--- Begin Forwarded Message ---
Date: Mon, 25 Feb 2002 10:53:21 +0100
From: Jan Smits <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Betr.: Re: Why is north "up" on globes/maps? <fwd>
Sender: Jan Smits <[log in to unmask]>
I do not know whether it makes any difference, but once I researched why the sea west of the Netherlands was called North Sea. I came to the following arguments:
The word "North" is usually derived from the indogermanic root 'nrt(r)o' and is compared with Old-Indian 'naraka' = 'nether world', the Greek 'eneroi' = 'the death in the nether world', the Greek 'nerteros' = 'situated more beneath' or the Umbrian 'nertru' = 'left'.
Further there may be the derivation ' left' > 'North' (because of the orientation on the East in the Middle Ages). Because one thought that the Netherworld was situated in the North the words became synonymous.
However the meaning 'beneath' seems to be the older.
The fact that the first globes most probably originated in the Easter Mediterranean under Greek influence and then only the Northern hemisphere was known (the Southern was only depicted as antipodes) and the dominant precense of the Polar star as navigating means, but maybe also as guide to another world, makes it plausible that North is up on a globe. Furthermore when such an image is perpetuated for centuries or millennia it is most improbable that inhabitants of the southern hemisphere, who derived this image mainly from their ancestors in the North, could change the global image unless they can enforce a different view through economic, cultural or military power.
Indeed the Universe doesn't know North, South, and for that matter also East or West, as it probably doesn't use human intellect or cultural expression and only knows natural topologies. But for human orientation it might be wise to use the ecliptic plane with its arbitrary North and South in order that we do not have a problem in communicating with possible future extra-terrestrial settlements.
With kind regards,
Jan Smits
Jan Smits
Koninklijke Bibliotheek, National Library of The Netherlands
P.O. Box 90.407
NL-2509 LK Den Haag
The Netherlands
tel: +31 70 3140241
fax: +31 70 3140450
E-mail: [log in to unmask]
E-mail: [log in to unmask] (when the above does not function)
President Groupe des Cartothecaires de LIBER (GdC, European Map Curators Group)
Chairman Working Group for Mapcuratorship, Dutch Cartographic Society (NVK)
IFLA Representative for the ICA Spatial Data Standards Commission
Secretary Dutch Commision for Cataloguing & Indexing FOBID (Federation of Organizations working in the Library-, Information-, and Documentation-field)
WWW-maps: http://www.kb.nl/kb/skd/karto-en.html
WWW-GdC: http://www.kb.nl/infolev/liber/intro.htm
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Na matheis kai na matheis ap'tous spoudasmenous
(To learn and again to learn from those who know)
>>> [log in to unmask] 22-02-02 21:07 >>>
--- Begin Forwarded Message ---
Date: Fri, 22 Feb 2002 12:11:14 -0000
From: "Cook, Andrew" <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: RE: Why is north "up" on globes/maps? <fwd>
Sender: "Cook, Andrew" <[log in to unmask]>
Yes, but who in the solar system has decided which way is 'up'?
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Andrew S Cook MA PhD FRSA FRHistS
Map Archivist, India Office Records
The British Library
96 Euston Road
London NW1 2DB
E-mail [log in to unmask]
Telephone/Voicemail 020 7412 7828
Fax 020 7412 7641
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-----Original Message-----
From: Johnnie Sutherland [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 21 February 2002 21:15
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Why is north "up" on globes/maps? <fwd>
From: Roger L Payne <[log in to unmask]>
For maps, as has been elaborated, there are numerous variables such as
application, culture, etc. For globes, I think it is simply that North is
the English word describing the upper half of the planet as it is situated
in the solar system.
Roger L. Payne
--- 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)?
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