Technology & Infrastructure in the 12th century

30 sourced entries, 1100 CE to 1197 CE, oldest first. Also see Technology & Infrastructure across every century or everything else in the 12th century.

1100Intense urban activity in north and central Europe: Kalmar (Kungälv) and Varberg (Sweden) are chartered; The cities of Aach (southern Germany) and Nakléřov in Bohemia are created. The castle of Burg Eppstein is built in central Germany.source
1117The magnetic compass is first used for maritime navigation purposes during the Song dynasty in China.source
1118Zwickau, Eisenstadt, Kirchgandern, and Wolfenbüttel are first mentioned.source
1119Zhu Yu, a Chinese historian, publishes his book Pingzhou Table Talks, describing the earliest known use of bulkheads to provide separate hull compartments in ships. Zhu Yu's book is also the first to report the use of a magnetic compass for navigation at sea. (The first actual description, however, of the magnetic compass is by another Chinese writer Shen Kuo in his Dream Pool Essays, published in 1088.)source
1119The Two Towers in Bologna are completed.source
1124The Dun Beal Gallimhe is erected by King Tairrdelbach Ua Conchobair of Connacht.source
1124Dún Bhun na Gaillimhe ('Fort at the Mouth of the Gaillimh') was constructed by the King of Connacht Tairrdelbach Ua Conchobair.Ireland source
1128July 27 – The city of Bruges in Flanders (modern Belgium) receives its city charter as well new walls, and canals are built.source
1129Burgsteinfurt Castle is built in what is now Steinfurt (modern Germany).source
1132Barnwell Castle is erected in Northamptonshire.source
1139Course of River Suck diverted by Tairrdelbach Ua Conchobair, King of Connacht.Ireland source
1144The city of Ljubljana (modern Slovenia) is first mentioned in historical records.source
1146The city of Bryansk (modern Russia) is first mentioned in the Hypatian Codex.source
1148An Italian silk industry is started at Palermo by Roger II, who takes numbers of silk workers back from Greece.source
1150Cubbie Roo's Castle is built on Wyre (Orkney Islands) and is first mentioned in the Orkneyinga Saga.source
1151Anping Bridge is completed in China's Fujian province. Its total length will not be exceeded until 1846.source
1155Jaisalmer Fort, located in the Indian state Rajasthan, is constructed by the Rajput ruler Rawal Jaisal (approximate date).source
1163The Guanfuchang salt-fields (官富場) in Hong Kong (modern-day To Kwa Wan, Kowloon Bay, Kwun Tong and Lam Tin districts) are first officially operated by the Song dynasty.source
1172Supposed construction date of first Hook Lighthouse.Ireland source
1173August 8 – The construction of a campanile, which will become the Leaning Tower of Pisa, begins.source
1175The Chinese court establishes several government-paper money factories in the cities of Chengdu, Hangzhou and Huizhou. In Hangzhou alone a daily workforce of more than 1,000 men is employed.source
1177Construction of the Romanesque Basilica of San Lorenzo in VeronaItaly source
1180Construction of Carrickfergus Castle begins.Ireland source
1183Joseph of Exeter writes the first account of a sport resembling cricket.source
1184The castle which gave Newcastle, County Wicklow its name was completed. It was built on an earlier Irish fortification in the territory of the O'Byrne's by the Norman Hugh de Lacy, then-governor of Ireland under Henry II.Ireland source
1192August 21 – Minamoto no Yoritomo is granted the title of shōgun, thereby officially establishing the first shogunate in the history of Japan.source
1192The Lugouqiao (later the Marco Polo) Bridge is completed in Beijing.source
1194Drogheda is chartered as a town.Ireland source
1195Kilkenny Castle was built by William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke, to control a fording-point of the River Nore and the junction of several routeways.Ireland source
1197King Richard I of England (the Lionheart) has Château Gaillard (Normandy) built on the Seine River as he fights to restore Angevin power in northern France (approximate date).source