The Compass

2.1.1

Before the Compass

Before the introduction of the compass, destination, position and
direction were primarily determined by the sighting of landmarks,
the position of stars and celestial bodies.

The First Compass

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The Magnetic Compass was invented

in the Qin Dynasty (221-206BC) by
Chinese fortune-tellers

Later they realized that the

spoon/pointer always pointed North
which then became the compass

Innovation

During the construction of the

magnetic compass it wasnt used for
navigation it was used for fortune
telling boards

They designed the compass on a

square slab which had markings for
the cardinal points and the
constellations

The pointing needle was a lodestone

spoon-shaped device, with a handle
that would always point north.

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Economy
Positive

The compass gave people more time to concentrate on things besides

navigation, like food and shelter. Therefore people could travel more
comfortably because they wouldnt be spending all their energy on
navigating.

it enabled
Columbus to invade
Negative
the Americas. This
was a problem for
the Native
Americans living
there because they
were subjected to
such things as

Society
Positive

The compass has crossed the world with its extraordinary power, and
everyone from ruffians to royalty has used it to guide the way to new
places and back home.

Negative
They didnt have to
pay as much
attention to the sea.
We become lazy as
it becomes more
and more a part of
our lives.