Grijs, Richard de (Author)
Following Columbus' voyages to the Americas, Castilian (Spanish) and Portuguese rulers engaged in heated geopolitical competition, which was eventually reconciled through a number of treaties that divided the world into two unequal hemispheres. However, the early-sixteenth-century papal demarcation line was poorly defined. Expressed in degrees with respect to a vague reference location, determination of longitude at sea became crucial in the nations' quest for expanding spheres of influence. In Spain, King Philip II and his son, Philip III, announced generous rewards for those whose solutions to the longitude problem performed well in sea trials and which were suitable for practical implementation. The potential reward generated significant interest from scientist-scholars and opportunists alike. The solutions proposed and the subset taken to sea provided important physical insights that still resonate today. None of the numerous approaches based on compass readings ('magnetic declination') passed the exacting sea trials, but the brightest sixteenth-century minds already anticipated that lunar distances and the use of marine timepieces would eventually enable more precise navigation. With most emphasis in the English-language literature focused on longitude solutions developed in Britain, France and the Low Countries, the earlier yet ground-breaking Spanish efforts have, undeservedly, largely been forgotten. Yet, they provided a firm basis for the development of an enormous 'cottage industry' that lasted until the end of the eighteenth century.
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Book
Richard de Grijs;
(2017)
Time and Time Again: Determination of Longitude at Sea in the 17th Century
(/isis/citation/CBB403109360/)
Article
Richard de Grijs;
(2022)
Historical Chinese efforts to determine longitude at sea
(/isis/citation/CBB403328137/)
Article
Gregory McIntosh;
(2020)
Conventional Wisdom and the Date of the Kunstmann I Chart
(/isis/citation/CBB373629190/)
Article
Meropi Morfouli;
(2022)
Galileo Galilei, le « mesureur du temps » et les longitudes: Une interprétation nouvelle de l’instrument proposé par Galilée en 1637
(/isis/citation/CBB441230046/)
Article
Richard de Grijs;
(2020)
A (not so) brief history of lunar distances: lunar longitude determination at sea before the chronometer
(/isis/citation/CBB190636570/)
Article
Boistel, Guy;
(2006)
De quelle précision a-t-on réellement besoin en mer ? Quelques aspects de la diffusion des méthodes de détermination astronomique et chronométrique des longitudes en mer en France, de Lacaille à Mouchez (1750--1880)
(/isis/citation/CBB000931360/)
Article
Richard de Grijs;
Andrew P. Jacob;
(2021)
William Dawes: practical astronomy on the ‘First Fleet’ from England to Australia
(/isis/citation/CBB079817226/)
Article
Suzanne Débarbat;
(2019)
Picard, La Hire et le Royaume de Louis XIV
(/isis/citation/CBB248232410/)
Article
Richard de Grijs;
(2021)
European longitude prizes. 2: Astronomy, religion and engineering solutions in the Dutch Republic
(/isis/citation/CBB810066516/)
Article
Wayne Orchiston;
William Wells;
(2020)
Cook's third voyage to the Pacific and early scientific astronomy on the north-western coast of America: the sojourn at Nootka Sound in April 1778
(/isis/citation/CBB034146345/)
Article
Pérez Rodríguez, Uxío;
Álvarez Lires, María;
Serrallé Marzoa, José Francisco;
(2010)
Frei Martín Sarmiento e a determinación da lonxitude xeográfica en alta mar
(/isis/citation/CBB001033789/)
Chapter
Joaquim Alves Gaspar;
(2021)
Navegação e cartografia náutica nos séculos XV e XVI
(/isis/citation/CBB517611958/)
Article
Siebren van der Werf;
(2019)
Nautical Tables for Vasco da Gama, 1497–1500?
(/isis/citation/CBB044195091/)
Article
Siebren van der Werf;
(2017)
History and Critical Analysis of Fifteenth and Sixteenth Century Nautical Tables
(/isis/citation/CBB789426125/)
Thesis
Nicolàs de Hilster;
(2018)
Navigation on Wood: Wooden Navigational Instruments 1590-1731: An Analysis of Early Modern Western Instruments for Celestial Navigation, Their Origins, Mathematical Concepts and Accuracies
(/isis/citation/CBB009676048/)
Article
Waldemar Spallek;
(2017)
Evolution of Longitude Description System. Example of Polish School Geographical Atlases (1771–2012)
(/isis/citation/CBB206193073/)
Article
Junqueira, Mary Anne;
(2012)
Os objetivos da circunavegação da U.S. Exploring Expedition (1838--1842): longitude, mapeamento náutico e instituição das coordenadas geográficas modernas
(/isis/citation/CBB001420571/)
Article
Despoix, Philippe;
(2000)
Mesure du monde et représentation européenne au XVIIIe siècle: Le programme britannique de détermination de la longitude en mer
(/isis/citation/CBB000111470/)
Article
Robert J. King;
(2021)
Johannes Kepler and Australia
(/isis/citation/CBB195788189/)
Article
Dmitry A. Shcheglov;
(2016)
The Error in Longitude in Ptolemy’s Geography Revisited
(/isis/citation/CBB609543899/)
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