Smithsonian
  • Navigating
    at Sea
    • Challenges of Sea Navigation
    • Navigating Without a Clock
    • The Longitude Problem
    • The U.S. Goes to Sea
    • Navigate at Sea! Activity
  • Navigating
    in the Air
    • Challenges of Air Navigation
    • Early Air Navigators
    • Navigation at War
    • Navigate the Skies! Activity
  • Navigating
    in Space
    • Challenges of Space Navigation
    • Reaching for the Moon
    • Navigating in Deep Space
    • Navigate in Space! Activity
  • Satellite Navigation
    • Challenges of Satellite Navigation
    • Reliable Global Navigation
    • Global Positioning System (GPS)
    • Who Uses Satellite Navigation
  • Navigation
    for Everyone
    • Meet a Professional Navigator
    • Personal Navigation Stories
  • Timeline of Innovation
  • Artifacts
  • Learning Resources
  • Multimedia Gallery
  • Research
  • Visit the Exhibition

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Time and Navigation
The untold story of getting from here to there.
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  • Navigating at Sea
  • Navigating in the Air
  • Navigating in Space
  • Satellite Navigation
  • Navigation for Everyone
  • Timeline of Innovation
  • Artifacts
  • Learning Resources
  • Multimedia Gallery
  • Research Journal
  • Visit the Exhibition
  • Challenges of Sea Navigation
    • Navigation Gone Wrong: A British Fleet is Lost at Sea
    • Navigate at Sea! Activity
  • Navigating Without a Clock
    • Early Voyages
    • Dead Reckoning
    • Celestial Navigation
  • The Longitude Problem
    • Cash for Creativity
    • Early Sea Clock Experiments
    • Innovations in England
    • Innovations in France
    • The Chronometer
    • Observing the Skies
    • Navigation Gone Wrong: Wreck of the Arniston
  • The U.S. Goes to Sea
    • Early Contributions
      • Meet the Clockmaker: William Cranch Bond
      • Meet the Navigator: Eleanor Creesy
    • Wilkes Expedition
      • Meet the Mapmaker: Charles Wilkes
      • Maps and Charts
      • The "Scientifics"
  • Navigate at Sea! Activity

Explore More

Navigational Dividers »
Using a Cross Staff »
Galileo’s Giovilabio Replica »
Marine Chronometer by Arnold & Dent, No. 1131 »
Map of Fiji and the South Pacific »

Early Voyages

Methods to navigate open seas differ from culture to culture.

People accomplished amazing feats of navigation across open oceans well before modern Europeans took to uncharted seas. Vikings and Polynesians, for example, built sturdy boats and found their way without maps across vast distances by closely observing their environment.

Viking Voyages

In the harsh, stormy waters of the North Atlantic between A.D. 750 and 1000, waves of peoples from Scandinavia—collectively known as the Vikings—sailed west to settle Britain, Iceland, Greenland, and even North America. They hopped from island to island and also observed the presence of birds near land and their migration patterns.

Polynesian Voyages

Over thousands of years, Polynesians migrated across vast distances and spread their culture across the Pacific. But they left no written record. Modern voyagers have recreated their routes, canoes, and methods. They suggest early Polynesian navigators sailed from island to island by observing Sun and stars, wind and waves, and the behavior of birds and fish.

“If you want to learn to pray, go to sea.”
—Portuguese proverb

212-ppn561535841_log_0001_part6.jpg

Viking ship
Viking ship discovered in a burial mound at Gokstad, Norway.
Credit: Göttingen State and University Library

212-hokuleasailing2009.jpg

Hawaiian voyaging canoe
Hōkūle`a, a Hawaiian voyaging canoe, sailing off Honolulu, 2009.
Credit: HongKongHuey

212-sil33-178-097.jpg

"Kalaniopuu, King of Hawaii, bringing presents to Captain Cook"
Over thousands of years, Polynesians migrated across vast distances and spread their culture across the Pacific.
Credit: Smithsonian Institution Libraries
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  • Navigating at Sea
    • Challenges of Sea Navigation
    • Navigating Without a Clock
      • Early Voyages
      • Dead Reckoning
      • Celestial Navigation
    • The Longitude Problem
    • The U.S. Goes to Sea
    • Navigate at Sea! Activity
  • Navigating in the Air
    • Challenges of Air Navigation
    • Early Air Navigators
    • Navigation at War
    • Navigate the Skies! Activity
  • Navigating in Space
    • Challenges of Space Navigation
    • Reaching for the Moon
    • Navigating in Deep Space
    • Navigate in Space! Activity
  • Satellite Navigation
    • Challenges of Satellite Navigation
    • Reliable Global Navigation
    • Global Positioning System (GPS)
    • Who Uses Satellite Navigation
  • Navigation for Everyone
    • Meet a Professional Navigator
    • Personal Navigation Stories
  • Timeline of Innovation
  • Artifacts
  • Learning Resources
  • Multimedia Gallery
  • Research
  • Visit the Exhibition
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  • Privacy
  • Contact
  • Sponsors
  • Press
  • Donate
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