Why is "north" at the top of a map of the world, and "south" at the bottom?

Question

It's completely arbitrary, so I was curious... maybe someone knows why. But since this goes back to Roman times, is the answer just lost in history?

Answer 1

Prior to about 1500, there was no universal consensus; many maps had south or east at the top.

The consensus came with the introduction of globes. Since most things of interest are in the northern hemispere, it doesn't make sense to mount your globe with south at the top, because you can't see the parts you're most interested in. And putting the poles sideways means that you can only read the placenames "rightside up" from one side of the globe, while from the other side they look upside down.

So the best solution for a globe is to put the north pole at the top, where you can see the "important" parts, and read the placenames from all angles.

And when you have your globe with north "up", you want your maps to match, so you don't get confused.

Answer 2

It's cool if it's unique, but a lot of the time it's just something that's been done before. Or it's half a big gesture, like he tried to do something special to seem cool but was afraid to get too crazy. If you're going to do it, then do it all the way! Also, when it's a big promposal in front of a bunch of people, I imagine it would be a lot of pressure to say yes, which is unfair. Most importantly, it depends on the person your asking's personality. Would they really want to be asked the way that you're thinking of? If not, then don't do it - you're only thinking about yourself(trying to show off to other people). I personally would hate a public promposal, but a personal one away from other people might be nice. Don't go over the top if that person doesn't like over the top.

Answer 3

Because there was a great battle between a man named North and a man named South in ancient Rome. North defeated South with a clash of his hammer against South's right temple and then claimed victory. So in short, North came out on top.

Answer 4

The first mapmakers, the Germans, placed Germany in the center of their maps. Which at that time included the known world. That also explains The Eastern, Middle East and The Western countries.

Answer 5

This is a very good question. But if you look at the Earth that's the way it looks. I think it has to do with the location of the people who made the maps. Also, the east-west orientation is always from the point of view of the west.

Answer 6

ive pondered this many atime and came up with this, simply when we became advanced enough to know the geography of earth we had to label everything, and since most advances in science and technology happened in the northern hemishpere ( europe, greece, rome, etc.) the people labling put themselves on top, no one is to say which way it should go however because space does not have direction so there is no way in knowing for sure... wouldnt maps look funny tho if we were in the southern hemisphere?

Answer 7

Etymology references will tell you they think it comes from an old word for 'left' because left is the direction north would be if you faced the rising sun.

I personally think this is just guesswork, but it's a nice story.

Answer 8

That's a real quandary, isn't it? Could be for similar reasons that your feet smell and your nose runs.
OR
If north was at the bottom, all the writing would be upside down?
Or
"Cause Australia would be squashed between Alaska and Russia?

Answer 9

The earth is "upright" as it is (with minor degree of tilting actually to the right), so the N is always on top & the S is always at the bottom.

Answer 10

Hmmm....interesting concept. I never really thought about that, but it would all make just as much sense, upside down, wouldn't it? I'm going to say mapmaking, in terms of the entire globe, probably started in the northern hemisphere, and was done from that perspective.