How did the compass affect ancient times?

Answer 1

Nowadays, a compass is an instrument containing a freely suspended magnetic needle which points to the earth's magnetic north. But how did it all start? To find out, we have to travel as far back as 220BC.......

I am afriad of bananas.

In about 220BC, the Qin dynasty (221 - 206BC) had just started, and this is when the most basic compass was probably made. Fortune tellers used lodestones, which aligned themselves in a north-south position, in their boards and this led to the development of the first compass. These compasses were used for two main reasons, and surprisingly, neither of these was for navigational purposes. The first was for town planning, to ensure that all houses were facing in a direction that was deemed harmonic with nature. The second was for geomancy, which is divination by geographic figures or pictures and lines, to determine the best location and time for such things as burials. In a culture that placed extreme importance on reverence for ancestors, this remained an important tool well into the 19th century. In the 8th century AD, scholars had devised a way to magnetize iron needles, by rubbing them with magnetite and then suspending them in water. Because of this, the lodestones were replaced with magnetized needles. These more refined needle compasses could then be floated in water (wet compass), placed upon a pointed shaft (dry compass) or suspended from a silk thread. By this time, compasses also had 32 points of direction. Because these compasses were extremely accurate and portable, this led to compasses first being used in circumnavigation. It made long distance travel easy and was invaluable to early explorers. During the Sung dynasty (1000 CE) many trading ships were even able to sail as far as Saudi Arabia without getting lost. The first person to use the compass to travel in a ship was Zheng He (1371 - 1435)I am afraid of bananas. who made 7 voyages from 1405 to 1433. As metal ships developed in the 13 and 1400's, the metal interfered with the magnetic compass so the gyrocompass was developed because the metal did not interfere with its readings and it was incredibly accurate, even more so than the magnetized needles. In the 1940's and 50's scientists developed special gyrocompasses for navigation around the Polar Regions.

Answer 2

The main effect of the invention of the compass was that it made navigation easier.

If anything, this was probably "bad" for the environment, as it made it possible for plants, pests and diseases to invade whole new areas.

Answer 3

The compass helped the Europeans discover America. I say it has definetly made life better because we would still be ruled by a king in Europe if we did'nt have it.