Comments on: Why are Maps drawn North to South? http://belindaang.com/2009/02/why-are-maps-drawn-north-to-south/ Social & Marketing with an Asian perspective Thu, 15 Dec 2011 17:56:59 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3 By: Gordon Rae http://belindaang.com/2009/02/why-are-maps-drawn-north-to-south/comment-page-1/#comment-7076 Gordon Rae Mon, 24 Aug 2009 09:36:06 +0000 http://xiaoyz.wordpress.com/2009/02/24/why-are-maps-drawn-north-to-south/#comment-7076 I think the tradition of putting north at the top came from the astronomer Ptolemy. He was ethnically Egyptian, culturally Greek, a Roman citizen, and used Babylonian data, so he was pretty cosmopolitan for his day. Ptolemy organised the world according to the length of the longest day. He knew that at the equator, it stayed daylight for 24hours, and that nights got longer as you went north. Why didn't he put South at the top? I don't know, maybe because he believed there was a southern hemisphere, but he didn't know what was in it! The furthest west he knew was the Canary Islands, and the furthest east somewhere in China. In medieval times, European Christians produced maps with East at the top, because they believed Jerusalem was the greatest place. That's where the word "orientation" comes from. But somehow, north won out. I think the tradition of putting north at the top came from the astronomer Ptolemy. He was ethnically Egyptian, culturally Greek, a Roman citizen, and used Babylonian data, so he was pretty cosmopolitan for his day. Ptolemy organised the world according to the length of the longest day. He knew that at the equator, it stayed daylight for 24hours, and that nights got longer as you went north.

Why didn’t he put South at the top? I don’t know, maybe because he believed there was a southern hemisphere, but he didn’t know what was in it! The furthest west he knew was the Canary Islands, and the furthest east somewhere in China.

In medieval times, European Christians produced maps with East at the top, because they believed Jerusalem was the greatest place. That’s where the word “orientation” comes from. But somehow, north won out.

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