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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.
This was the decisive step in human history to make compasses more useful for navigation, and may have been a concept unknown in Europe for another four hundred years (evidence of German sundials made circa 1450 show markings similar to Chinese geomancers' compasses in regard to declination). [7]
Alexander Neckam is the first European to document the mariner's compass, first documented by Shen Kuo during the previous century. Christian humanism becomes a self-conscious philosophical tendency in Europe. Christianity is also introduced to Estonia, Finland, and Karelia. The first medieval universities are founded. Pierre Abelard teaches.
The Chinese scientist Shen Kuo (1031–1095) was the first person known to write about the magnetic needle compass and by the 12th century Chinese were known to use the lodestone compass for navigation. In Europe, the first description of the compass and its use for navigation are of Alexander Neckam (1187), although the use of compasses was ...
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 ...
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.
32-point compass rose. The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography.A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each separated by 90 degrees, and secondarily divided by four ordinal (intercardinal) directions—northeast, southeast, southwest, and ...