Who started the convention that north on a map is up?

Question

I was (mildly) amused when I recently got corrected for saying 'I'll come down on Saturday' when discussing a planned journey from Manchester to Edinburgh with my potential Scottish hosts - 'actually you are coming up (because we are north of you)' was the response. The notion of there being and valid up or down when you are travelling on a spherical body seemed rather strange. They are perceiving the journey as it appears on a map, and yes, when viewed the conventional way around Edinburgh does indeed appear above Manchester. It's interesting to me how the shapes of the land masses on our planet have become so ingrained as viewed from a conventional cartographic orientation that a lot of people have difficulty recognising the shapes of countries if they are not presented with north at the top. I understand the need for conventions and I suppose North may just as well be at the top of the map as South (or east or west for that matter) - but who actually decided this in the first place?

A couple of you seem confused - I understand (believe it or not) that a compass points to magnetic north - but that is not necessarily a valid reason for this usually being portrayed as 'up' on maps.

Geomatic 7000 - you are just proving my point - you say that the north pole is at the top of the planet and the south pole at the bottom - you seem to forget that the perception of north being at the top is the result of a convention created by man. The earth, being spherical, doesn't actually have a top or bottom - the way an unbiased observer in space would perceive the earth would be entirely dependant on their orientation. Even if they decided to accept that the axis of earths rotation would be a good thing to have as the Y axis on a flat 2D representation the earths surface, it would still not necessarily be a given that they would have the north pole at the top and the south pole at the bottom.

Answer 1

Socially speaking, your original comment was correct.

Answer 2

The convention got here some centuries in the past whilst Northern hemisphere, eu navigators all started utilising the North celebrity and the magnetic compass. before that, the suited of the map replaced into to the East that's the place the notice orientation comes from. Australian maps no longer basically have South on the suited, yet they're additionally "grew to become around" so as that China, Indonesia and Australia are interior the middle quite than Europe and West Africa.

Answer 3

Simply put European and Asian societies started making the first maps. They always put their countries towards the top of the map because in the human mind that equals dominance.

As a geographer I deal with a LOT of maps every day, and in quite a few North isn't always up, hence a North Arrow is always a good idea. The convention actually originated in ancient Egyptian times, usually credited to Ptolemy who was an early Astronomer and Geographer.

By contrast though in traditional Chinese culture south is on maps..

Answer 4

It oriented the way compasses are. Compasses point North. Not all maps have North pointing up. Some Australian maps I have seen are displayed completely upside down, but its still oriented correctly. North is up by convention because the North pole is on top of the planet and the South pole is on the bottom so maps typically get oriented that way.

Answer 5

Ok there is a case for the north being down going back to the ancient Egyptians because the Upper kingdom was in fact further south near Ethiopia and the Lower Kingdom was north in the Nile Delta.

Answer 6

Well, up had to be something, and it would be logical for it to be North since that is the way a compass points. Though your teacher sounds like a bit of a wanker - that's a bit harsh!

Answer 7

Mensores: The right hand to sunrise and ORTHogonal to this direction was the (N)orth. The North cams from orthogonal to sunrise.Up it doesn't means North.

Answer 8

Mercator .

Answer 9

compass