Who, where and when the compass was invented

Who invented the compass

It is attributed that the compass was an invention of Flavio Gioja, an Italian navigator who took advantage of a more rudimentary version of the Chinese compass that worked with a cork floating on water.

Flavio Gioja replaced the cork with a shaft and used a casing, adding the Nautical Rose to invent the compass as it is currently known.

Where was the compass invented

The original compass was created in China, since the Chinese knew how to magnetize an iron needle. a> to point to the South thanks to the Earth’s magnetic poles. If the needle pointed to the South it is because they were in the Southern hemisphere, since in the Northern hemisphere it would point to the North.

Later, an alchemist named Pietro Peregrino de Maricourt sketched a somewhat more advanced but simple compass, even without a Nautical Rose on paper. The Arabs later shared this invention throughout the East.

⏳ When was the compass invented

In the year 1000 BC, iron needles were already used to be magnetized in China and it was known that they pointed to the South, its magnetic pole in the Southern Hemisphere.

But being a simple needle on a cork floating in the water, it had no precision nor was it used for orientation .

The invention that revolutionized history

Before the invention of the compass, navigators oriented themselves with considerable difficulty by guiding themselves by the Sun and the rest of the stars. In the Northern Hemisphere they used the North Star and in the Southern Hemisphere, the Southern Cross. But when the sky was cloudy, they didn’t have that chance.

Because they did not know these orientation techniques without a compass.

This greatly limited travel to regions where clouds did not cover the sky, so many regions were not explored.

The invention of the compass came from China to Europe and the rest of the world through the Silk Road.

In Europe it was improved and became a portable measuring instrument that they could carry on ships.

The compass allowed the Spanish and Portuguese to discover new territories at this time, who dared to travel further, confident in the precision that the compass meant for their expeditions.