Quote:
Originally Posted by Moses
Right. I think the compass was invented in China.
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I wikied the compass. It was invented in China in the 11th century. The first documented compass was a magnetic fish that pointed south. All early Chinese compasses were designed to point south. Of course, it pointed both ways, but they built it so the arrow or fish head or whatever pointed south. It seems odd that they would point south when the the logical direction was to the north pole.
The Europeans invented the compass independently 300 years later, and designed it to look like it pointed north.