Who invented the first compass?
Recommended for Preparatory Grades
What is a compass?
A compass is a tool that helps us know where we are. A compass has labels with the directions north, south, east, and west. It also has a magnetic needle that always points north. Since the needle is always pointed north, people use this to determine the other directions.
On a compass, the south is labelled as the opposite direction of the north, the east is labelled towards the right, and the west is labelled towards the left.
North also shows zero degrees and the angles increase clockwise. So east is 90 degrees, south is 180, and west is 270
Historians think China may have been the first civilization to develop a magnetic compass. Probably they used it for navigation. They may have developed navigational compasses as early as the 11th or 12th century. Western Europeans soon followed at the end of the 12th century.
Earliest compass
The earliest compasses in China in the ancient Han dynasty used loadstone. This is a naturally magnetic ore of iron. Later compasses were made of iron needles. The needles were magnetized by striking them with a lodestone.
Dry compasses began to appear around 1300 in Medieval Europe and the Islamic world. This was followed by the liquid-filled magnetic compass in the early 20th century.
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