Eli5: how did early civilizations know what was north and what was south
In: Biology
It’s worth noting that the ancients didn’t necessarily orient their worlds along north and south. Southern Egypt was referred to as “Upper Egypt” because of the flow of the Nile. Ancient maps frequently put any direction they pleased at the top. Hell, many “maps” were just a list of landmarks and ports, since boats for most of history just hugged the shore (respect to the Polynesians though). I’m pretty sure classical Greek maps of the Mediterranean put East at the top, maybe because of the rising sun. So, “knowing what’s north and what’s south” didn’t really *matter* to the vast majority of people.
People in the northern hemisphere could go by the North Star, Polaris. Because it’s pretty much in line with Earth’s north pole, it will always be north of you. In the southern hemisphere, people used constellations to similar effect. By drawing a line along one bar of the Southern Cross, and another line perpendicular to the line between the Southern Pointers (Alpha and Beta Centauri), you can pinpoint the south pole by looking where those lines intersect.
They didn’t know north and south. But people in the northern hemisphere noticed that the stars in the north didn’t rotate much, and people in the southern hemisphere noticed that the stars in the south didn’t rotate much.
That made them landmarks. Or sky marks, I guess. Things that don’t move when you move are *very* useful to navigation.
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