Content deleted Content added
Doug Weller (talk | contribs) Restored revision 1139277953 by MichaelMaggs (talk): Misrepresentation of source, which saays"But more accurate and extensive information mainly from paleomagnetism and archaeology is needed to reject or accept the hypothesis" |
Rescuing 1 sources and tagging 0 as dead.) #IABot (v2.0.9.5 |
||
| (48 intermediate revisions by 40 users not shown) | |||
Line 1:
{{short description|none}} <!-- "none" is preferred when the title is sufficiently descriptive; see [[WP:SDNONE]] -->
[[File:Southern Song Figure Holding Land Compass (9872744925).jpg|thumb|[[Song dynasty]] figurine of a man holding a compass]]
The [[compass]] is a [[magnetometer]] used for [[navigation]] and orientation that shows direction in regards to the [[Cardinal direction|geographic cardinal points]]. The structure of a compass consists of the compass rose, which displays the four main directions on it: [[East]] (E), [[South]] (S), [[West]] (W) and [[North]] (N). The angle increases in the clockwise position. North corresponds to 0°, so east is 90°, south is 180° and west is 270°.
The
== Navigation prior to the compass ==
{{See also|Polynesian navigation}}
Before the introduction of the compass, geographical position and direction at sea were primarily determined by the sighting of landmarks, supplemented with the observation of the position of celestial bodies.<ref name="Guarnieri 7-1">{{Cite journal|last=Guarnieri|first=M.|year=2014|title=Once Upon a Time, the Compass|journal=IEEE Industrial Electronics Magazine|volume=8|issue=2|pages=60–63|doi=10.1109/MIE.2014.2316044|s2cid=11949042}}</ref> Other techniques included sampling mud from the seafloor (China),<ref>{{cite book|title=Science and Civilization in China|author=Joseph Needham|author-link=Joseph Needham|page=279}}</ref> analyzing the flight path of birds, and observing wind, sea debris, and sea state (Polynesia and elsewhere).<ref name="Lewis 1972">{{cite book|last1=Lewis|first1=David|title=We, the Navigators|date=1972|publisher=University of Hawaii Press|location=HI|isbn=9780824802295}}</ref> Objects that have been understood as having been used for navigation by measuring the angles between celestial objects
|title=The Genius That Was China: East and West in the making of the modern world.
|url=https://archive.org/details/geniusthatwaschi0000mers
Line 29:
The compass was invented in China during the [[Han dynasty]] between the 2nd century BC and 1st century AD where it was called the '''"south-governor"'''(''sīnán'' {{lang|zh|司南}}) or '''"South Pointing Fish"''' ({{lang|zh|指南魚}}).<ref name=merrill /> The magnetic compass was not, at first, used for navigation, but for [[geomancy]] and [[fortune-telling]] by the [[China|Chinese]]. The earliest [[China|Chinese]] [[magnetic]] compasses were possibly used to order and harmonize buildings by the geomantic principles of ''[[feng shui]]''. These early compasses were made with [[lodestone]], a form of the mineral [[magnetite]] that is a naturally occurring [[magnet]] and aligns itself with the Earth's magnetic field.<ref name="Guarnieri 7-1"/> People in ancient China discovered that if a lodestone was suspended so it could turn freely, it would always point toward the magnetic poles. Early compasses were used to choose areas suitable for building houses, growing crops, and to search for rare gems. Compasses were later adapted for navigation during the [[Song dynasty]] in the 11th century.<ref name="cambridge1" />
Based on Krotser and Coe's discovery of an [[Olmec]] [[hematite]] artifact in [[Mesoamerica]], [[radiocarbon dating|radiocarbon dated]] to 1400–1000 BC, astronomer John Carlson has hypothesized that the Olmec might have used the geomagnetic [[lodestone]] earlier than 1000 BC for [[geomancy]], a method of [[divination]], which if proven true, predates the Chinese use of magnetism for [[feng shui]] by a millennium.<ref name="John B. Carlson 1975">John B. Carlson, "Lodestone Compass: Chinese or Olmec Primacy? Multidisciplinary Analysis of an Olmec Hematite Artifact from San Lorenzo, Veracruz, Mexico", ''Science'', New Series, Vol. 189, No. 4205 (5 September 1975), pp. 753-760 (1975)</ref> Carlson speculates that the Olmecs used similar artifacts as a directional device for astronomical or [[geomancy|geomantic]] purposes but does not suggest navigational usage. The artifact is part of a polished [[hematite]] bar with a groove at one end, possibly used for sighting. Carlson's claims have been disputed by other scientific researchers, who have suggested that the artifact is actually a constituent piece of a decorative ornament and not a purposely built compass.<ref>{{cite book|last=Needham|first=Joseph |author2=Lu Gwei-Djen|title=Trans-Pacific Echoes and Resonances: Listening Once Again |publisher=World Scientific |year=1985 |page=21}}</ref> Several other hematite or magnetite artifacts have been found at pre-Columbian archaeological sites in Mexico and Guatemala.<ref name="A. P. Guimarães 2004">{{cite journal | last1 = Guimarães | first1 = A. P. | year = 2004 | title = Mexico and the early history of magnetism | journal = Revista Mexicana de Fisica | volume = 50 | pages = 51–53 | bibcode = 2004RMxFE..50...51G }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.dartmouth.edu/~izapa/CS-MM-Chap.%203.htm |title=Chapter 3 |publisher=Dartmouth.edu |access-date=2015-06-06 |archive-date=2012-07-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120716191610/http://www.dartmouth.edu/~izapa/CS-MM-Chap.%203.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref>
