The earth’s magnetic field:

The earth acts as a magnet and the lines of force produced by it follow the pattern shown in the diagram below.

If the Earth were completely symmetrical, the north and south magnetic poles would coincide with the axis of the Earth. The magnetic poles are, in fact, separated from the true poles by about 1000 Miles, the north magnetic pole being in the area 70 - 75 degrees North and roughly 95 degrees West.

Since the North pole of a magnet is really a North seeking pole and similarly the South pole is really a South seeking pole it follows that at the Earth's North pole there must be a south seeking magnet and similarly at the Earth's South pole there must be a North seeking magnet. Unfortunately before the significance of the Earth's magnetism was realised, navigators had dropped the word "seeking" leaving the embarrassing statement that there is a magnetic south pole at the North pole and a magnetic North pole at the South pole.