Why does the north pole of a magnet point to the geographic North Pole if like poles repel?

Question

Why does the north pole of a magnet point to the geographic North Pole if like poles repel?

Answer 1

Its not the north pole of the compass that points north, its the north seeking arrow. The north seeking arrow has the opposite charge as the north pole, and thus is attracted to it.

Answer 2

Contrary to an above explanation, by definition, the end of the magnet that points north IS the north end.

Magnets were given north and south pole names because the north end of the magnet pointed north.  Since like poles repel each other, technically, the earths north pole is really the south pole of the earth's magnetic field.  The below reference may explain it better.

Answer 3

It's a matter of semantics - we call it the 'north' arrow and the 'north' pole but magnetically, they are opposites.

By the way, a compass needle does not point to the geographic north pole - it points to the magnetic north pole which moves a lot. It is currently moving at 41km/year (historically very fast) and was located near Ellesmere Island in northern Canada at 82.7° N 114.4° W in 2005

Edit:

Contrary to Colorado Papa, I stand by my statement - it is all semantics. He says that the needle was named north "because the north end of the magnet pointed north". This is preciously what I mean by semantics. If north had been called "quark", then the needle that pointed at it would have been called the "quark needle".

Simliarly, he says that "Since like poles repel each other, technically, the earths north pole is really the south pole of the earth's magnetic field". This is misleading - the terms 'north' and 'south' are human terms and mean whatever we want them to mean. We have defined the north magnetic pole as 'the pole of the earth's magnetic field closest to the geographical north pole'.

The only physical constants that we can state are:

1) The magnetic state of the north magnetic pole is the opposite of the magnetic state of the south magnetic pole and

2) The magnetic state of the needle of a compass is the opposite of the magnetic state of the pole to which it points (i.e. is attracted to).

Now, isn't it easier just to say 'north pole' and 'north arrow'? Think how confused people would be if we started to say that the south arrow of a magnet points to the north pole - we'd have a lot more YA answers about why that is!