The art and science of navigation from the 15th to the 18th century|My essay solution

Posted: March 14th, 2023

Please answer these questions in paragraph form using my included article, and outside sources. Please paraphrase instead of quotation marks. Please make it about 800 words long.

McClellan in his article “Plows, Stirrups, Guns, and Plagues” and Gregory in “Technology and
the Natural Sciences” discuss the developments in sailing ships and navigation from the 15th to
the 17th centuries.
a) Describe the main developments in nautical science (everything related to navigation, spherical
geometry, cartography….) and technology (everything related to ship building, marine
instrumentation, etc.) from the 1450s to the 1550.
b) Explain the political, social, and economic results of this nautical revolution.

SOLUTION

The 15th to 17th centuries marked a significant period of developments in nautical science and technology. McClellan’s “Plows, Stirrups, Guns, and Plagues” and Gregory’s “Technology and the Natural Sciences” shed light on the evolution of sailing ships and navigation during this time. Nautical science witnessed a transformation from practical experience and empirical knowledge to more mathematical and scientific methods. The technological innovations in shipbuilding and navigation were equally important in transforming seafaring.