Invention of the Compass
The summary of the invention of the compass
No, it not
Is it the north, or the south side?
Is it the dark side?
That is correct! (A Star War's joke)
A long long time ago...
It does not matter if you are trying to find your direction on Mapquest or just find your way to the "Death Star," we all have to thank the Chinese for starting it all by creating the compass. The discovery of compass is a very straightforward historical fact unlike the invention of paper and gunpowder that we covered.
It seems that everybody does not agree on when the Chinese discovered the compass, but everyone does agree that it was discovered in the Qin Dynasty around 200 - 206 B.C. The discovery of the compass was somewhat an accident as well. The use of the compass during the Qin dynasty was not for direction but for "Feng Shui" and fortune telling.
The ancient Chinese used a type of stone called a lodestone, which is mineral self-possessed with iron oxide for their Feng Shui board. The reason for using this stone is because it always points to the directions of north and south. According to the book of I Ching, the board helps the Chinese to find the location with good feng shui for their home, business, cemetery, etc.
What you mean you want to spoon?
After using the board for a period of time, people realized that the board not only told a fortune but was an excellent tool for telling direction. Sorry, history does not tell us who was the first one to think of this idea.
The first compass ever created was a spoon made out of lodestone put on a bronze plate. The tail of the spoon (the handle) always pointed to the south. The board itself was square (as you can see from the picture) and was divided into eight sections. Those sections are directions: north, south, southwest, etc.
By the Tang Dynasty, the Chinese made another advancement which replaced the spoon with a magnetic needle. What the ancient scholars had done was rub the iron needle with a magnet and then threw it in the water. As these needles became more accessible, in turn, they started to become popular as a navigation tool for ships.
After creating the compass, the Chinese needed a test subject. As ordered by the king, Zheng He, who was from the Yunnan province of China, was the first to use this device to travel the seven seas (1405 - 1433).
Now you made ask, how did the compass technology leak out to the European? A simple answer is NO it did not; the reason is that the Europeans had discovered their own version of the compass. Historical facts state that the Europeans discovered the compass in the 11th century, which was right before the Chinese used the compass for sea travel. Furthermore, their compass always pointed North, instead of pointing South like the Chinese. (I bet you did not notice that)
As always, thank you for choosing to be with me today. Hope that you have learned something new by stopping by. Please, do tell me what you think. From where I am and wherever you are, don't get lost on the wrong side of town, cause you may find me (hehe).
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