Compas Timeline

Lodestones Discovered

600 BCE

Greek philospher/scientist Thales discovers lodestones (stones with magnetic properties that always point toward a geographical pole)

Chinese Lodestone Compass first invented

200 BCE

First reference to "iron fish" compass in China

Compass reaches India

350

Tamil navigational books reference use of Chinese "iron floating fish" technology

First use of the compass for navigation in China

1080

First reference to use of compass for sea navigation

Knowledge of the Compass Spreads to Europe

1187

First written mention of the compass on the European continent

Compass is introduced to the Islamic World

1230

first writing of navigational compass in Arab World

Compass technology first used for navigation in Europe

1300

Mediterranean trade accelerates due to introduction of compass

Ibn Battuta Exploration

1345

North African Ibn Battuta becomes perhaps most advanced explorer to that date, using the compass to venture as far as Indonesia and Polynesia

Beginning of the Age of Exploration

1450

Use of the compass accelerates, and explorers, particularly European, begin to expand the boundaries of the known world using this navigational technology