FROM COASTAL TO OVERSEAS NAVIGATION: CHARACTERISTICS - HISTORY - 2025

The shift from coastal to overseas navigation represented great progress in the exploration of Earth. This progress was the result of the union of visionary with technology.

Ancient civilizations did not have the resources to know exactly distances or speeds. For this reason the navigators did not move away from the coasts, near which they had some control knowing their exact location.

They only had tools that were efficient but primitive. Their maps and routes were drawn almost exclusively using astrolabs and compasses. Even speed, time, and distance were superficially calculated.

This represented a great limitation for many years. Traveling long distances took a long time. It also made exploration of distant lands nearly impossible.

This changed when new navigation tools emerged. These technological developments were born around the 15th century.

These advances in technology made it possible to be located far from the coast, offshore. Thanks to this it was possible to generate overseas navigation.

From the coast to the deep sea

Soon the need to abandon coastal navigation and go out to sea became imperative. Without this progress, the countries would continue in a certain trade stagnation.

Coastal navigation

Keeping the coast in sight made sailors better located; they knew where they were and how much distance separated them from their destination.

Although it took a long time to travel distances, they preferred it this way. This way they avoided getting lost at sea.

At this time and with this technology, getting lost meant losing the possibility of getting the way back home.

However, they exchanged that risk for another. Near the coasts the sea is not deep and the ground is uneven. Neither was there exact knowledge of the topography of the seabed.

Then it was only possible to navigate following certain routes in which the regularity of the ground had been verified. Still, the chances of running aground were considerable.

Overseas navigation

When the technology was adequate, entering the sea became a safe possibility.

The optimization of the ships and of the localization instruments made that the navigators could be located in the middle of the sea.

With these tools and the necessary audacity, shorter routes were established through the seas and oceans.

They also came across lands unknown to them, since their coasts were isolated. In this way, sailing out to sea opened the door to contact with the rest of the world.

The beginning of the exploration

With overseas navigation the possibility of exploration beyond known lands opened.

Towards the fifteenth century the countries of the Iberian Peninsula dared to take a step beyond the coasts, relying on new navigation techniques.

In this way, they became the forerunners of European expansion into the Atlantic.

They wanted to make commercial exchanges with distant lands. So it was necessary to create methods that make travel safer and faster.

The rulers took as a policy the expansion through the exploration of the seas. Thus began the age of exploration.

This period begins at the end of the 15th century and represents for Europe the contact with lands whose existence they did not know.

In turn, this contact meant the opening of maritime routes that would allow this society to communicate with the rest of the world.

European power secured its influence over the rest of the world at this historic moment. Europe proved superior through commercialization and colonization.

The most significant historical event of this time was the discovery of America by Christopher Columbus.

The influence of the Infante Enrique of Portugal

Prince Henry of Portugal was the first member of the monarchy to take an interest in the development of navigation. He himself was neither a navigator nor an explorer, but he financed the naval development of Portugal.

The infant built a navigation school, where students were instructed in cartography, geography and shipbuilding.

Under his mandate lighter ships called caravels were built. And the measurement and location instruments were updated.

Navigation went from being primitive and instinctive to being based on instruments designed to be located at sea.

The explorations it financed discovered both virgin and inhabited lands in Africa and Asia, as well as many islands and islets in the Atlantic, close to Portugal.

Prince Henry is also known for being the one who drove the Atlantic slave trade routes.

Despite its infamy, for many historians it is undoubted that it was the forerunner of maritime expansion.

References

1. Navigation methods. (2017) heritage.nf.ca
2. Navigation technology. (2017) britannica.com
3. Henry the Navigator. (2017) biography.com
4. Navigation, XV and XVI centuries. school.net
5. History of navigation at sea. (2017) waterencyclopedia.com