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Definition
Navigation is the process of directing the movements of a craft,
expeditiously and safely, from one point to another. The word
navigate is from the from the Latin navigatus, the
past participle of the word navigere, which is derived from
the word navis, meaning "ship," and agere,
meaning "to move " or "to direct." Navigation
of water craft is called marine navigation to distinguish it from
navigation of aircraft, called air navigation.
The Art of Navigation
Navigation is the process of directing the movements of a craft
from one point to another. To do this safely is an art.
In perhaps 6,000 years--some writers make it 8,000--man has
transformed this art almost into a science, and navigation
today is so nearly a science that the inclination is to forget that
it was ever anything else. It is commonly thought that to navigate
a ship one must have a chart to determine the course and distance,
a compass to steer by, and a means of determining the positions of
the ship during the passage. Must have? The word
"must" betrays how dependent the modern navigator has
become upon the tools now in his hands. Many of the great voyages
of history--voyages that made known much of the world--were made
without one or more of these "essentials".
--American Practical Navigator (Bowditch), Vol. I, 1977 Ed.
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