Question

how did people in the past determine direction

Answer 1

by watching sun they determine the direction

Answer 2

The first seafarers kept in sight of land. That was the first trick of navigation—follow the coast. To find an old fishing ground or the way through a shoal, one could line up landmarks, such as a near rock against a distant point on land; doing that in two directions at once gave a more or less precise geometric location on the surface of the sea.

CURRENT AND WIND