Navigation Trivia
Steer your trivia ship with a compass and chronometer—if you're not lost yet, you've got the right bearing!
EXAMPLE QUESTIONS
On Mercator’s 1569 world map, landmasses grow the farther north or south you go from which line?
Equator
Magellan’s 1519–1522 expedition, completed by Juan Sebastián Elcano, showed the Earth was what shape?
Spherical
In Columbus’s 1492 fleet, the Santa Maria was a larger nao; what type of ships were her smaller consorts, the Niña and the Pinta?
Caravels
Introduced to Europe in the Middle Ages, which direction-finding tool became essential for dead reckoning at sea?
Magnetic compass
Which U.S.-developed satellite navigation system, fully operational since 1993, revolutionized sailing by providing instant global position, speed, and course data?
GPS