McClellan in his article “Plows, Stirrups, Guns, and Plagues” and Gregory in “Technology and
the Natural Sciences” discuss the developments in sailing ships and navigation from the 15th to
the 17th centuries.
a) Describe the main developments in nautical science (everything related to navigation, spherical
geometry, cartography….) and technology (everything related to ship building, marine
instrumentation, etc.) from the 1450s to the 1550.
b) Explain the political, social, and economic results of this nautical revolution.