== Early navigational compass ==
A number of early cultures used [[lodestone]] so they could turn, as magnetic compasses for navigation. Early mechanical compasses are referenced in written records of the [[China|Chinese]], who began using it for navigation
However, there are questions over diffusion. Some historians suggest that the Arabs introduced the compass from China to Europe.<ref name="needhamb">{{cite book|last=Needham|first=Joseph|title=Cambridge University Press|publisher=University of California Press|pages=173|quote=Thus the possibility presents itself that... it may have formed part of one of those transmissions from Asia which we find in so many fields of applied science}}</ref><ref name="mceachren">{{cite book|last=McEachren|first=Justin W.|title=General Science Quarterly, Volumes 5-6|publisher=University of California Press|pages=337|quote=From the Chinese, the Arabs in all probability learned to use the magnetic needle, and in this round-about fashion it was brought to Europe}}</ref> Some suggested the compass was transmitted from China to Europe and the Islamic world via the Indian Ocean,<ref name=Bentley>{{cite book|last=Bentley|first= Jerry|title=Traditions & Encounters: A Global Perspective on the Past |pages=637}}</ref> or was brought by the crusaders to Europe from China.<ref name=Derek>[[Derek J. de Solla Price]], [http://www.gutenberg.org/files/30001/30001-h/30001-h.htm On the Origin of Clockwork, Perpetual Motion Devices, and the Compass]</ref> However, some scholars have proposed an independent European invention of the compass.<ref name=ehstmnw>'' Enclyopaedia of the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine in Non-Western Cultures'', "Compass" entry, Helaine Selin, 1997, Springer-Science+Business Media. page 233</ref>
=== China ===
Line 42:
These are noteworthy [[History of China|Chinese]] literary references in evidence for its antiquity:
* The magnetic compass was first invented as a device for [[divination]] as early as the [[History of Science and Technology in China|Chinese]] [[Han dynasty]] and [[Tang dynasty]] (since about 206 BC).<ref name="cambridge1"/><ref name=merrill>{{cite book|last=Merrill|first=Ronald T.|title=The Earth's magnetic field: Its history, origin and planetary perspective|url=https://archive.org/details/earthsmagneticfi00merr|url-access=registration|year=1983|publisher=Academic press|location=San Francisco|isbn=0-12-491242-7|page=[https://archive.org/details/earthsmagneticfi00merr/page/1 1]|edition=2nd printing|author2=McElhinny, Michael W.}}</ref><ref name="Li Shu-hua, p. 176">Li Shu-hua, p. 176</ref> The compass was used in [[Song dynasty]] China by the military for [[Land navigation (military)|navigational orienteering]] by 1040–44,<ref name="Barbara M. Kreutz 367" /><ref name="needham volume 4 part 1 252">Needham, p. 252</ref><ref name="Li Shu-hua, p. 182f">Li Shu-hua, p. 182f.</ref> and was used for maritime navigation by 1111 to 1117.<ref name="Ronan">{{cite book|author1=Colin A. Ronan|author2=Joseph Needham|title=The Shorter Science and Civilisation in China|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CjRAiqGSJ50C&pg=PA27|date=25 July 1986|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-31560-9|pages=28–29}}</ref>
* The earliest [[Chinese literature]] reference to
* The first mention of a spoon, speculated to be a lodestone, observed
* The first clear account of
* A reference to a magnetized needle as a "
* The earliest reference to a specific magnetic
* The first incontestable reference to a
* The earliest explicit recorded use of a magnetic compass for
[[File:Ming-marine-compass.jpg|thumb|upright|Diagram of a [[Ming dynasty]] mariner's compass]]
Line 66:
In the Mediterranean, the introduction of the compass, at first only known as a magnetized pointer floating in a bowl of water,<ref>Kreutz, p. 368–369</ref> went hand in hand with improvements in [[dead reckoning]] methods, and the development of [[Portolan chart]]s, leading to more navigation during winter months in the second half of the 13th century.<ref>Lane, p. 606f.</ref><ref name="Guarnieri 7-1"/> While the practice from ancient times had been to curtail sea travel between October and April, due in part to the lack of dependable clear skies during the Mediterranean winter, the prolongation of the sailing season resulted in a gradual, but sustained increase in shipping movement; by around 1290 the sailing season could start in late January or February, and end in December.<ref>Lane, p. 608</ref> The additional few months were of considerable economic importance. For instance, it enabled [[Venice|Venetian]] convoys to make two round trips a year to the [[Levant]], instead of one.<ref>Lane, p. 608 & 610</ref>
