Primarily, the compass was used for geomancy for a long time before it was used for navigation Ancient Chinese alchemists realized that the magnetite ore would point towards a magnetic north. Their ...

Until the arrival of GPS, the magnetic compass was the single most useful navigational tool available to humans. But it’s a recent invention. Although Chinese explorers understood the principles of ...

The earliest known compasses were made in China’s Han Dynasty ... the needle on your compass should still be able to register Earth’s magnetic field and point you toward that spot in Canada.