenly' found themselves in Pannonia (present-day Hungary, more or less). This culture and its language disappeared, leaving very little trace. And centuries later, another culture arrived, also from behind the Urals near the Volga River, and occupied, more or less, the same territory. They were the Magyars (we know them as Hungarians). They came from far away and spoke a language very different from the Indo-European ones. There is no doubt that roads, chariots, and horses were crucial factors in the expansion of empires like the Romans, the Huns, but also the Mongol Empire of Genghis Khan.

But the true language highway has not been on land but on sea. It may surprise us, because when we travel by boat, it may seem like it is moving very slowly. We're used to flying, but traveling by boat to Barcelona can feel like an eternity, and it's only about seven or eight hours (depending on the boat and the sea conditions). In the past, it was much longer, because they relied on sails. and winds, as Ausiàs March said. But the sea route made it possible to make connections further and in less time (taking into account the technology of that time).

It must be taken into account that, for now, we only have evidence of theH. sapiens on the construction of ships. The other species, everything indicates, were limited to the land route. Only theH. sapiens managed to reach Australia. The same seems to be happening with America: none of our ancestors (or contemporaries, like Neanderthals) managed to get there (in principle). Therefore, the most accepted version is that only theH. sapiens has managed to dominate the sea and on the contrary, other species, such as the Neanderthals, did not make sea routes.

Language families

If we look at the map of the world, the globe, and then look at the language families, we will see population expansions that are surprising. Thousands of years ago theH. sapiens managed to make the leap to the territory we know as Australia. When the ancestors of the Japanese made the great leap to the islands that are now Japan, they encountered the Ainu, a culture that had arrived there long before them (whose language is critically endangered, with only about ten native speakers).

At different times in history, the Germanic peoples crossed the sea, first to Scandinavia, then to Great Britain, Iceland, Greenland, and according to archaeological studies, they also set foot in Newfoundland (in present-day Canada), although they did not consolidate. When the Roman Empire fell, the Germanic group of Vandals reached Africa by sea (and also 'visited' the Balearic Islands). Centuries later, the Arabs and the Amazighs took the opposite route, jumping from Africa to the Iberian Peninsula and from there to the Balearic Islands and Pitiusas. It was much faster than the land route.

If this is surprising, the reader might also be surprised to learn that the present-day island of Madagascar (that enormous island to the right of Africa) was populated by a culture that originally came from the island of Formosa, which we know today as Taiwan. From this island, this culture expanded by sea, multiplying and dividing in an extraordinary way. They are the champions of linguistic expansion, since their linguistic family, Austronesian, ranges from the Malagasy language of Madagascar to the Rapa Nui of Easter Island. If we look at our globe for a few seconds, we will see that in a straight line it is 14,492 kilometers. And this with ancient naval technology that was much simpler than that of today. A recent study suggests that the Rapa Nui could have even reached South America.

The sea route made possible the colonialism that imported Spanish, English, French, and Dutch to America, making the great Atlantic leap. It made it possible for Dutch to reach South Africa (where it evolved into present-day Afrikaans), but also Indonesia (where it was the language of administration for many years). And the same thing happened with the colonial conquest of Africa by Europeans, and much of Asia.

In this way, long-distance connections and the settlement of the planet's continents (with the exception of Antarctica) were possible, as well as the arrival of languages to extraordinarily distant places.