Song Dynasty Marine Compass

Timeline

1. 1044–1088Northern Song capital and coast · ChinaThe Wujing Zongyao records a guiding device placing a magnetic needle in a bowl of water; Shen Kuo's Dream Pool Essays systematically discusses magnetic declination, laying the theoretical foundation for the marine compass.
2. 1111–1120Quanzhou, Guangzhou, and other seaports · Fujian ProvinceZhu Yu's Pingzhou Kutan records that Northern Song merchant ships navigated by 'observing stars at night, the sun by day, and the compass needle in cloudy gloom,' showing the compass had become a routine navigation tool on coastal merchant ships, supporting trade routes to Southeast Asia and beyond.
3. c. 1127–1200China's coast and South China Sea routes · ChinaIn the Southern Song, compass graduations became finer and dry-compass and needle-board techniques improved; transmitted via Arab merchants to the Mediterranean world, it became one of the key technical sources of the medieval global navigation revolution.