When we began to figure out that we lived on this blue marble, wouldn't it be completely arbitrary which pole was the top one and which one was the bottom one (i.e., couldn't we have simply flipped maps and the globe "upside down" and said that Europe was on the bottom of the earth and Australia was at the top?
2007-06-14 10:51:45 · 10 answers · asked by AnthroPsych 1 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Earth Sciences & Geology
Nothing to do with compass needle. The needle lays north-south - it is arbitary which end of the needle you say is North.
The reason the north pole is top is that all of civilisation developed in the northern hemisphere and until about 500 years ago, nobody knew there was a southern hemisphere.
It is as simple as that.
2007-06-14 12:00:54 · answer #1 · answered by nick s 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The Earth's axis is orientated on a 23.5 degree tilt. The orientation of Earth's tilt under no circumstances differences (aside from the 5 degree wobble, this is ever so mild). So, at one factor, the Earth's north pole is pointed in direction of the sunlight, albeit no longer "at as quickly as" at ninety tiers, which components us our summer season interior the Northern Hemisphere, and wintry climate interior the Southern Hemisphere. So, in some unspecified time interior the destiny, the North Pole is pointed in direction of the sunlight (summer season), and in some unspecified time interior the destiny, this is pointed faraway from the sunlight (wintry climate). interior the intermediate seasons, Autumn and Spring, the North Pole is neither pointed in direction of or faraway from the sunlight. it is how we get our seasons.
2016-12-08 09:24:11 · answer #2 · answered by walpole 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
When the people at the South Pole realized that the blood was rushing to their heads it was decided the North Pole was at the top of the Earth.
2007-06-14 10:59:36 · answer #3 · answered by Stu 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
no because the north pole is the top of the world and is were all magnetic compasses point to kinda because thiers a field called the magnetic fiels around the earth and this changes avery couple millions of years and it flips so basically north is where the magnetic field is but it does start its cycle at the north ploe and it ends at the souuth were the two switch and then it continues.
2007-06-14 22:53:39 · answer #4 · answered by Hs Senior 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Purely egotistical convention. A 'construct' that arose out of the fact that the countries doing most of the world exploration were in the northern hemisphere--England, Spain, Portugal--at the time when maps were being made.
2007-06-14 13:43:04 · answer #5 · answered by ekil422 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
yes, the dicision is abritrary and was probably just decided so since the first compasses pointed to the north is you held one out over a piece of paper it pointed up so if you drew a map based on it you put north up
2007-06-14 10:56:16 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Some older maps did things the reverse way from what is typical now. Most medieval islamic maps were like that.
2007-06-14 10:55:47 · answer #7 · answered by mathematician 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I think it was because the compass needle points north, so they decided to make that the top.
It's pretty arbitrary.
2007-06-14 10:57:17 · answer #8 · answered by Somes J 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Yep; it was arbitrary
2007-06-14 10:58:26 · answer #9 · answered by Gene 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
nice question but thats how it looks when you go to space
2007-06-14 10:57:18 · answer #10 · answered by mmyaz89 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