Description
A compass rose is a round figure on a map that helps users orient themselves by showing the direction of north and other points of the compass. The earliest known compass rose was drawn in the 1300s and was used to indicate the directions of the eight principal winds. Now compass roses are typically shown as the four cardinal directions (north. south. east and west) and four intercardinal directions (northeast. southeast. northwest and southwest).
More elaborate compass roses show the directions not only of the eight principal winds. but also the half-winds and quarter-winds. which were used as points of orientation. The term compass rose comes from the resemblance of the directional points to rose petals.
The 32-point compass rose depicted on the stamp is from the Collections of the Maine Historical Society and was drawn in 1794 by 10-year-old Lucia Wadsworth in her school geography notebook. She colored the directional points in bright blue. red. yellow and green on a beige background. Wadsworth is the aunt of poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.
