The sextant in the age of sailing, is an epoch-making invention, since it was invented, the sea from an unpredictable, full of danger and death, from the Renaissance, European navigation industry began to start, in the Mediterranean, is already considered to be rough, but compared with the vast Atlantic, it is really a lot calmer.

On the sea, why is it easy to get lost, the reason is very simple, there is no reference, above the vast sea, there is sea water everywhere, there is no comparison with each other, once you lose some basic data, for example, ship speed and course, you can't judge the position.

On the surface of the sea in the 11th century, of course, it is impossible to record accurately, even if the most diligent captain can do, that is, every once in a while, estimate the general direction and speed of the ship, which is almost recorded by feeling and experience, the error is very large, and when the whole voyage continues to a certain extent, this error will reach an unacceptable level.

This was also the fundamental reason for the existence of supply ports in the early days of the Age of Sail, and even the most experienced captain could not maintain a long voyage without a goal.

The supply port has become a key, every once in a while, there is no need to enter the supply port, the supply port can not only provide supplies, but also correct the route, which is equivalent to a disguised ocean voyage, into a section, so that the combination of ocean and supply can reduce these errors to a minimum.

Unfortunately, this method is not the most reliable, through experience, the speed and time, direction and other elements are recorded, you can also judge the general direction, but once you encounter a storm, the whole ship is out of control, how to judge the speed.

Even if you are lucky enough to survive the storm, in the midst of a raging storm, no one can determine the basic course and speed, and after a storm, God knows how much error can be made.

Without a method that can determine the distance anytime and anywhere, it is impossible to go deep into the ocean, which is also the common problem of navigation before the sextant, under the premise of only one compass, at most to judge the southeast, northwest and northeast of the course, and then through the chart for a rough direction course.

In this case, even if there is a sea vessel suitable for the ocean, it is not easy to enter the depths of the sea casually, because it is easy to get lost.

In the beginning, often sailing 10 ships, the final can come back, only four or five percent, and the accumulation of long-term sailing, the final profit is not much, navigation in the beginning, is not a common, the lowest freight basic transportation project, but a project full of huge profits and risks.

A successful voyage, one step to the sky rumors abound, in the early voyages, more than 100 times the profiteering goods can be seen everywhere, the most profitable in fact, is the Oriental products, tea, porcelain, silk, these Oriental specialties, in the Oriental transaction price, is just one or two copper coins, but as long as it is transported to Europe, that is more expensive than gold, or even beyond the existence of gold.

Similarly, spices, glass balls, weapons, etc., were the most important products of ocean voyages, and the reason why in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries Europeans were keen to find the land of gold was because of the attraction of great wealth.

Even an ordinary ship of eighty or ninety tons, as long as it can reach the East, is full of goods from the East, and successfully returns to Europe, it will make enough profit to make a man from ordinary to very rich.

This is also the reason why European voyages have followed one after another in the beginning.

The advent of the sextant is, in fact, a history of development, and when the data of the ship itself cannot help the ship determine the precise course of comparison, it can only find another way.

Above the sea, there is a vast expanse, there is no distinguishable sea water everywhere, and there is no reference at all, so when the natural science develops to a certain extent, under the premise that there is no way to refer to the water surface and itself, the sky becomes the only choice.

In astrophysics and other disciplines, after entering a considerable extent, the basic theories of geocentrism, heliocentrism, and even the circle of the earth have been perfected, and the sun and the stars in the sky have become a fixed point for distinguishing the direction.

This forms a relatively accurate judgment method, which is actually the key to the application of the basic theory of the sextant. Take the position of the sun or a certain star as a fixed point, and then, on the earth, divide the latitude and longitude, and use this latitude and longitude to determine the location, and then assist a part of the chart, which has become a weapon that can be continuously explored into the deep sea.

Zhao Xin is a historian, he may not know the exact theory and manufacturing method of the sextant, but he knows this basic principle, and knows the significance of this measurement method in the entire Age of Navigation, so as early as the polishing of the crystal telescope, similar research has been started, and some preparations have been made.

It's a pity that before, the influence of the Dinghai Navy was only carried out in the Daimyo Mansion and the Dinghai Navy, that is, last year, along with the industrial and commercial activities of the Dinghai Navy, spread throughout the Northern Song Dynasty, similar measurements, and began to be carried out.

However, a key issue is the cultivation of human resources.

Measuring these latitudes and longitudes, the best is of course a very good understanding of the astrophysics of the earth, and a macroscopic data of latitude and longitude is clear, such people, not to mention in the Northern Song Dynasty, even in the current world, on the vast earth, there is only Zhao Xin, even if it is pushed back another 500 years, to the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, there are not many who can compare with Zhao Xin.

This is the superiority of the consulting era, in the consulting era, the knowledge explosion, any person who can operate the Internet, can accept a large number of consultations in a short time, actively and passively, hundreds of years ago, it was a secret art, it is something that some nobles and scholars cherished, but in the 21st century, it has become common sense.

In the 21st century, latitude and longitude are almost familiar to everyone, and the two basic terms of north latitude and east longitude can appear in the weather forecast behind the news every day, not for the city, but for the forecast at sea, mostly for the highest wind in the relative sea area, which will also become the basic indicator for fishermen to go out to sea.

Knowing that there are large winds and waves, or tropical storms, it is the most correct choice to avoid them in advance, or not to enter the port, even in the 21st century, in the face of storms at sea, it is not fearless.

