the.com/tradewind
Earth's most reliable wind, blowing one direction so dependably that empires bet their economies on it
means A steady, predictable wind that blows toward the equator from the east, found in the tropics of both hemispheres.
from The name has nothing to do with commerce at first glance — it comes from the older English phrase "to blow trade," meaning to blow on a steady, regular track or path (the same "trade" as in "tread" and "trodden"). So a wind that "blew trade" was one that held its course faithfully. Only later, once these reliable winds carried merchant ships across the Atlantic with such dependability, did the word "trade" pick up its commercial meaning and the happy coincidence cemented itself — the winds of steady path became, in the popular mind, the winds of commerce.
- name origin
- From old English for path, not commerce
- the gap
- Calm doldrums between them stranded sailing ships for weeks
- global reach
- Carries Saharan dust to fertilize the Amazon
- coriolis bent
- Blow east-to-west, curved by Earth's spin
- sailors' highway
- Columbus rode them straight to the Caribbean
northeast trade winds — powered sailing ships across atlantic from europe to caribbean, 15th-19th centuries
southeast trade winds — carried dutch and portuguese vessels from africa to indonesia via indian ocean
pacific trade winds — enabled polynesian voyagers to settle islands across 10,000+ miles, 3000 bce onwards