--- Begin Forwarded Message ---
Date: Fri, 15 Feb 2002 18:19:04 -0600
From: "Cook, Karen S" <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: RE: Why is north "up" on globes/maps? <fwd>
Sender: "Cook, Karen S" <[log in to unmask]>



A good book to consult about cartographic "firsts" is: Cartographical
Innovations: An International Handbook of Mapping Terms to 1900 / Helen M.
Wallis and Arthur H. Robinson (eds.) Published in Great Britain by Map
Collector Publications Ltd. in association with the International
Cartographic Association, 1987. Because this book may not be generally
available, I will quote portions of the entry for "Orientation", pp.196-199.

"In cartography the term orientation refers to the arrangement of the
cardinal dirtections with respect to the normal reading position of a map,
specified by the direction of the upper centre of the map. [It derives from]
...the Latin oriens, the quarter where the sun rises, the east. In medieval
Europe, the ancient significance of the direction of sunrise was reinforced
by that being the direction of the Holy Land and the Earthly Paradise, and
by the construction of churches and temples with the long axis east-west and
the chief altar at the eastern end.

There has been some argument about the orientation of ancient Babylonian
maps, but the evidence seems to suggest that east was favoured. ... Arabic
maps from early times through the time of al-Idrisi in the 12th century were
oriented with south at the top. ... One [theory] is that south was a sacred
direction for Zoroastrians; another, that from Baghdad and the early
cultural centres of Islam, the faithful looked south to Mecca.

Christian world maps of the Middle Ages usually gave pride of place to the
Earthly Paradise (the Garden of Eden), traditionally situated in the orient,
and thus east was at the top. Climate maps of the 12th century... and
derived from Arabic sources had south at the top. For regional maps, on the
other hand, various orientations were employed ... [north and west.] With
the publication of Ptolemy's Geography from 1477, it became a general
practice to orientate world and small-scale regional maps with north at the
top, unless there was a practical need for a different orientation. ...

In the 16th century the growing interest in terrestrial globes, on which the
north pole stood at the top, also encouraged the northern orientation.
Geographers, who used globes as their chief means of instruction, not only
regarded the north-south axis as representing the position of the earth in
the universe, but also ascribed to the northern hemisphere greater
importance than to the southern. Nathaniel Carpenter, the Oxford geographer,
wrote "The Northern Hemisphere is the Masculine, the Southern the Foeminine
part of the earth" ...

>From the 17th century onwards an increasing number of scientific maps on
carefully drawn projections were made, and in line with the Ptolemaic
tradition and later the Copernican system, the northern orientation became
still more common. The development of large scale topographical mapping,
which also followed the practice of northern orientation, gave further
authority to this arrangement. Except for specialized maps with a particular
need for some other arrangement, north orientation had become standard by
the 19th century in European cartography.

Chartmakers [that is, of sea charts] over the centuries have followed
various conventions. The earliest portolan charts ([sea charts of the
Mediterranean] from the end of the 13th and the 14th centuries) had south at
the top or were multidirectional. ... A variety of orientations is found on
16th and also 17th century charts. ...

And so on. Map orientation has been influenced by cultural beliefs, science
and map use. Settling upon a north orientation for most maps didn't happen
all at once. It is a long and interesting story.

Karen Cook
Spencer Research Library
University of Kansas



-----Original Message-----
From: Johnnie Sutherland
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: 2/15/02 2:50 PM
Subject: Why is north "up" on globes/maps? <fwd>

--- Begin Forwarded Message ---
Date: Thu, 14 Feb 2002 14:18:10 -0700
From: Naomi Heiser <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Why is north "up" on globes/maps?
Sender: Naomi Heiser <[log in to unmask]>


Hello -
A local newspaper would like a simple lay-person's answer to this
question:  "Why is north always up on globes and maps?"

We did inform them that north is not always "up", and gave them an
example.  However, we could not find a easy, concise answer in any
reference sources about the history/convention of indicating north on a
globe or map.

Could anyone point us toward a good source, preferably on-line (but
paper okay)?

Thanks in advance.

Naomi Heiser
Map Library
University of Colorado Libraries
Boulder, CO 80303
(303) 492-4966
[log in to unmask]
http://www-libraries.colorado.edu/ps/map/frontpage.htm
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