In the era that Zhao Xin traveled, not to mention the dimension, it was from the equator as a central point, dividing the entire northern and southern hemispheres into 90 degrees, and judging the dimension at one time, but the longitude was different, the earth is a circle, which point to start from, which point is very important.

In fact, the sextant appeared in the 18th century and became widespread in the 19th century, but the latitude and longitude, to be exact, was not determined until 1884, at the end of the 19th century.

At that time, Britain, across the seven seas, was not only the most powerful at sea, but also the strongest in the country, and in this way, it was also after some competition that the original site of the Greenwich Observatory was used as the starting point of the 0-dimensional line, from this point to the east to the west, it was zero degrees, which was also the famous prime meridian, and on the longitude line, only the other one, the International Date Line at the other end of the earth, could be compared with him.

Today, Britain is still a small country on the European continent, not the British Empire, which later spanned the seven seas, and is still trembling under the majesty of Denmark.

Since the 8th century, Denmark has been ruling the United Kingdom, although there have been some iterations in the middle, around the 10th century, the British gradually reclaimed some land, but there are repeated battles between them, in general, England is still in the stage of fighting for national independence.

Similarly, Europe only focuses on the Mediterranean, as well as Europe itself, at best, they are only a series of city-state civilizations, which can be seen from the Northern Song Dynasty, which has accounted for more than 9% of the entire world economy, and it can be seen that Europe and East Asia, or even the Northern Song Dynasty to be exact, are far from an order of magnitude.

The latitude and longitude lines are very important, and his appearance is to determine the position, the earth is a sphere, and because of this, a meridian and latitude are intertwined with each other, forming a fixed point, which is also the only point, representing the position coordinates.

On the whole earth, the length of the meridian and the length of the latitude are determined, and then every degree, its length is a basic determination, in the sea, in the absence of dense islands and straits, there is almost no channel on the pure sea, and the straight-line distance between latitude and longitude can almost be calculated.

Latitude and longitude and sextant are two things that cooperate with each other, and when they are combined, they can accurately determine the direction and navigation at sea.

For the Northern Song Dynasty, optics may still be, Mozi was the first to propose that light travels in a straight line, and astrophysics is more applied to the calendar.

The calendar is very useful, the Chinese lunar calendar, most of the solar terms, are related to the agricultural time, in the different solar terms with the cooperation of some of the solar terms for planting food, but also deeply rooted in the hearts of the people.

This is also related to the development of China, from the beginning of a unified dynasty, China is a country with agriculture as the main body, agriculture, may not be the most profitable industry, but it is also the most important, because it is related to everyone's food problem, when a person can not eat, everything can be done

From this point, not to mention the Dinghai Navy, even the entire Northern Song Dynasty, in this latitude and longitude, there is almost no one who is helpful to Zhao Xin.

However, Zhao Xin relied on the basic things in the 9-year compulsory education, and was able to be admitted to Peking University in a remote mountainous area.

Actually, these things are common sense, and there are some things that basically everyone knows, or has an impression.

In the latitude and longitude data, the most important main sentences, the zero degree line of the equator, or the Tropic of Cancer of 23.5 degrees in the north-south dimension, which are fixed, no matter how powerful the earthlings are, it is impossible to affect the operation of the solar system, between the sun and the earth, the earth's axis of rotation and the ecliptic plane of the sun, for a long time to maintain an angle of 66.34 degrees, resulting in the entire tropical region, but also caused the position of the equator and the Tropic of Cancer.

These fixed points are very meaningful, they do not change according to the set change, in any period, in any standard, the equator, the Tropic of Capricorn, are fixed, the North Pole and the South Pole are also fixed.

But the meridian is different, this is from the beginning to the end, a complete circle, the line that judges the starting point, is very important, it is related to the determination of the following latitude and longitude, there must be a fixed value.

The prime meridian was also negotiated by the countries of the world, coupled with the strength of Britain, and was fixed in Greenwich, London, England, and now, Britain is still under the rule of Denmark, France is slightly better, and has gradually become a European power, but their vision is still on land, not at sea.

In fact, the rise of Spain and Portugal, they were also forced to do nothing, they have never been a land power with a large population, the road is strong, it is Denmark, Russia, France, Spain and Portugal, even if they are crazy at sea, but they have almost no dominance on the land.

The prime meridian and the Paris line are impossible to appear, and it is impossible for Zhao Xin to let them appear thousands of miles away, China entered the ocean in advance, but set a prime meridian that belongs to Europe, or an important line, isn't that brain-dead?

However, a prime meridian must be set, and this basic data related to the entire nautical chart must be determined at the beginning of the nautical chart.

In the current situation, there are two choices for this zero degree line, one is Bianliang, what Zhao Xin said, he is also the son of Renzong, even if he does not use force, it is impossible to change the title of Song, regardless of whether Bianliang is the capital or not, at this time, when he has not yet shown his fangs, no one can find fault with Bianliang, and even to a certain extent, taking this as a gift to Renzong is also a big and small statement.

Bianliang is one of them, and the other is the current Dingjun, which is the foundation and development place of Zhao Xin, and is also a port and shipbuilding center, which naturally has the foundation to become the prime meridian.

Both settings can be used as prime meridian choices, each with its own advantages, but in fact, Zhao Xin is more inclined to set the navy.

Genius one second to remember the address of this site:. Mobile version reading URL: m.