Historical roots of Oceanography

          There is a lot of history behind the roots of the ocean exploration. Back in the 1400s is when ocean exploration got more involved with the world. Compasses and maps were being used to help explorers navigate and find new parts of the world that were not found before. Technology slowly got better as each century passed and ocean exploration got easier as well. The compass was definitely one of the best tools made for an ocean explorer. The first compass was made in china between 2nd century BC and 1st century Ad. They have been used in ocean exploration forever and they are still used today in some occasions. Charts were also used on maps for a long time. On maps there is grid lines that go horizontaly and vertically which is longitude and latitude which are marked as degrees. It is a technique to find a specific spot on a map and people still use it today. A Portuguese explorer names Ferdinand Magellan used both the compass and the map (with degrees) to do his expedition which led him across the pacific. His expedition was the first to explore across the Pacific ocean and it was on accident. Another invention that was made in the 1700s was the chronometer. The chronometer is a tool used to tell what time it is. Its a great tool because it will work in any region of the world. There is a technique for travel called celestial navigation. Celestial navigation is navigation used by the sun, moon, and stars. All together it can work like a compass because the sun rises on the east and sets on the west, and the north star points towards the north. It was a very clever way to explore when there wasn't much technology.