Shipyards
Introduction
The naval shipyard or atarazana is an industrial facility where ships are built and repaired. These may be yachts, military vessels, commercial ships, or other types of ships for transporting goods or passengers.
Shipyards are built near the sea or navigable rivers to allow access for vessels.
Etymology
Astillero comes from sliver,[1] which is a small piece that comes off the wood. Wood was the material from which all boats were made before the use of metal for that work.
The word shipyard comes from the Arabic word ad-dar as-sina'a, which means "the house of industry" or "the manufacturing house".[2] With that term the Arabs referred to both shipyards and any other manufacturing center, such as a weapons factory (in fact, the word "arsenal" comes from the same root, the same as dock).[2] In its nautical meaning, the term also alluded to centers where, although ships were not built, their parts or accessories were stored or manufactured.[2] Nowadays, atarazana is synonymous with shipyard.[2].
History
All nations that maintain maritime trade of some importance have been concerned with creating shipyards to manufacture merchant and warships.[3].
In the Middle Ages, the shipyards of Venice, Genoa and Pisa were especially notable, to which the Seville Shipyards were soon added in 1252, one of the largest industrial facilities of the Late Middle Ages in Europe, comparable in size to that of the Venice Arsenal at that time.
Cities with navigable rivers have also been home to important shipyards. For example, in the United Kingdom, King Henry VIII of England founded shipyards in Woolwich and Deptford in 1512 and 1513, respectively, on the banks of the Thames, and in Spain, the aforementioned shipyards on the Guadalquivir River.
With the discovery of America and the military expeditions to Flanders, the navy in the Spanish Levant greatly declined, but even so ships continued to be built in its shipyards throughout the century, until under the reign of Charles III they gained new activity, with Masnou standing out.[5].
The Guayaquil Shipyard, in Ecuador, was founded in 1547 and became the largest in South America.[6].