What is the earliest historical evidence for the notion that north is "up" and should be represented so on maps?

sequoianoir

Well I'll start the ball rolling with this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ordinal_directions First of all the concept of "North" etc. appears to be based mainly in European and Chinese cultures, elsewhere different words and ideas are/were used in the methods of navigation. Accordingly maps may not have had "North" or even "Up" (let alone together) and not all maps that have both North & Up have them pointing in the same direction. It is more (most ?) convenient to use a map that is drawn in such a manner (probably best described as UP) such that as you navigate using it, and you yourself travel "forwards" towards your destination that the map extends in front of you, and that your left and right are the same as the maps. Just think modern day Sat Nav displays - UP is ALWAYS FORWARD ! Indeed if you produce a map to illustrate directions for someone to get from A to B then it's normal to draw it to be used in a similar manner. The article does say "With the cardinal points thus accurately defined, by convention cartographers draw standard maps with north (N) at the top" but there are no dates/references to when/where. Regarding the directions (North etc ...) and their orientation ... north (Proto-Germanic *norþ-) from a root *ner- "left, below", i.e. "to the left of the rising Sun". east (*aus-to-) from the word for dawn, see Eostre. south (*sunþ-) is root-cognate to Sun itself, thus "the region of the Sun" west (*wes-t-) from a word for "evening", root-cognate to Latin vesper Given the above "descriptions" these directions are obviously related to time (time of day) and subsequently "merged" with what a compass actually did Apr 18 08, 1:52 PM

sequoianoir

The compass itself. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compass "the Olmec may have discovered and used the geomagnetic lodestone compass earlier than 1000 BC" (The Olmecs were Aztecs from what is now Veracruz and Tabasco on the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, south-central Mexico) also "The earliest reference to a specific magnetic direction finder device is recorded in a Song Dynasty book dated to 1040-44. " Apr 18 08, 1:53 PM

Matthew_07

The real question is WHY these early map-makers decided that north should be at the top of the map? Borne out of the experience of recreating a plane table survey of a small English market town. Early surveyors using plane tables would have to rely upon the use of a compass. A compass always points to the magnetic north pole and when laying out a plan upon paper (in my experience) it is somewhat easier to draw down from fixed points at the top of a page. http://mailman.geo.uu.nl/pipermail/maphist/2003-August/002373.html Apr 19 08, 9:42 AM

Baloo55th

Can I point out that a compass needle has two ends, one of which points south? I would think a good logical case could have been made for the South being the top - The Sun is up in the sky, it's in the South (for all the important places of Western Civilisation back then), and the further you go towards it, the warmer it gets. Therefore you are going up towards it. But they put North at the top despite this. Must have had a reason. Apr 19 08, 9:52 AM

queproblema

"Ptolemy's eight-book atlas Geographia is a prototype of modern mapping and GIS. It included an index of place-names, with the latitude and longitude of each place to guide the search, scale, conventional signs with legends, and the practice of orienting maps so that North is at the top and East to the right of the map -- a universal custom today." This was in the second century of the common era. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_cartography For those who care to pursue--or peruse--the matter in greater detail, see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North#Roles_of_north_as_prime_direction Apr 19 08, 11:32 AM