In the 16th century, explorers’ sailing ships were the backbone of the Age of Exploration, enabling voyages across vast oceans to discover new lands, establish trade routes, and map the unknown world.

The journeys of 15th- and 16th-century European explorers are depicted on Cantino’s map including Vasco da Gama’s first voyage in search of a sea route to India (1497-99) and the “discovery ...

Unlike today’s turn-by-turn navigation, a 16th-century GPS might have been all about survival: avoiding bandit-prone roads, timing tides for river crossings, or tracking stars as backup.

A 17th-century world map by Joan Blaeu, like his “Nova Totius Terrarum Orbis Tabula,” can command prices that soar into the thousands. More recently, a World Ortelius map sold for £4,000 ...