Editing Sailing ship (section)

=== Global exploration ===
{{Main|Carrack|Caravel}}
[[File:Nao Victoria.jpg|thumb|Replica of [[Ferdinand Magellan]]'s [[carrack]], ''[[Victoria (ship)|Victoria]]'', which completed the first global circumnavigation.]]
Technological advancements that were important to the Age of Discovery in the 15th century were the adoption of the [[Compass|magnetic compass]] and advances in ship design.

The compass was an addition to the ancient method of navigation based on sightings of the sun and stars. The compass was invented by Chinese. It had been used for navigation in China by the 11th century and was adopted by the Arab traders in the Indian Ocean. The compass spread to Europe by the late 12th or early 13th century.<ref name="Merson_1990">{{cite book|title=The Genius That Was China: East and West in the Making of the Modern World|url=https://archive.org/details/geniusthatwaschi0000mers|url-access=registration|last=Merson|first=John|publisher=The Overlook Press|year=1990|isbn=978-0-87951-397-9|location=Woodstock, NY}}</ref> Use of the compass for navigation in the Indian Ocean was first mentioned in 1232.<ref name="Paine_2013" /> The Europeans used a "dry" compass, with a needle on a pivot. The compass card was also a European invention.<ref name="Paine_2013" />

At the beginning of the 15th century, the [[carrack]] was the most capable European ocean-going ship. It was [[Carvel (boat building)|carvel-built]] and large enough to be stable in heavy seas. It was capable of carrying a large cargo and the provisions needed for very long voyages. Later carracks were square-rigged on the [[foremast]] and [[mainmast]] and lateen-rigged on the [[mizzenmast]]. They had a high rounded [[stern]] with large [[aftcastle]], [[forecastle]] and [[bowsprit]] at the stem. As the predecessor of the [[galleon]], the carrack was one of the most influential ship designs in history; while ships became more specialized in the following centuries, the basic design remained unchanged throughout this period.<ref>{{cite book |title=The History of Shipwrecks |first=A. |last=Konstam |year=2002 |location=New York | publisher=Lyons Press |pages=77–79 |isbn=1-58574-620-7}}</ref>

Ships of this era were only able to sail approximately 70° into the wind and [[Tacking (sailing)|tacked]] from one side to the other across the wind with difficulty, which made it challenging to avoid shipwrecks when near shores or shoals during storms.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ezgq0VnV5XQC|title=To Harness the Wind: A Short History of the Development of Sails|last=Block|first=Leo|date=2003|publisher=Naval Institute Press|isbn=9781557502094|language=en|access-date=2019-06-20|archive-date=2023-10-27|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231027232129/https://books.google.com/books?id=ezgq0VnV5XQC|url-status=live}}</ref> Nonetheless, such vessels reached India around Africa with [[Vasco da Gama]],<ref name="Foundations">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vtZtMBLJ7GgC&pg=PA184|title=Foundations of the Portuguese Empire, 1415–1850|last1=Diffie|first1=Bailey W.|last2=Winius|first2=George D.|year=1977|isbn=978-0-8166-0850-8|series=Europe and the World in the Age of Expansion|volume=1|page=177|access-date=2019-06-20|archive-date=2023-10-27|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231027232128/https://books.google.com/books?id=vtZtMBLJ7GgC&pg=PA184#v=onepage&q&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref> the Americas with [[Christopher Columbus]],<ref>{{cite book |url=https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300170283/mutiny-and-its-bounty |title=Mutiny and Its Bounty: Leadership Lessons from the Age of Discovery |last1=Murphy |first1=Patrick J. |last2=Coye |first2=Ray W. |date=2013 |publisher=Yale University Press |isbn=978-0-300-17028-3 |access-date=2019-06-23 |archive-date=2019-05-26 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190526194259/https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300170283/mutiny-and-its-bounty |url-status=live }}</ref> and around the world under [[Ferdinand Magellan]].<ref>{{Cite book |title=Over the edge of the world : Magellan's terrifying circumnavigation of the globe |last=Bergreen |first=Laurence |date=2003 |publisher=Morrow |isbn=0066211735 |edition=1st |location=New York |oclc=52047431 |url=https://archive.org/details/overedgeofworl00berg }}</ref>