There was no navigation in ancient times, so why didn't people get lost? On the Directional Tools of Ancient Tourism

Ancient people, like now, have infinite yearning for the distance. As the old saying goes, read thousands of books and take Wan Li Road. ? Ancient China people never stopped exploring distant places. The transportation of ancient people was not as convenient and fast as it is now, and it took a long time to travel every time.

With longing for the distance and hometown, a wanderer often returns to his hometown at the end of the year. The first traveler to explore will remember the scenic landmarks in his trip and then pass them on to future generations by telling them. This is the original form of China's travel records.

First of all, the ancient people in China explored the distant world.

Later, word-of-mouth records became charcoal template records. This is a special way for ancient people in China to record travel itinerary signs. With the progress of history, people began to record their travels with paper and pens and pass them on to future generations. It is this family form of inheritance mode that the ancients learned about the distant world bit by bit.

This is actually the origin of the ancient map of China. At first, it spread and continued in the way of family, and later it became a popular geographical indication tool to help ancient travelers find a way out and not get lost on the journey.

For these four directions, the ancients also had their own unique cognitive skills. In the morning, the sun rises in the east and sets in the west, which is a well-known way to tell the direction. In the morning, when the sun is among the trees, the direction is the east. As well as the direction of lush foliage, the ancients thought that this direction was the south, from which the word "south" in the interpretation of Chinese characters came.

China's ancient astronomical geography theory is profound and perfect, and it is in a leading position compared with the development of other countries in the world. As far as direction identification is concerned, the ancients used their intelligence to learn to identify the direction according to the direction of Polaris and Venus, and helped them find the right way. Venus is also called the morning star.

The ancients also called it Chang Geng Xing. There is a poem in The Book of Songs that Venus is an important symbol for the ancients to identify the West. Polaris is an important icon used by ancient people to find the north. The ancients also called Polaris the Big Dipper, and its name came from the group of stars that looked like the Big Dipper. In ancient times, if a wanderer lost his way at night, the main way was to look for the right way by observing the Big Dipper.

Second, ancient pathfinding tools and methods

1, Sina The most primitive compass

The application of magnets was not originally in the western world. As early as the Warring States period in China, people full of wisdom and wisdom in ancient times discovered magnets and their special magnetism, and applied the magnetism of magnets to identify the direction, and achieved good practical results. After a long period of social and historical development, China invented the compass in the Eastern Han Dynasty. The so-called Sina is the earliest compass in ancient China. The manufacturing principle of this tool is based on the principle of magnetic force.

Sina's modeling is very unique. It looks like a golden spoon from the outside. In fact, the ancients thought that the shape of this spoon is the shape of the Big Dipper, and Sina is equivalent to the seven stars of the Big Dipper on the ground, helping people find the right direction. The handle of Sina spoon is like the pointer on our clock now, and the pointer always points to the south.

2. Sina Fish and CSR

Sina has made good achievements in social practice in the early days, but this invention is also quite flawed. For example, the spoon magnetism of Sina is sometimes unstable. From a physical point of view, due to the friction and gravity between Sina and the earth's surface, these forces will affect the stability of Sina's magnetism.

Later, the wise ancients invented Sina Fish, which is an upgraded version of Sina. Sina fish operates directly in the water, using the buoyancy of water to reduce the friction with the water surface, thus greatly improving the accuracy of Sina pointer pointing to the south.

There was a very famous scientist named Shen Kuo in the Northern Song Dynasty. Shen Kuo is not only a cultural scholar, but also a famous scientific inventor. In his masterpiece Meng Xi Tan, the method of making China's ancient compass was introduced in detail. In this work, Shen Kuo also recorded his discovery of magnetic declination, which was a great discovery of Shen Kuo and played an important role in promoting the study of ancient road guidance.

The ancients often needed to go to remote areas to March and fight. In some desolate areas, there is no suitable guide, so how to find the right direction for large troops has become an important topic. Later, the ancients invented CSR specifically for military navigation. The manufacturing principle of CSR is completely different from Sina and Sina Fish. Its manufacturing principle is mainly using mechanical structure rather than magnetic attraction.

CSR's pointer arrow is a small dummy pointing to the south, with exquisite appearance and high accuracy in identifying the direction. The arrow of CSR always points to the south, and CSR played an important role in determining the direction of ancient March.

3、? Cross the ocean and lead the stars?

The story of Zheng He's seven voyages to the West in the Ming Dynasty is still widely circulated among the people. In that historical period, there were no advanced scientific and technological inventions and tools to determine the direction. How did Zheng He and his team find their way in the Atlantic without getting lost for a long time? This involves a very magical method of maritime navigation in ancient times, that is? Cross the ocean and lead the stars.

Cross the ocean and lead the stars? Compared with the principles of Southwest China and Beidou, it is more complicated, but its fundamental principle also belongs to the same type, that is, to distinguish the direction according to the relationship between astronomy and geography. ? Cross the ocean and lead the stars? The principle of navigation sextant is the origin of the structure of navigation sextant we use at present.

Third, summary.

It is conceivable that the ancient navigation wisdom has influenced and played a role in modern navigation technology. After Zheng He went to the Western Ocean, he also made a very accurate chart of Zheng He's navigation, that is, a map of the Atlantic Ocean and surrounding countries and regions, which was of great benefit to future explorers.

Today, when we see imaginative inventions thousands of years ago, such as Sina, Sina Fish and Zheng He's nautical charts, we admire the wisdom of the ancients. Even without modern navigation equipment and related instruments, ancient people can still find the right way under the guidance of the methods of identifying directions handed down from generation to generation and ancient navigation tools.