cecsocialstudies7.weebly.com€¦  · Web viewA sextant is a doubly reflecting navigation...

8
Prince Henry the Navigator Henry was a Portuguese explorer, soldier and prince. Although Prince Henry rarely participated in explorations, he sent many expeditions from Portugal to the west coast of Africa, and was responsible for Portugal’s influence in the Great Age of Exploration. Prince Henry sponsored explorations that accomplished much for Portugal. Not only did his expeditions succeed in mapping much of the coast of west-Africa, but they also succeeded in spreading Christianity, defeating Muslims (enemies of the Portuguese at the time), and establishing new trade routes. In 1419, Prince Henry started the first school of navigation at Sagres, Portugal. The goal of the school was to train people in navigation, map-making and science to prepare them to sail around the west coast of Africa. Henry’s School of Navigation

Transcript of cecsocialstudies7.weebly.com€¦  · Web viewA sextant is a doubly reflecting navigation...

Page 1: cecsocialstudies7.weebly.com€¦  · Web viewA sextant is a doubly reflecting navigation instrument that measures the angular distance between two visible objects. The primary use

Prince Henry the Navigator Henry was a Portuguese explorer, soldier and prince. Although Prince Henry rarely participated in explorations, he sent many expeditions from Portugal to the west coast of Africa, and was responsible for Portugal’s influence in the Great Age of Exploration.

Prince Henry sponsored explorations that accomplished much for Portugal. Not only did his expeditions succeed in mapping much of the coast of west-Africa, but they also succeeded in spreading Christianity, defeating Muslims (enemies of the Portuguese at the time), and establishing new trade routes. In 1419, Prince Henry started the first school of navigation at Sagres, Portugal. The goal of the school was to train people in navigation, map-making and science to prepare them to sail around the west coast of Africa.

Henry’s School of NavigationPrince Henry’s school of navigation resulted in a breakthrough for Portuguese navigation. Before Prince Henry, sailors and navigators refused to sail toward Africa. They were scared of sea monsters and boiling water near the equator. In fact, no sailor had ever sailed into the “Sea of Darkness”, which the Portuguese considered to be any part of the ocean south of 27 degrees north latitude (around Northern Africa). Prince Henry’s school sent 14 expeditions into “The Sea of Darkness”. Prince Henry himself even convinced some explorers to go further south. Prince Henry’s influence was the first step in finding the vaunted sea route to the Indies.

Page 2: cecsocialstudies7.weebly.com€¦  · Web viewA sextant is a doubly reflecting navigation instrument that measures the angular distance between two visible objects. The primary use

LateenLateens were triangular sales that were created during the Roman Empire, but were not widely used in Europe until the Age of Discovery. Triangular shaped sails allowed ships to maneuver around more easily and could sail into the wind, as opposed to being pushed away from it. This allowed for much faster journeys and less fatal ship accidents, as captains had more control over what direction the ships could go.

Page 3: cecsocialstudies7.weebly.com€¦  · Web viewA sextant is a doubly reflecting navigation instrument that measures the angular distance between two visible objects. The primary use

CaravelA caravel is a small, highly maneuverable sailing ship developed in the 15th century by the Portuguese to explore along the West African coast and into the Atlantic Ocean. The lateen sails gave it speed and the capacity for sailing windward.

Being smaller and having a shallow keel, the caravel could sail upriver in shallow coastal waters. With the lateen sails attached, it was highly maneuverable and could sail much nearer the shore, while with the square Atlantic-type sails attached, it was very fast. Its economy, speed, agility, and power made it esteemed as the best sailing vessel of its time. The limited capacity for cargo and crew were their main drawbacks, but did not hinder its success.

The exploration done with caravels made the spice trade of the Portuguese and the Spanish possible.

Page 4: cecsocialstudies7.weebly.com€¦  · Web viewA sextant is a doubly reflecting navigation instrument that measures the angular distance between two visible objects. The primary use

Astrolabe

An astrolabe is an astronomical instrument for taking the altitude of the sun or stars and for the solution of other problems in astronomy and navigation.

Although astrolabes have been traced to the 6th century, they appear to have come into wide use from the early Middle Ages in Europe and the Islamic world. By about the mid-15th century, astrolabes were adopted by sailors and used in celestial navigation. The so-called sailor’s astrolabe was later supplanted by sextants.

Page 5: cecsocialstudies7.weebly.com€¦  · Web viewA sextant is a doubly reflecting navigation instrument that measures the angular distance between two visible objects. The primary use

Sextant

A sextant is a doubly reflecting navigation instrument that measures the angular distance between two visible objects. The primary use of a sextant is to measure the angle between an astronomical object and the horizon for the purposes of celestial navigation. It was invented in 1637.

Page 6: cecsocialstudies7.weebly.com€¦  · Web viewA sextant is a doubly reflecting navigation instrument that measures the angular distance between two visible objects. The primary use

Magnetic CompassThe oldest and most familiar type of compass is the magnetic compass, which is used in different forms in aircraft, ships, and land vehicles and by surveyors. Sometime in the 12th century, mariners in China and Europe made the discovery, apparently independently, that a piece of lodestone, a naturally occurring magnetic ore, when floated on a stick in water, tends to align itself so as to point in the direction of the polestar. This discovery was presumably quickly followed by a second, that an iron or steel needle touched by a lodestone for long enough also tends to align itself in a north-south direction.

From the knowledge of which way is north, of course, any other direction can be found.

Compasses like these were taken by European navigators on their voyages, and greatly helped them understand where they were headed.

Page 7: cecsocialstudies7.weebly.com€¦  · Web viewA sextant is a doubly reflecting navigation instrument that measures the angular distance between two visible objects. The primary use