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The history of the compass started more than 2000 years ago during the Han dynasty (202 BC – 220 AD). The first compasses were made of lodestone, a naturally magnetized stone of iron, in Han dynasty China. [1] [2] It was called the "South Pointing Fish" and was used for land navigation by the mid-11th century during the Song dynasty (960 ...
The first mention of a compass in Europe was in 1190 AD by Alexander Neckam. He described it as a common navigational aid for sailors, so the compass must have been introduced to Europe some time earlier. Whether the knowledge came from China to Europe, or was invented separately, is not clear.
A modern military compass, with included sight device for aligning. A compass is a device that shows the cardinal directions used for navigation and geographic orientation. It commonly consists of a magnetized needle or other element, such as a compass card or compass rose, which can pivot to align itself with magnetic north.
The compass was an addition to the ancient method of navigation based on sightings of the sun and stars. It was invented during the Chinese Han dynasty and had been used for navigation in China by the 11th century. It was adopted by Arab traders in the Indian Ocean. The compass spread to Europe by the late 12th or early 13th century. [33]
Map of western Europe, anonymous and undated, preserved in the Ambrosiana Library, dating from the 14th [21] or 15th centuries. In addition there is a detailed description of a nautical Arab map of the Mediterranean in the Encyclopedia of the Egyptian Ibn Fadl Allah al-'Umari , written between 1330 and 1348. [ 19 ]
Montage of 8 pages (the third to sixth leaves) of the original 1375 Catalan Atlas Detail of the Catalan Atlas, the first compass rose depicted on a map. The Catalan Atlas (Catalan: Atles català, Eastern Catalan: [ˈatləs kətəˈla]) is a medieval world map, or mappa mundi, probably created in the late 1370s or the early 1380s (often conventionally dated 1375), [1] [2] that has been ...
Europe undergoes the Renaissance of the 12th century. The blast furnace for the smelting of cast iron is imported from China, appearing around Lapphyttan, Sweden, as early as 1150. Alexander Neckam is the first European to document the mariner's compass, first documented by Shen Kuo during the previous century.
Kept in the Topkapı Palace Museum, [25] the map is the remaining western third of a world map drawn on gazelle-skin parchment approximately 87 cm × 63 cm. [e] The surviving portion shows the Atlantic Ocean with the coasts of Europe, Africa, and South America. [26] The map is a portolan chart with compass roses from which lines of bearing ...