Sunday, May 2, 2010

Who Invented the Compass?

Who invented the compass? We don't have a specific name, but we do have a country.
So What COUNTRY invented the compass?

The Compass was invented in Ancient China somewhere in the 2nd century. In the 11th century the compass was used for navigation.

But, That doesn't make sense! Compasses are supposed to point to north therefore for navigation. But, what did Ancient China use it for all those generations.
Using my sources: (Wikipedia)
It quotes:
"The earliest Chinese compasses were probably not designed for navigation, but rather to order and harmonize their environments and buildings in accordance with the geomantic principles of feng shui. These early compasses were made using lodestone, a special form of the mineral magnetite that aligns itself with the Earth’s magnetic field.["
Did you always know that the compass wasn't used for Navigation?
In the 3rd century, an old book writes about people in china using compasses to prevent them from getting lost? Maybe, the use of navigation was discovered later on?
We know that compasses went from looking like this:



























To looking like this:

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