In the broadest sense, navigation is the act of moving about from place to place on land, sea, in air, or in outer space. Navigation, with its primitive beginnings, has evolved to become a sophisticated science.

Early Navigation

Prior to the fifteenth century, European mariners were reluctant to sail out of sight of land, partly because they feared getting lost and partly because they did not know what lay beyond the horizon. Thus, sailing voyages by Europeans were largely confined to the Mediterranean Sea or close to shore in the Atlantic Ocean. The high and broad continental shelf of Northern Europe, where the continent ends and the ocean begins, allowed for shallow sailing waters within sight of land from the Iberian Peninsula (Portugal and Spain) to Scandinavia (Norway, Sweden, and Denmark).

The Vikings of Scandinavia were renowned coastal navigators. Not only did the Vikings sail the coast of...