Albeit naval technologies that assisted navigators with sailing and cartography which assisted them with carving out routes, neither of these were useful if these navigators would not be able to remain on these routes. Thereby, devices that allowed them to determine their position were required.
The earliest forms of determining positions dated back to when these navigators remained in vicinity to the coast, using landmarks in order to determine their position. Also, when sailing in vicinity to the coast was not possible, navigators developed astronomical techniques, comparing their position to those of the heavenly bodies.
The further navigators were required to sail, the more difficult their voyages grew and the more unsuitable these techniques grew. Therefore, there was a demand for devices. In order to supplant for this demand, the compass was mobilized. The compass originated in China, used for divination purposes. However, it was used also for navigational purposes, for orienteering by the military, both in China and also in Europe during the Middle Ages.
In addition, the astrolabe was an astrological device used by navigators in order to improve the former method of determining their position in contrast with those of the heavenly bodies. The astrolabe originated during the Hellenistic period and its invention is attributed to Hipparchus. It’s earliest purpose was to be used by astrologers and mathematicians such as Hipparchus and Ptolemy.
The astrolabe was enhanced by the Arabs, adapted for nautical navigational purposes and then used by navigators during the Age of Exploration. Unfortunately, devices such as the astrolabe were not perfect as they required much patience and dexterity.
All of these technologies, whether they are cartographical, navigational or naval, were a driving force for the Age of Exploration. They allowed sailors to venture out onto the seas, they allowed empires to form colonies. They allowed Europe’s scope of the world surrounding them to increase.
Maritime technologies were the product of some of the best innovation occurring in Europe. Together with those technologies developed on land, such as the printing press, these technologies make it clear that innovation and technology was at one of its multitudinous pinnacles in Europe from the 1400s-1600s.