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Hammocks - Hamacas By Any Other Name! Some Hammock History

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Our Nicamaka® hamacas - hammocks are comfortable in other hemispheres, countries or languages. This partial list of some of words for hammocks in other languages or cultures.. Many of these words are based either on small, thrown fishing nets, or based on swinging or suspended mats or beds. Danish = Hengekøye Dutch = Hangmat English = Hammock Finnish = Riippumatto French = Hamac German = Hängematte Greek = Kremaste Kounia Greek (old) = Aiora Iceland = Hengirúm Norwegian = Hengekøye
Portuguese = Rede Russian = Ga-mák Spanish = Hamaca Venezuelan = Chinchorro

In most pre-Colombian cultures in the Americas it was common for people to use their fishing nets for sleeping, which, when one considers the hostile ground level environments, makes good sense. One can imagine an inquisitive Spaniard asking a native what they slept on and when the answer was "hamaca" (a thrown fish net) hamaca became the root Spanish word for an interlaced cord sleeping device. Over time, hamaca found its way into a variety of languages with much the same sound. The Brazilian word "rede" and the Venezuelan word "chinchorro" have the same fish-net connotation.

Hammocks use spread throughout the world because of its importance to the maritime nations, who were quick to see the economic importance of a sanitary, comfortable, space-saving and healthful sleeping device. By substituting canvas material for the original woven netting, navies were able to find another use for used sails. By moving the sleeping quarters into the dry and spacious gun-deck areas, (the canvas hammocks were stowed each day and of course no one slept during gun battles,) navies were able to avoid many of the illnesses caused by the unsanitary, wet and crowded crew quarters of earlier times. This improved sanitation added years to the life of a sailor, which reduced crew turnover, lowered training and enlistment costs, which in turn gave the fleet owners better economies.

(Note: Spreader bars came into use in the older navies to allow sailors to scroll their canvas hammocks after washing and place them in drying racks topsides which also served as barricades for musketeers. Using a rigid, inflexible piece of wood in a soft and comfortable resting device is counterproductive, reduces the life of the hamaca, complicates transport and stowage and only serves to make the hamaca appear bigger. We do, however, make the "Playa" - a comfortable spreader-bar hammock, popular with resorts, that when hung high, is safer and more comfortable the common rope hammocks.)

Today in North America and Europe, most now unfortunately associate a "hammock" with the coarse rope-and-stick version seen in movies and TV and most expect to fall out, be hurt and embarrassed. When you try a true sprang woven "hamaca", you will be amazed at its comfort, security and stability. It's like blue jeans for the home.

Go to Nicamaka.com for a listing of Nicamaka® hammocks