The earliest known compasses humans used were called "zhi nan zhen," meaning "south pointing needle." It pointed south. European navigators using the technology inverted this so it would point north.
I guess, but those were really more of a divination tool, rather than a navigational one. They didn't start using them as a traditional compass until the 1100's.
![[Not the Onion] The looming Eurasian menace](https://hexbear.net/pictrs/image/75a35862-f14e-448b-ad22-46b6388d4ec0.png){kind=link}
Up is North, because North is at the top of a compass, and is the direction a compass will always point towards.
Antarctica is clearly earth's hat. The compass has nothing to do with it.
I prefer this explanation, tbh.
The earliest known compasses humans used were called "zhi nan zhen," meaning "south pointing needle." It pointed south. European navigators using the technology inverted this so it would point north.
I guess, but those were really more of a divination tool, rather than a navigational one. They didn't start using them as a traditional compass until the 1100's.