High Middle Ages · East Asia · Technology
1121
Song navigators adopt the magnetic compass
1121
Chinese mariners began routinely using magnetized iron needles floating in bowls of water to determine direction at open sea, a revolutionary technology described in Zhu Yu's contemporary Pingzhou Table Talks. The maritime compass transformed tentative coastal navigation into confident open-ocean voyaging, enabling Song merchant fleets to reach Java, the Malabar coast of India, and the ports of the Persian Gulf with unprecedented speed and reliability.
In context
Also in 1121 (4 other events on record)
- Battle of Didgori · Middle East · War
- Ibn Tumart founds the Almohad movement · Africa · Religion
- Abelard condemned at Soissons · Europe · Religion
- Nizari Assassins strike the Seljuk vizier · Middle East · Politics
Before and after in East Asia
Before and after in Technology
Era
High Middle Ages (1000–1300), one of 1,306 events from that era on Saeculum.