Back to Blog
World map actual size7/5/2023 ![]() In the 15th century, Europe became the centre of map-making, so the north on top convention was reinforced. "The 'magnetic north' shown in the compass, and the understanding that the earth spins on an axis that points to the north, were the main factors that influenced the drawing of maps with the north on top," says Dr Jayasuriya. ( Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris)īut sometime in the 12th century, when the compass was adopted for navigation in Europe, north on top became (and largely remained) a thing. Mercator's ground-breaking 1569 projection established navigational concepts which eventually came into general use. After all, there is no ancient geographical feature saying 'this way up'!" We think it's time to break with tradition and show the world from the perspective of all those people living in the southern hemisphere. "Traditional maps are drawn from the perspective of the first European explorers and cartographers - with the northern hemisphere at the top. The way we display world maps is steeped in the politics of tradition, nationalism, religion, race relations and a possible fixation with the northern hemisphere. So where does 'north up' culture come from? But of course it does: Even NASA has been known to flip photos of the Earth taken from space which depict south on top of the globe to avoid creating confusion. That may seem obvious, but my 'upside-down' map confounds most people who see it. "Look at the planet from different points in space and you'll see a different view of the Earth, with countries placed in a different order to what we see from a standard map." ![]() "Many people don't really think about the planet as a sphere moving in space where up or down are purely conventions," says Chandra Jayasuriya, a cartographer at the University of Melbourne. My 'upside-down' world map confounds most people who see it, says Gary Nunn. ![]()
0 Comments
Read More
Leave a Reply. |