Translations:Adventist Youth Honors Answer Book/Nature/Weather - Advanced/15/en
From Pathfinder Wiki
Within the ITCZ the average winds are slight, unlike the zones north and south of the equator where the trade winds feed in. Early sailors named this belt of calm the doldrums because of the inactivity and stagnation they found themselves in after days of no wind. To find oneself becalmed in this region in a hot and muggy climate could mean death in an era when wind was the force to propel ships across the ocean.
