Lesson 17: Explorers Technology

• When: 225 BC (Ancient Greece)

• Who: Unknown

• What: device used to find explorer's location at sea

• How: Using the sun or the North Star explorers could calculate their longitude on a map

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​Astrolabe

• When: 200 BC (Ancient China)

• Who: Unknown

• What: allowed explorer to know what direction they were going

• How: Using magnets the compass will point in directions North, South, East, and West

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Compass

• When: 1569

• Who: Gerdus Mercator

• What: Helped explorers compare where they are to other areas on a map

• How: Using a compass and latitude/longitude lines explorers could plot their voyage on a map

Mercator Maps

• When: 1450s

• Who: Portugal

• What: Smaller, faster, easy to steer ship that could sail with and into the wind

• How: Triangular sails could go into the wind, smaller keel made it quick, larger hull for supplies

Caravel