Nautical Charts – For centuries, the sea has been a highway of exploration, trade, and cultural exchange. At the heart of these activities lie nautical charts, the maps that guide mariners through the vast and treacherous seascape. This article explores the origins, evolution, and future of these indispensable maritime tools.
Navigation is an important aspect when it comes to finding your way in the sea. The Phoenicians first developed the art of sea navigation around 4000 years ago. The Phoenician sailors accomplished sailing on the sea by use of primitive observation of the stars and sun together with charts.
Gerardus Mercator was born on the fifth of March, 1512 in Rupelmonde in Belgium. A cartographer, geographer and cosmographer, Mercator was to contribute his own form of projection that would change the face of map mapping. Mercator set out to find a solution to the problem of displaying the world, a sphere, on a flat surface. This followed Ferdinand Magellan’s conclusive demonstration that the world was in fact a sphere and not flat.
Today more than 60 countries of the world compile nautical charts for sailors and boating enthusiasts to navigate around the world’s oceans.
We may marvel at today’s GPS system which allows sailors to pinpoint their location with great accuracy, but perhaps even more remarkable is the instrument which has been helping sailors do this since the early 18th century, the sextant.