Ancient Greek sailors, whose sails caught the winds of curiosity and ambition, were among the earliest to venture beyond ...

A conflict with the blue Orions of House Azure instigated a war with House Tendi, and this was settled with the return of ...

"Cats accompanied sailors on ships where they were relied on to hunt rats and mice that were infesting ships’ holds," researchers wrote in a study published in American Antiquity last month.

Yet less than a century later, all overseas trade was banned, and it became a capital offense to set sail from China in a multi-masted ship. What explains this astonishing reversal of policy?

From sailing on the ship that once welcomed Agatha Christie to levels of luxury worthy of an ancient Egyptian pharaoh, find ...