All cartographers - especially in the modern era - agree to draw the north on the upper side, but this has not always been true.
The process of cartography began with the cave man - he drew the methods of fishing and their places and sometimes included some geographical features of the place. Their correspondence, regardless of any reference they were thinking at the time, is clear and simple: here, at this time of the year, Food is abundant.
I present an acceptable and well-known map of the world drawn on a clay table in 3800 BC, illustrating the Euphrates River that flows north of Mesopotamia - Iraq. That map and many others were drawings with local features from different environments.
This continued for several centuries until the ancient Greeks began to establish clear bases for astronomy, arithmetic and maps.
And in the forefront of Greek pioneers in the field of philosophy and numerology. Claudius Ptolemy known as Ptolemy (90 - 168 AD). He was the first to draw a map of the civilized world, based on available information rather than mere possibilities. Before that, the Babylonians had tried to map the world, but they presented it with a flat plate rather than a spherical shape, a form Ptolemy quoted later. Of course, the information available at that time led him to make several mistakes during the mapping of the Earth, such as drawing English islands - England and Scotland - connected to one another, and he estimated the area of China and the Atlantic Ocean excessively. In spite of all this, his map was evidence of a great effort, because he attached the map to a geography guide divided into eight parts, in which he summarized the work of his predecessor, scientists and geographers. and his work stayed as a reference for more than one thousand years. In fact, Christopher Columbus used a part of him to look for the New World, which caused him some trouble as a result of Ptolemy's error in estimating the size of the Atlantic Ocean, and his lack of knowledge of the existence of the Pacific Ocean.
What is important in Ptolemy's map is that he drew the north at the top, because he decided then to be east of the map towards the polar star, a very logical choice, because the polar star was an inanimate guide guiding the travelers during their travels in those ages.
The existence of the north on the upper part of the map remained undisputed until the beginning of the Middle Ages. The scholars continued to draw the map according to the instructions of Ptolemy despite the opposition of the Church. However, the situation did not last for long. Jerusalem became the center of Christianity from every corner of the earth.
These maps are known as trilogy, showing only Europe, Asia and Africa separated by the Mediterranean and the Nile.
These maps were not useful to the navigators. Then, the landmarks of the micro-charts began to emerge at the beginning of the fourteenth century, when exploration and maritime trade increased, and the magnetic compass, which the Viking used first in its primordial form, began to rely heavily on the magnetic compass. Again, the North returned to its right position on top of the maps to be all the parameters associated with the magnetism of the North.
It was first painted in 1569, when the most famous cartographer in the history of mankind, Gerardus Mercator of Flanders, developed a cylindrical shape intersecting the southern north lines. This was the first form to show curved ground on the surface of a flat map.
The process of cartography began with the cave man - he drew the methods of fishing and their places and sometimes included some geographical features of the place. Their correspondence, regardless of any reference they were thinking at the time, is clear and simple: here, at this time of the year, Food is abundant.
I present an acceptable and well-known map of the world drawn on a clay table in 3800 BC, illustrating the Euphrates River that flows north of Mesopotamia - Iraq. That map and many others were drawings with local features from different environments.
This continued for several centuries until the ancient Greeks began to establish clear bases for astronomy, arithmetic and maps.
And in the forefront of Greek pioneers in the field of philosophy and numerology. Claudius Ptolemy known as Ptolemy (90 - 168 AD). He was the first to draw a map of the civilized world, based on available information rather than mere possibilities. Before that, the Babylonians had tried to map the world, but they presented it with a flat plate rather than a spherical shape, a form Ptolemy quoted later. Of course, the information available at that time led him to make several mistakes during the mapping of the Earth, such as drawing English islands - England and Scotland - connected to one another, and he estimated the area of China and the Atlantic Ocean excessively. In spite of all this, his map was evidence of a great effort, because he attached the map to a geography guide divided into eight parts, in which he summarized the work of his predecessor, scientists and geographers. and his work stayed as a reference for more than one thousand years. In fact, Christopher Columbus used a part of him to look for the New World, which caused him some trouble as a result of Ptolemy's error in estimating the size of the Atlantic Ocean, and his lack of knowledge of the existence of the Pacific Ocean.
What is important in Ptolemy's map is that he drew the north at the top, because he decided then to be east of the map towards the polar star, a very logical choice, because the polar star was an inanimate guide guiding the travelers during their travels in those ages.
The existence of the north on the upper part of the map remained undisputed until the beginning of the Middle Ages. The scholars continued to draw the map according to the instructions of Ptolemy despite the opposition of the Church. However, the situation did not last for long. Jerusalem became the center of Christianity from every corner of the earth.
These maps are known as trilogy, showing only Europe, Asia and Africa separated by the Mediterranean and the Nile.
These maps were not useful to the navigators. Then, the landmarks of the micro-charts began to emerge at the beginning of the fourteenth century, when exploration and maritime trade increased, and the magnetic compass, which the Viking used first in its primordial form, began to rely heavily on the magnetic compass. Again, the North returned to its right position on top of the maps to be all the parameters associated with the magnetism of the North.
It was first painted in 1569, when the most famous cartographer in the history of mankind, Gerardus Mercator of Flanders, developed a cylindrical shape intersecting the southern north lines. This was the first form to show curved ground on the surface of a flat map.