Did other countries successfully develop methods to accurately determine Longitude around the same time or even before Britain?

by thepioneeringlemming

I had a good question which I have been wondering about for a long time, and as this week's theme is "Exploration and Discovery" I though I may as well ask now.

I am talking mainly about the use of Marine Chronometers and Lunar Tables.

and

Did other countries mount similar 'competitions' such as the 1714 Longitude Act which offered monetary rewards for a solution to the Longitude problem.

jschooltiger

I am not aware of competitions other than the Longitude Act in other countries. EDIT: There were competitions in other countries.

In any case, the theory of longitude (that is, that the earth is spherical, and that local time differs at different parts of the earth) is ancient. Many countries (or, rather, theorists in many countries) other than Britain understood how to determine longitude with astronomical observations; the trick was being able to do that accurately on a moving ship.

You may be interested in these two older answers of mine about determining longitude.

Fahsan3KBattery

From memory of reading Singh's book, yes, both France and Spain did.

From Wiki's sources it seems I was right.

  • Philip II of Spain first offered a prize in 1567.
  • Holland offered a large prize in 1636
  • By the 1630s there were "many prizes" - not clear who was offering them (Italian city states?)
  • France had various prizes and financial rewards from 1620ish onwards but this became formalised in 1666 with the formation of the Académie Royale, in part to reward and support efforts to conquer longditude.