Global Positioning Systems during the Renaissance
How do people do while Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) did not exist?
This is during the Renaissance that European people began to make map. With new tools, such as the compass, imported from China, and the sextant, they were able to travel and to know their geographical position.
The Mercator projection, a cylindrical map projection, was presented in 1569. Look at the world map at this time!
Fortunately, we have TomTom and other GPS devices!
Here is a list (non exhaustive) of great explorers of that time:
- Henry the Navigator
- Vasco de Gama (India, 1497-1498)
- Pedro Álvares Cabral (Brasil, 1500)
- Christopher Columbus (America, 1492)
- Ferdinand Magellan (circumnavigational expedition)
- Amerigo Vespucci (South America, 1499-1502)
- Jacques Cartier (Canada, 1534)
- François Xavier (China & Japan, 1549-1551)