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{{Short description|Aspect of history}}
[[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 '''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.<ref name="cambridge1">{{cite book|last=Lowrie|first=William|title=Fundamentals of Geophysics|year=2007|publisher=Cambridge University Press|location=London|isbn=978-0-521-67596-3|pages=281 |ol=7751496M|url=https://openlibrary.org/books/OL7751496M/Fundamentals_of_Geophysics |quote=Early in the Han dynasty, between 300 and 200 BC, the Chinese fashioned a rudimentary compass out of lodestone. [...] This compass may have been used in the search for gems and in the selection of sites for houses. [...] Their directive power led to the use of compasses for navigation [...]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Shu-hua|first=Li|title=Origine de la Boussole II. Aimant et Boussole|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/348315|journal=Isis|year=1954|volume=45|issue=2|pages=175–177|doi=10.1086/348315|s2cid=143585290|issn=0021-1753|via=JSTOR}}</ref> It was called the "South Pointing Fish" and was used for land navigation by the mid-11th century during the [[Song dynasty]] (960–1279 AD). [[Shen Kuo]] provided the first explicit description of a magnetized needle in 1088 and [[Zhu Yu (author)|Zhu Yu]] mentioned its use in maritime navigation in the text ''Pingzhou Table Talks'', dated 1111–1117.<ref name="merrill" /><ref>{{Cite journal|title=Science and Civilisation in China. Volume IV, Physics and Physical Technology. Part 1, Physics. By <italic>Joseph Needham et al.</italic> (New York: Cambridge University Press. 1962. Pp. xxxiv, 434. $15.00.)|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/ahr/68.2.463|journal=The American Historical Review|year=1963|doi=10.1086/ahr/68.2.463|issn=1937-5239}}</ref> Later compasses were made of iron needles, magnetized by striking them with a lodestone. Magnetized needles and compasses were first described in medieval Europe by the English theologian [[Alexander Neckam]] (1157–1217 AD). The first usage of a compass in [[Western Europe]] was recorded in around 1190 and in the [[Islamic world]] 1232.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Kreutz|first=Barbara M.|title=Mediterranean Contributions to the Medieval Mariner's Compass|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/3102323|journal=Technology and Culture|year=1973|volume=14|issue=3|pages=370|doi=10.2307/3102323|jstor=3102323|issn=0040-165X|via=JSTOR}}</ref> Dry compasses begin appearing around 1269 in [[Medieval Europe]] and 1300 in the Medieval [[Islamic world]].<ref name=Schmidl /><ref name="Lane, p. 615" /><ref name="OEPST" /> This was replaced in the early 20th century by the liquid-filled magnetic compass.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Kalin|first=Ibrahim|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/acref:oiso/9780199812578.001.0001|title=The Oxford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Science, and Technology in Islam|year=2014|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-981257-8|pages=144–147|doi=10.1093/acref:oiso/9780199812578.001.0001}}</ref>
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