Old Ship Vessel Drawing

The Swahili people had various extensive trading ports dotting the coast of medieval East Africa and Great Zimbabwe had extensive trading contacts with Central Africa, and likely also imported goods brought to Africa through the Southeast African shore trade of Kilwa in modern-day Tanzania.
It is known by historians that at its height the Mali Empire built a large naval fleet under Emperor Mansa Musa in the late 13th and early 14th century. Arabic sources describe what some consider to be visits to the New World by a Mali fleet in 1311.
Before the introduction of the compass, celestial navigation was the main method for navigation at sea. In China, early versions of the magnetic compass were being developed and used in navigation between 1040 and 1117. The true mariner's compass, using a pivoting needle in a dry box, was developed in Europe no later than 1300.