History of the compass: Difference between revisions

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 sometime between the 9th and 11th century, "some time before 1050, possibly as early as 850."<ref>{{cite book|last=Needham|first=Joseph|title=The Shorter Science and Civilisation in China, Volume 3|year=1986|publisher=Cambridge University Press|pages=176|isbn=978-0-521-31560-9|quote=the introduction of the mariner's compass on Chinese ships some time before 1050, possibly as early as 850}}</ref><ref name="Guarnieri 7-1" /> At present, according to Kreutz, scholarly consensus is that the Chinese invention used in navigation pre-dates the first European mention of a compass by 150 years.<ref name="Barbara M. Kreutz 367">Kreutz, p. 367</ref> The first recorded appearance of the use of the compass in Europe (1190)<ref name="Barbara M. Kreutz 368" /> is earlier than in the Muslim world (1232),<ref name="Barbara M. Kreutz 370">Kreutz, p. 370</ref><ref name="Barbara M. Kreutz 369">Kreutz, p. 369</ref> as a description of a magnetized needle and its use among sailors occurs in [[Alexander Neckam]]'s ''De naturis rerum'' (On the Natures of Things), written in 1190.<ref name="Barbara M. Kreutz 368">Kreutz, p. 368</ref><ref name="Lanza 2006 255">{{cite book | last1= Lanza | first1=Roberto | last2=Meloni | first2=Antonio | title=The earth's magnetism an introduction for geologists | year=2006 | publisher=Springer | location=Berlin | page=255 | isbn=978-3-540-27979-2}}</ref>