The first Western civilization known to have developed the art of navigation at sea were the Phoenicians, about 4,000 years ago (c. 2000 B.C.E. ). Phoenician sailors accomplished navigation by using primitive charts and observations of the Sun and stars to determine directions.
Explanation:
Despite these early beginnings, it would take many centuries before global navigation at sea became possible. Until the fifteenth century, mariners were essentially coastal navigators. Sailing on the open sea was limited to regions of predictable winds and currents, or where there was a wide continental shelf to follow. Farther ventures were enabled by the development of scientifically and mathematically based methods and tools.
