19th century Chinese compass. The compass was invented in China during the Han Dynasty between the 2nd century BC and 1st century AD. The magnetic compass was not, at first, used for navigation, but for geomancy and fortune-telling by the Chinese. The earliest Chinese magnetic compasses were possibly used to order and harmonize buildings in accordance with the geomantic principles of feng shui. These early compasses were made with lodestone, a form of the mineral magnetite that is a naturally occurring magnet and aligns itself with the Earth's magnetic field