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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>
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 ===
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