...by the 13th century the Europeans had all the technology the lateen sail the old square sail the stern post rudder to go they wanted to they didn’t need to use it until 1453 when Constantinople fell to the Turks and after that it was if you wanted something from the Far East it was either pay that price the Turks wanted for letting it come through their territory oh go get it yourself which is just what the Europeans did in the great 16th century voyages of discovery and it was now that the Mariners began to use those star charts prepared in such detail by Claudius Ptolemy fourteen centuries before.James Burke Connections, Ep. 2 "Death in the Morning"
