The state of european science and technology in the late middle ages

The great European expansion of the Age of geographical discoveries was the final outcome of an economic, technical and scientific development, begun centuries before. The author briefly examines the evolution of ships up to the carrack and the caravel, which were the protagonists of oceanic voyages, and of sailing techniques, including navigation by the stars which allowed sailors at the end of the 15th century to know the position of the ship even on the open sea. The contribution of scholars is also examined and their noteworthy share in building new instruments and in elaborating scientific theories about the shape of the world and about the distribution of sea and land, upon which great sailors founded those projects, that would lead to the exploration of New Worlds.