3 ms·

Probably one of the oldest ways of orientation were the stars, in particular the north one, that is more or less fixed in the sky, and it was up. So probably t

• dalke 11y ago
  That's a post hoc justification, without historical basis. The earliest Egyptian maps show south at the top of the map. European maps in the Middle Ages used east. Not only does the sun rise in the east, but east was important in Christianity; eg, churches were built facing the rising sun and people buried with their head towards the sun. We get our term 'to orient' from the importance of knowing where east is. At https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tabula_Rogeriana https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tabula_Rogeriana you can see an Arab map from 1154, with north at the bottom. "It remained the most accurate world map for the next three centuries."
  • ZoeZoeBee 11y ago
    Egyptian Maps show the South as Up as that matches the flow of the Nile, Upper Egypt in the South, Lower Egypt in the North....