单选题 A simple compass can be made by floating a magnetized needle on a splinter of wood in water. The needle will turn and come to rest in a north–south direction nearly on the line from the North to the South Pole. The earliest record of the use of this device for guiding navigators is from the Mediterranean area in the twelfth century, although the magnetic phenomenon had been known for more than a thousand years. The mariner's compass was developed rapidly, and Christopher Columbus was able to use a compass very similar to our ______