Week 8 History Essay

Which invention has been your favorite so far, and why?

           My favorite invention so far is the compass. The compass is a magnetized needle, balanced on a post. The needle is attracted to the magnetic poles of the earth. A compass is used to help people to know where they are and where they want to go using the cardinal directions, which are North, South, East, and West. I thought it was interesting that the Chinese, who invented the compass, used it for fortune telling and finding gemstones. They also used it to figure out where to build their building to make them feng shui. It wasn’t used for navigation until about 1,000 years after it was invented. It started to be used by the Europeans and the Muslim world between 1100 and 1200 AD. I never knew that the compass was invented by the Chinese. I always thought it was invented by the Europeans or Greeks. I like the compass, because it helped people explore the world.