advances in techniques. A Renaissance geographer, Gerardus Mercator used the concepts of latitude and longitude to draw maps that were useful for the navigators. (f) A new improved design of ships played a crucial role in the long, risky sea voyages. The building of caravel, a lighter ship that could easily sail in shallow water, was an important technological innovation.
(g) The hazards of sea voyages was mitigated by the availability of firearms and cannons. (h) Sailors were no longer left to the mercy of a calm night and the bright stars to determine the direction in which they were sailing, since the Mariner’s compass was now available in Europe. Initiatives of Portugal Located on south-western part of Europe, the small country of Portugal led the way first in exploration, discovering the Canaries, Madeira and the Azores. In sailors sent out by Prince Henry, the Navigator reached Guinea Coast of Africa and later in Bartholomew Diaz rounded the Cape of Good Hope.
Henry, the Navigator was a Portuguese prince. Though he never ventured into the sea, he started a school of navigation at Sagres, Portugal. He hired cartographers, shipbuilders and instrument makers to help sailors undertake planned voyages. Christopher Columbus ( – ) C h r i s t o p h e r Columbus, an Italian from Genoa, fought many difficulties before he secured the patronage of the Spanish rulers Ferdinand and Isabella.
On August Columbus sailed from the harbour of Palos near Cadiz, with three small ships (the Santa Maria , the Pinta and the Nina ). Henry, the Navigator Mariner’s compass Columbus Modern World: The Age of Reason After a voyage of two months and nine days in he came to a land which he believed to be India. But it was really a new continent, America. He returned to Spain with gold, cotton, strange beasts and two wild-eyed painted “Indians” to be baptised.
They were called Indians because, to the end of his days, he believed that the land he had discovered