The Invention of the Hourglass

1123 Words3 Pages

What would the world do without time? A person’s life is developed around time, such as when someone eats, sleeps, or works. During the Age of Exploration, the explorers needed a time device that was advanced enough to be on a ship. If explorers did not have a way of measuring time, they would have no way of knowing when to go different directions and would have most likely become lost. The Age of Exploration lasted from the fourteenth century to the seventeenth century (Briney). Many geographical locations, inventions, and knowledge of the world developed during the Age of Exploration time period. One of the most important inventions during the Age of Exploration was the hourglass, because it helped expand geographical knowledge and was very versatile; it also made exploring possible and more advanced and was historically important for the world today (Kreis).
The Age of Exploration was the time period where new discoveries of the world came about and, “ The Age of Exploration served as a stepping stone for geographical knowledge” (Briney). The Europeans were the founders of the hourglass and were known for their glassmaking. The Portuguese, Italians, and Spanish were the most involved during the Age of Exploration and by the fifteenth and sixteenth century the British, Spanish, and Dutch became involved (Kreis). They were actively pursuing new trade routes and searching for resources around the world. During the fourteenth century, the beginning of the Age of Exploration, there were not many opportunities to travel, which led the Europeans to innovating more convenient inventions for ships. Many new ships were invented, such as the caravel and galleon. The caravel was a sail ship with triangular sails enabling it t...

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