Why do world maps always show the Americas on the west and Asia on the east?

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If the world is round can we make any point of the world the center in maps? Or is there a specific reason all the world maps show the continents in the same orientation?

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Anonymous 0 Comments

You are right that you can make any longitude the center of a map. I have seen world maps in the US showing America in the center with Europe on the right and Asia on the left. I have also seen world maps with Eastern Asia in the center.

But this is not the “standard” world map. Both the British and the French agreed to put the center of the map through an area east of London which would put them in the center. And this became the standard for all sailors around the world and still persists in our world maps to this day.

The only justification outside tradition is that it does put the split in the Pacific ocean which is the least populated longitudes in the world. So not a lot of people live near the divide.

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