Latitude & Longitude: Part VI

The Lewis and Clark Expedition in 1803-1806 was not the first nor is it the most recent of mankind’s great scientific explorations. Of our time, NASA’s manned flights to and 1969 landing on the surface of Earth’s moon, as well as its ongoing probes of Mars and beyond, stand out. Technology of Western Civilization was obviously in a much more formative state in the 15th century when Christopher Columbus landed in the new world. Nevertheless, for its time, the technology at hand was important to the whole fabric of discovery. Moreover, there was even then a technology center of sorts, founded by Prince Henry the Navigator in approximately 1420, at Sagres on Cape St. Vincent in southwestern Portugal. This early “NASA” developed capabilities in cartography, mathematics and astronomy, and…