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Compass Navigation System

Type Object Region Worldwide Time c. 1200

A compass-centered combination of charts, stellar navigation, and logs; between 1501 and 1510, Portuguese and Spanish fleets standardized its use for…

Timeline

  1. 1501–1505Seville and Lisbon · Iberian PeninsulaThe Spanish Casa de Contratación and the Portuguese royal nautical school systematically compiled Atlantic route charts, combining the magnetic compass, a 32-point compass rose, and cross-staffs. Crews recorded headings, wind speeds, and estimated latitudes by standard procedure, making Caribbean and West African routes increasingly fixed.
  2. 1506–1510Indian Ocean routes · Indian OceanPortuguese fleets used the monsoon to travel between India's west coast and East Africa, blending compass navigation with Arab-Indian stellar navigation. Logs and charts were centrally kept and copied in Lisbon, providing navigational support for Albuquerque and others' military and commercial expansion around 1510.

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