Did the compass revolutionize travel?

Answer 1

It was probably very benefical most specifically for day time ocean travel but people had been sailing for centuries before using the stars at night as location indicators. I would say it had a pretty major impact on navigation in unfamiliar areas and would have provided a level of certainty to crews.

Answer 2

Yes.

With a compass u can more or less accurate determine where North is.

before the use of a compass it was difficult to determine north.
ships travelled along coast. only during night they could (if they knew about) use 'astro-navigation' . on the northern hemisphere the , Northern Star (aka Polaris) leads almost exactly to North.
on the southern hemisphere the Southern Cross points towards South.
The importance of that can be seen on some modern day flags having the southern cross in it.

The big disadvantage of that was, it worked only during night time and only when it was not cloudy.

There might be other methods of finding out about north, however the compass can be cosidered as a very important tool for navigation . not only on sea, but also on land, much later in air.

Answer 3

The compass helped mariners find their direction of travel during times when the skies were obscured due to weather. However, I believe that John Harrison's portable timepiece (clock) had a greater effect on travel because it enabled mariners to determine their longitude at sea. In fact, this problem was so imporant that the British Government offered a huge prize to the first person who could produce a reliable nautical timepiece to assist in navigation.

Recommend you go to the British Royal Observatory website for a discussion. It's fascinating.

Answer 4

In my humble opinion, no. Polynesian navigators found their way all over the Pacific from Hawaii to Easter Island to NZ and even to sub-Antarctic islands like Campbell Island without the compass, using the stars and clues like seaweed, birds and smells.

Answer 5

Hi. I think so, but nowhere near as much as GPS.