In the Southern Hemisphere, throughout history, people have used a variety of different methods to navigate. This includes using the stars and other environmental features such as landmarks and geographic features, as well as using dead-reckoning.
The Mosqoy people of the southern Andes have an oral tradition of navigating using the stars, memorising over 90 constellations and stars and the way they move in the sky. The two main stars used for navigation were Tayta Inti (Sirius, the Dog Star) and Urcos Vichama (the Southern Cross).
More recently, navigators such as Lole Wairua, also known as Te Rangi Hiroa, would use a combination of land navigation and dead-reckoning. Dead-reckoning consisted of a navigator tracking the boat’s heading, speed and time travelled.
This meant they were able to estimate their current position and the position of land by applying the spacial vectors.
Lagoon navigation was also an important part of exploration and navigation in the Southern Hemisphere. This technique is used by the Pwo Karen people of Burma and involves memorising the layout of a lagoon by familiarising themselves with the various features of a lagoon such as the land formations and sandbars.
They also would use landmarks and stars to site-reference and ensure their navigation accuracy.
Overall, people in the Southern Hemisphere have used a variety of methods for navigation throughout history. This includes using the stars, memorising constellations, dead-reckoning, and lagoon navigation.
How did they navigate before the compass?
Before the compass was invented, people relied on a variety of methods to navigate, including reading the stars, following trails created from the land, and noticing clues in their environment. One of the oldest methods is to observe the stars and use them to tell direction and time of day.
Knowing which star is visible in which position at different times of the night can give a navigator a general idea of which direction they are facing and can help them sail to the correct destination.
Additionally, travelers would follow trails made in the land, such as highways in the plains, forests, and man-made paths. Being able to recognize the landscape and know how to assess it was an important skill that the ancient people had to navigate.
Lastly, the local wildlife and the change in seasons were used to determine the direction of travel, as animals have strong instinctive abilities to know when and where to migrate. By recognizing the clues around them, ancient people were able to ensure safe travels and locate their destinations.
How did sailors use the sun to navigate?
Sailors have used the sun to navigate since ancient times. The position of the sun can be used to determine direction, the time of day, and latitude and longitude. Sailors would use the sun to determine their direction of travel by using a compass and the Sun’s elevation angle.
They would plot the direction of the Sun’s vertical arc from the horizon to the zenith to identify the cardinal points – north (0°), south (180°), east (90°) and west (270°).
Time of day was calculated using a sundial and sextant. The sextant allows the sailor to locate their position during the day by lining up the astronomical body (in this case the Sun) with a corresponding line on the dial.
This allowed the sailor to determine how far along thelocal solar day they were, and the time of day in different locations.
Latitude could be discovered by measuring the angle between the Sun and the horizon. On the equator, this would be 90°. The further north or south a sailor travels, the lower the angle, to a minimum of 0° or overcast/night-time conditions.
Longitude was determined by comparing the local time on board the vessel with the GMT time shown on a nautical chart. Since the speed of the sailing vessel was known, the navigator could identify their position along the longitude.
This type of celestial navigation is still in use today by sailors, and relies on the same principals discussed above. However, modern technology such as GPS has made it much easier to follow a route and to determine where a vessel is located.
How did sailors navigate in the 1700s?
In the 1700s, sailors navigated through the use of dead reckoning and celestial navigation. Dead reckoning is a process that uses a ship’s speed, direction, and course to estimate its position. During this era, sailors tracked their speed using hourglasses and watched the water’s wake to estimate the direction and course.
To aid in the navigation process, sailors relied on simple charts, compasses and timepieces known as chronometers, to measure the ship’s speed and direction.
Celestial navigation is another traditional navigational technique used in the 1700s. It uses the sun, moon, and stars to determine geographic orientation and the ship’s position on Earth. Sailors used certain navigational tools such as the octant and the sextant to measure the angle between the horizon and the sky used to track the ship’s location.
Although today more modern-day methods such as GPS exist, the same basic navigational concepts used in the 1700s still exist. Maintaining these traditional navigational skills and knowledge has been an essential part of the navigation curriculum in the maritime industry for centuries.
How did pirates navigate 400 years ago?
400 years ago, during the Golden Age of Piracy (between approximately 1650 and 1730), pirates navigated using a variety of different methods. Sailors relied on the sun and stars to determine their bearings and they would also pay close attention to landmarks and local currents to help guide their ships.
In the open ocean the pirate captains would use maps and a sextant to identify their location on the globe, although these were expensive for common sailors and were not always accessible.
