How Pirates Created GPS 300 Years Early (The Grid System)

Long before satellites, smartphones, or digital maps, pirates solved the problem of navigation in a way that looks shockingly familiar today.

This video explores how pirates effectively created a GPS-like system more than 300 years early using something called the grid system. By dividing oceans into reference points using latitude, dead reckoning, landmarks, and shared charts, pirates could locate ships, islands, and trade routes with surprising accuracy — all without modern technology.

You’ll see how sea charts evolved, how coordinates were tracked long before longitude was fully solved, and why pirates were often better navigators than official navies. Their survival depended on precision. A small error didn’t mean rerouting — it meant starvation, shipwreck, or death. So pirates standardized routes, shared geographic intelligence, and quietly built one of the earliest decentralized navigation systems in history.

This isn’t romantic pirate myth. It’s a story of necessity-driven innovation — and how human problem-solving anticipated modern GPS centuries ahead of time.

If you love hidden history, forgotten technology, or realizing that the past was smarter than we give it credit for, this one will change how you see navigation forever.

📺 Watch the entire video for more information!


💼 Business Inquiries and Contact
• For business inquiries, copyright matters or other inquiries please contact us
❓ Copyright Questions
• If you have any copyright questions or issues you can contact us.

⚠️ Copyright Disclaimers
• We use images and content in accordance with the YouTube Fair Use copyright guidelines
• Section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Act states: “Notwithstanding the provisions of sections 106 and 106A, the fair use of a copyrighted work, including such use by reproduction in copies or phonorecords or by any other means specified by that section, for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright.”
• This video could contain certain copyrighted video clips, pictures, or photographs that were not specifically authorized to be used by the copyright holder(s), but which we believe in good faith are protected by federal law and the fair use doctrine for one or more of the reasons noted above.