In the 15th and 16th centuries, the astronomy used by Portuguese navigators was still based on the planetary system developed by Ptolemy, described in Almagest (2nd century), and the astronomy book Tractatus de Sphaera (13th century) by the monk Johannes de Sacrobosco, according to mathematician Ubiratan D’Ambrosio, a researcher in the area of the history of mathematics and now Professor Emeritus at the University of Campinas (Unicamp). The Muslims had preserved and studied the Greek legacy and incorporated elements of Hindu culture.
According to the historiography of the period, this development began in about 1096 due to the contact with Muslim culture during the Crusades, the wars of Christian reconquest against the Moors. Mathematics was beginning to blaze new paths, especially in England, home to the philosophical monks Roger Bacon, Thomas Bradwardine, Guilherme de Ockham and others, and the studies carried out at Merton College, the institute that grew to become Oxford University. What they used was based on the arithmetic, geometry and astronomy of ancient times. When the Portuguese and Spanish began their great discoveries, the most advanced mathematics of the time had not yet reached the kingdoms of the Iberian Peninsula. The voyages of the era of discovery-the 15th and 16th century-were undertaken using just basic astronomical knowledge. Book of the Indian armadas (1665) Illustration of 12 of the 13 ships in the fleet of Pedro Álvares Cabral, contained in the Book of the Indian armadas (1665) Book of the Indian armadas (1665)
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