In addition to more traditional methods, navigational tools such as the compass, octant, lead line, and cross-staff were used to assist in navigation. The compass would indicate the direction a vessel was sailing and the octant would measure the angles of the stars to determine latitude and longitude coordinates.
The lead line, or sounding line, was used to judge the depth of the water, and the cross-staff was used to measure altitudes of stars or landmarks to triangulate the vessels location.
The use of the emerging quadrant and chart (which displayed information of known waters, currents and winds) also gave a pirate an idea of their location in relation to depth, land, and other navigational sources.
In addition, many pirates kept detailed logs of their voyages. These logs detailed their positions throughout the journey, including longitude and latitude coordinates, as well as changes in course and sail settings.
This allowed them to backtrack their movements and take a more direct route back to their base.
Overall, the pirates of the Golden Age of Piracy were surprisingly advanced navigators given the limited resources available to them. They navigated treacherous waters rich with unknown hazards, and their ability to do so was a testament to their skill and, of course, the smarts of their navigators.
How did the Vikings navigate?
The Vikings were masterful navigators. They had a deep understanding of the stars, the moon, and the sun, which helped them find their way around the seas. They also made use of the so called Icelandic sagas, which were historically accurate accounts of the sea routes they had taken in the past.
They also made use of the Viking ships, which had flaps on the sail, allowing them to change their direction mid-journey by regulating how much sail area was exposed to the wind. Finally, they made use of shore-sighting and dead-reckoning to navigate, which meant that they would look for land or other objects and judge their direction and distance using their understanding of the sea and the stars.
All of this helped them navigate their way across the sea, avoiding cliffs, rocks, and other obstacles.
How did Ragnar Lothbrok navigate?
Ragnar Lothbrok, a legendary Viking hero and chieftain who lived in the late 8th and early 9th centuries, is said to have been a master navigator. Although much of what we know about him comes from folklore and records that were written centuries after his lifetime, it’s generally believed that Ragnar used a combination of sun and stars, landmarks, cairns, and magnetic lodestones for navigation.
The night sky was key for the Vikings’ navigation, and an experienced Viking navigator was thought to be able to identify the position of their ship by looking at the constellations. By looking at the North Star, navigators could tell which direction they were facing, and trace their position as they moved over the sea by tracking the movement of the stars across the night sky.
Ragnar is also said to have used cairns, or piles of stones, as landmarks to help mark his course across the sea. Similarly, he may have also used magnetic lodestones, which are pieces of lodestone (a form of the mineral magnetite) that align the north and south poles, to help him plot a course.
In addition to these traditional means, it is likely that Ragnar also employed intuitive means of navigating. Aspects such as instinct and experience would likely have played a role in his navigation.
Ragnar, who is believed to have become a master sailor by his teens, may have developed a strong connection with the sea, as well as an intuition for the movements of the ocean and the stars, gained from many years at sea.
What culture created the way to navigate?
The Polynesians developed one of the most effective and sophisticated navigational techniques known to human society, allowing them to travel across thousands of miles of open-water in their canoes without the aid of instruments or charts.
They developed a unique system of non-instrument navigation that relied on a variety of observational techniques, including waves, currents, stars, the sun, swells, clouds and birds. This system helped to ensure that they could accurately predict the location of islands and navigate long distances among them.
The Polynesians developed a vast and complex understanding of the ocean and sea life, which enabled them to chart a course with remarkable accuracy and find land when needed. This combination of knowledge and skill enabled them to populate vast swathes of the Pacific Ocean before the Europeans ever set foot on the islands.
Did Vikings try to raid North America?
Yes, Vikings tried to raid North America. Norse explorers made contact with North America in the late 10th century. Norse explorer Leif Erikson is widely credited as the first one to make contact with the continent and his journey is commemorated each year on Leif Erikson Day in the United States and Canada on October 9th.
Other Vikings also explored the area and a number of archaeological excavations have been done in different regions. This includes the famous L’Anse aux Meadows archaeological site located in Newfoundland Canada, which is believed to be part of a Viking settlement.
The time that Vikings spent in North America is not known for certain, however experts believe it could be relatively short due to the lack of remains.
How tall were Vikings?
The average height of a Viking was 5 feet 7 inches (170 cm) for men and 5 feet 2 inches (157 cm) for women. However, this could vary based on where the Viking lived. For example, Viking remains from Norway, Sweden, and Iceland were among the tallest in the world, with the average height for a male being around 178 cm (5 feet 10 inches) and the average height for a female being around 165 cm (5 feet 5 inches).