Between 1295 and 1302, [[Flavio Gioja]] converted the compass from a needle floating in water to what we use today, a round box with a compass card that rotates 360 degrees attached to a magnetic element.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/riddleofcompass00acze|title=The riddle of the compass : the invention that changed the world|last=Aczel|first=Amir D.|date=2001|publisher=Harcourt|isbn=0151005060|edition=1st|location=New York|oclc=45102891|url-access=registration}}</ref>
At the same time, traffic between the Mediterranean and northern Europe also increased, with the first evidence of direct commercial voyages from the Mediterranean into the English Channel coming in the closing decades of the 13th century, and one factor may be that the compass made traversal of the [[Bay of Biscay]] safer and easier.<ref>Lane, p. 608 & 613</ref> However, critics like Kreutz have suggested that it was later in 1410 that anyone really started steering by compass.<ref>Kreutz, p. 372–373</ref>
Line 72 ⟶ 74:
[[File: Al-Ashraf compass and qibla diagram.png|thumb|[[Al-Ashraf Umar II|Al-Ashraf]]'s diagram of the compass and Qibla. From MS Cairo TR 105, copied in Yemen, 1293.<ref name=Schmidl />]]
The earliest reference to a compass in the [[Muslim world]] occurs in a [[Persian language|Persian]] talebook from 1232, ''[[Jawami ul-Hikayat]]'',<ref name="Barbara M. Kreutz 370" /> where a compass is used for navigation during a trip in the [[Red Sea]] or the [[Persian Gulf]].<ref name=OEPST
Late in the 13th century, the [[Yemen]]i Sultan and [[Islamic astronomy|astronomer]] [[al-Malik al-Ashraf]] described the use of the compass as a "[[Qibla]] indicator" to find the direction to [[Mecca]].<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Savage-Smith | first1 = Emilie|author-link1 =Emilie Savage-Smith | year = 1988 | title = Gleanings from an Arabist's Workshop: Current Trends in the Study of Medieval Islamic Science and Medicine | journal = [[Isis (journal)|Isis]] | volume = 79 | issue = 2| pages = 246–266 [263] | doi=10.1086/354701| pmid = 3049439 | s2cid = 33884974 }}</ref> In a treatise about [[astrolabes]] and [[sundials]], al-Ashraf includes several paragraphs on the construction of a compass bowl (ṭāsa). He then uses the compass to determine the north point, the [[meridian (astronomy)|meridian]] (khaṭṭ niṣf al-nahār), and the Qibla. This is the first mention of a compass in a medieval Islamic scientific text and its earliest known use as a Qibla indicator, although al-Ashraf did not claim to be the first to use it for this purpose.<ref name=Schmidl /><ref name=BEA>{{cite encyclopedia | editor = Thomas Hockey|display-editors=etal | last = Schmidl | first = Petra G. | title=Ashraf: al‐Malik al‐Ashraf (Mumahhid al‐Dīn) ʿUmar ibn Yūsuf ibn ʿUmar ibn ʿAlī ibn Rasūl | encyclopedia = The Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers | publisher = Springer | year = 2007 | location = New York | pages = 66–7 | url=http://islamsci.mcgill.ca/RASI/BEA/Ashraf_BEA.htm | isbn=9780387310220}} ([http://islamsci.mcgill.ca/RASI/BEA/Ashraf_BEA.pdf PDF version])</ref>
Line 83 ⟶ 85:
Pre modern Arabic sources refer to the compass using the term ''ṭāsa'' (lit. "bowl") for the floating compass, or ''ālat al-qiblah'' ("qibla instrument") for a device used for orienting towards Mecca.<ref name=OEPST>{{Cite encyclopedia | publisher = Oxford University Press| isbn = 978-0-19-981257-8| editor= Ibrahim Kalin | last = Schmidl | first = Petra G. | title = Compass | encyclopedia = The Oxford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Science, and Technology in Islam| date = 2014-05-08| pages=144–6}}</ref>
[[Friedrich Hirth]] suggested that Arab and Persian traders, who learned about the polarity of the magnetic needle from the Chinese, applied the compass for navigation before the Chinese did.<ref>{{Cite book| publisher = New York, The Columbia university press| last = Hirth| first = Friedrich| title = Ancient history of China to the end of the Chóu dynasty| date = 1908| url = https://archive.org/details/ancienthistoryof00hirt|page=[https://archive.org/details/ancienthistoryof00hirt/page/n157 134]}}</ref> However, Needham described this theory as "erroneous" and "it originates because of a
=== India ===
The development of the magnetic compass is highly uncertain. The compass is mentioned in fourth-century AD [[Tamil people|Tamil]] [[nautical]] books; moreover, its early name of ''macchayantra'' (fish machine) suggest a Chinese origin. In its Indian form, the wet compass often consisted of a fish-shaped magnet, float in a bowl filled with oil.<ref>{{cite book|title=Encyclopaedia of the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine in Non-Western Cultures|editor=Helaine Selin |publisher= Springer|page=197|isbn=978-1-4020-4559-2|year=2008}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HUAPAAAAIAAJ&q=%22matsya+yantra%22 |title=The American Journal of Science|accessdate=2009-06-30|year=1919}}</ref>
=== Medieval Africa ===
| |||