 Thus, there had been very little, if any, maritime contact between the peoples living in these continents.In the 15th century, however, new European developments in seafaring technologies resulted in ships being better equipped to deal with the tidal currents, and could begin traversing the Atlantic Ocean; the Portuguese set up a Navigator's School (although there is much debate about whether it existed and if it did, just what it was).Between 1600 and 1800, approximately 300,000 sailors engaged in the slave trade visited West Africa.