Compass Navigation at Sea

Timeline

1. 1001Kaifeng, Northern Song capital, and surroundings · Central PlainsNorthern Song texts record rubbing iron needles with lodestone or floating magnetic needles to point south; the technique was first applied in land orientation and geomancy, laying the principle groundwork for the later maritime compass.
2. c. 1127–1279Quanzhou · FujianSouthern Song seagoing ships were commonly equipped with wet compasses and needle boards; navigators oriented by the 24 directions as recorded in works like the Wujing Zongyao, voyaging as far as Southeast Asia and the Indian Ocean coast, making magnetic-needle navigation increasingly systematic.
3. 1201Baghdad · IraqArab scholars such as Ibn Battuta recorded the use of magnetic compasses in Mediterranean and Indian Ocean voyaging; the technology reached the Islamic world via Chinese and Southeast Asian trade routes and was used alongside the astrolabe.
4. 1211–1220Indian Ocean–South China Sea trade routes · Maritime trade routesAs the Mongols rose alongside Southern Song maritime trade, the magnetic compass was in common use among Chinese merchant ships and Arab sailing fleets, supporting active transoceanic spice and porcelain trade between 1211 and 1220; navigation technology became infrastructure of the Eurasian maritime network.