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The Exponents of Nautical Technique
Others built upon the navigational techniques devised by the Portuguese.
Years: 1505 — 1541
Navigational techniques devised by the Portuguese in the 15th and 16th centuries reached their apex not only because of the pilots’ “knowledge from experience”, but especially through works of high empirical value further developed by others. Outstanding are the names of Duarte Pacheco Pereira, the author of “Esmeraldo de Situ Orbis”, written between 1505 and 1508, and of João de Castro, who wrote between 1538 and 1541.
During that period, de Castro completed three logbooks in which he registered experimental long-range observations, namely those contributing to the knowledge of natural magnetic phenomena. The contribution to navigation of the mathematician Pedro Nunes – chief cosmographer of the realm – must also be emphasized although he concentrated mainly on theoretical aspects concerning navigational problems.
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