中国的四大发明之一指南针(compass)是用来辨别方向的工具，发明时间最早可以追朔到战国时代（西元前475年-西元前221年），当时人们已知道利用天然的磁石雕琢成一个勺子的形状，并放在刻有方位的盘上，因为勺柄有指南的作用，所以在那时候又称为司南，也是指南针的前身，经过一千多年后，直到宋朝（西元960-1279年）才有我们现在所谓的指南针。在指南针发明前，古人办别方向是以星象为主，但要是遇到天气不好的时候，大家也就没辄了，指南针被发明后，人们除了把它广泛的运用在航海上，对于国与国之间贸易和文化往来也产生很大的影响。
连结网页
- Page 762 of Medieval Italy: An Encyclopedia by Christopher Kleinhenz describes the early use of the compass in Europe, and is available for viewing with Google Books.
- Susan Silverman's description of early compass use at the Smith Collage museum website.
- A very fine short article on Chinese inventions at Webster University (one of the historylines collaborators is a graduate of Webster) describes the compass.
- A cute little web site in Chinese language that describes early compass inventions and use in China.
连结网页
- Page 762 of Medieval Italy: An Encyclopedia by Christopher Kleinhenz describes the early use of the compass in Europe, and is available for viewing with Google Books.
- Susan Silverman's description of early compass use at the Smith Collage museum website.
- A very fine short article on Chinese inventions at Webster University (one of the historylines collaborators is a graduate of Webster) describes the compass.
- A cute little web site in Chinese language that describes early compass inventions and use in China.