eli5 How do we decide which one is North Pole and which is south pole? The space is almost infinite on all directions. So what we see on map might be wrong right? I mean it could also be upside down too.
In: Earth Science
The best way I can think of to explain it is this: Cartography, to make maps consistent, had to create a common system of orientation. The names given to the directions are based in certain old words, for example East rooted in an old Germanic word meaning towards the sun. As far as why we decided to orient modern maps the way we do, it likely comes from Europeans seeing themselves as being the top, and the rest of the world the bottom, as the map is no less accurate if you flip it upside down. It could also be possible that the natural magnetic poles played a part when compasses were invented, and someone decided a compass points up when doing map orientation. I don’t know for sure, but I’ve seen maps before that don’t follow modern orientation from ancient times, and they seemed to care more about the rising and setting of the sun.
Latest Answers