America was discovered by [Columbus(1492)], as illustrated in
Figure .
Without the use of the compass, this would never have been possible. In fact,
this could be considered the most important (and only) contribution of the
geomagnetism to the development of the American continent. A portrait of
Christopher Columbus is shown in
Plate
.
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The subsequent taming of the West took place with considerable quantities of lead, but since this non-magnetic, there are no geomagnetic variances attributed to it.