Compass is a useful tool for navigation around, whenever you are hiking. Do you know compass is invented by a Chinese, but who exactly invented it we don’t know. In fact, the Global Positioning System (GPS) is also based on the principle of compass! As we all know, there is a magnetic bar with two poles, the north and the south. And the bar moves in a watery fluid that allows them to point in the northern and the southern direction.

  In China, the earliest Chinese compasses were probably not designed for navigation, but it is used to observe the “feng shui”. The early compasses were made of lodestone, which is a special kind of mineral that aligns itself with the Earth’s magnetic field. Though there is no written or non-written source showing you how compasses were spread to Europe. But it is believed that compasses were spread to Europe through Arab, just like other inventions.

How can you use a compass to find your direction of travel?

1. You should place the compass on your palm straightly in front of you.

2. Point out the direction you wish to take.

3. Rotate the compass until the orienting arrow meets the northern magnetic compass needle.

4. Read the bearing and your direction you had marked on the edge of the compass.

5. Plot the direction you have just taken on the map.

6. Place the compass horizontally on the map and rotate the whole compass until the orienting arrow meets the North lines.

7. Move the compass until the edge passes through your position.

8. Draw a line through your position and along the edge of compass. And you will be able to find your own way!