Generally speaking, Vikings were taller than the average European of their time due to a healthy lifestyle, a better diet, and regular exercise. Additionally, historical evidence in grave sites also shows that taller Vikings were more likely to be buried with ornaments and richer grave goods, which suggests that height may have been considered a marker of social status in Viking society.
Did anyone discover America before the Vikings?
It is widely accepted that the Viking explorer Leif Erikson was the first European to set foot in North America, around the year 1000. However, there is some archaeological and historical evidence to suggest that others may have arrived in the Americas prior to Erikson.
The first piece of evidence for this comes from Norse sagas which indicate that earlier Norse explorers may have ventured beyond Greenland and even briefly explored present-day Canada. Although these sources are not definitive proof, they do support the idea that some Nordic explorers may have been in the New World prior to Leif Erikson.
The second piece of evidence comes from archaeological discoveries related to the Vínland map from 1520 which suggests that someone was in the region before Leif Erikson. Carbon dating techniques have indicated that the map was created about 50 years before the voyage of Erikson.
The third and most compelling piece of evidence comes from the recently uncovered ruins of a Norse settlement in Newfoundland, Canada. The site has been dated to around the year 1000 and could indicate that Norse settlers were in the area prior to Erikson’s arrival.
In conclusion, there is some evidence to suggest that someone may have discovered America before the Vikings. However, there is not enough reliable evidence to definitively prove this, and the official history is that Leif Erikson was the first European to set foot in North America.
Who invaded America first?
The first people known to have invaded what is now known as America were the Native Americans. This began around 15,000 BC, when sizeable populations of hunter-gatherers began slowly making their way south from the Bering Land Bridge.
In time, these nomadic foragers settled throughout North and South America, developing unique cultures and lifestyles.
Although the first Europeans in America were Norse explorers who arrived in North America around 1000 AD, the first European conquest of America began during the age of exploration and colonization, beginning in the late 15th century.
The Spanish were the first Europeans to arrive in what is now known as the United States, landing in what is now known as Florida in 1513, and claiming much of the East Coast. Following this, the English, Dutch, and French all began colonizing North America in the 1600s.
How did sailors know where to go?
At the beginning of ocean navigation, sailors used a combination of visual observations (stars, coastlines, land features, bird migrations, etc. ) and inherited knowledge (accumulated stories and routes) to figure out where they were and where they were going.
They were also able to draw upon knowledge of currents, trade winds, and swells to guide them in their travels. Over time, advancements in seafaring technology allowed for more accurate navigation, allowing for sailing records and maps that incorporated more detailed information about the geographical features of the sea.
With the development of the magnetic compass in the 12th century, navigation became even more precise as it allowed sailors to accurately find the direction of their desired destination no matter the time of day.
The invention of the sextant in 1730 provided greater accuracy in navigating at sea, enabling sailors to measure their latitude no matter the season. Eventually, radar and satellite navigation further revolutionized seafaring, allowing for a much quicker and more accurate determination of location and direction.
What did sailors use in the olden days to guide them?
In the olden days, sailors used a variety of techniques and tools to guide them on their journeys at sea. Navigation techniques included observing the stars, sun, moon, and other landmarks to get an idea of the boat’s position.
In ancient times, the use of Astronomy was used to determine the position of the boat. For longer distances, sailors used a sextant, which was a tool used to measure the angular distance between stars and other celestial bodies.
Other navigation tools included an hour circle to measure altitude and a magnetic compass to determine directional positions. Mariners also relied on charts, logbooks, and navigation tools such as the quadrant, an ancient navigation tool that allowed transiting of flags or coastlines for navigation.
Maps were used for navigation, and new maps were created when needed. Finally, the use of soundings, or the dipping of a lead line to measure the depth of the water, was used to help to determine the depth of the ocean and any potential rocks or obstructions in the area.
What is the nautical Southern Cross?
The nautical Southern Cross is a constellation of five stars, located in the southern sky, that is seen near (but not part of) the constellation of Crux. It is one of the most well-known constellations in the southern hemisphere, and is easy to spot due to its unique shape.
To form the Southern Cross, the stars Alpha, Beta, Gamma and Delta Crucis, located in Crux, are joined together by the two bright stars, Alpha and Beta Centauri. Together, these five stars form the outline of a “cross” formation that can be used as a navigational aid in the Southern Hemisphere.
The Southern Cross is an important symbol for sailors and explorers, who relied on it as a guide for navigation as far back as the mid-1800s. In New Zealand and Australia, the Southern Cross is a well-recognized symbol and appears on the flags of both countries.
The constellation of the Southern Cross is especially beautiful because of its deep blue and yellow stars, and can be seen in the night sky year-round throughout the Southern Hemisphere.