“Navigation, in its simplest form, means finding your way to a point and going back.” For much of human history, naval navigation consisted of traveling along rivers and waterways and, at sea, following the coast to avoid getting lost. The compass changed that; sailors could bravely sail into the middle of the ocean and know that if they headed west, all they would have to do to return was go east. The compass itself is a simple navigational tool that contains a magnetic component that aligns with the Earth's magnetic pole, allowing the user to know the directions of North and South, and later East and West. Due to the ease of use and efficiency of the compass, it played an important role in the age of exploration and, as a result, has played an important role in shaping today's world. Because of its great importance, the compass represented the most significant advancement in the field of navigation before 1350 AD Before explaining in detail the reasons for the importance of the compass, it is important to first understand its creation. The Chinese first created a compass-like instrument during the Han Dynasty between 300 and 200 BC. The Chinese built these rudimentary compasses out of lodestone, whose magnetic properties the Chinese had already discovered around 300 BC. It was then shaped into the shape of a ladle and placed on a flat bronze plate. Although the compass was not used primarily for direction, it was used in this way as early as 400 BC, as evidenced in the Book of the Master of the Devil's Valley, where jade hunters were described as taking a "south pointer" so as not to get lost. However, the Chinese only began to use the compass on a large scale for naval and land navigation around the eleventh... middle of paper......ers, 2002. Lowrie, William. "Historical Introduction (page 281)." In Fundamentals of geophysics, . Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997Magnet Lab. "Related pages on Electricity and Magnetism." National High Magnetic Field Laboratory: Museum of Electricity and Magnetism. http://www.magnet.fsu.edu/education/tutorials/museum/chinesecompass.html (accessed April 22, 2014). Merrill, Ronald T., and M. W. McElhinny. "Chapter One: History of Geomagnetism and Paleomagnetism." In the Earth's magnetic field, its history, origin and planetary perspective, . London, UK: Academic Press Inc., 1983. Tyson, Peter. "The secrets of the ancient navigators". PBS. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/ancient/secrets-of-ancient-navigators.html (accessed April 27, 2014).US Navy Museum. "Navigation." Navigation. http://www.history.navy.mil/branches/teach/ends/navigation.htm (accessed March 22, 2014).