Popular Mechanics - USA (2020-07)

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Ancient sailors navigated the
seas by keeping in sight of land
and observing the sun and stars.
If clouds rolled in, they pulled in
their sails and waited for better
visibility.
The discovery of the com-
pass—a magnetized needle on
wood, floating in water, align-
ing itself with the magnetic
poles—changed navigation. Sail-
ors could safely venture into the
open sea without visual cues.

First mentioned in 11th cen-
tury China, the compass spread
along the Silk Road connect-
ing the East and West, and with
it, a new type of European map
came into vogue, called a porto-
lan chart. These nautical maps
were covered in crisscrossed
lines indicating the bearing
of trade routes between ports.
The oldest surviving exam-
ple, the Carte Pisane, dating
to 1290, charts the Mediterra-

nean and Black Sea with enough
accuracy that ships could navi-
gate with it today. But the most
famous and expansive porto-
lan map is the Catalan Atlas.
Drawn over eight pages of vellum
in 1375 by Majorcan cartogra-
pher Cresques Abraham, it was
the first world map to include
the compass rose and stretched
from the western edge of Europe
and North Africa to China’s
eastern coast.

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NAVIGATION


BY COMPASS


▼ The two far
right pages of
the Catalan
Atlas (pictured)
depict central
and eastern Asia
based on Marco
Polo’s travels.
Free download pdf