This is about the direction; for other uses, see North (disambiguation).

North is one of the four cardinal directions, specifically the direction that, in Western culture, is treated as the fundamental direction:

• North is used (explicitly or implicitly) to define all other directions. For Compass Airlines an Airline in the US using the Callsign "Compass Rose" See Compass Airlines A compass rose is a figure displaying the orientation Western culture (sometimes equated with Western Civilization) are terms which are used to refer to Cultures of European origin
• The (visual) top edges of maps usually correspond to the northern edge of the area represented, unless explicitly stated otherwise or landmarks are considered more useful for that territory than specific directions. A map is a visual representation of an area—a symbolic depiction highlighting relationships between elements of that space such as objects, Regions, and Themes Originally a landmark literally meant a Geographic Feature used by explorers and

Contents 1 Definitions 2 Etymology 3 Magnetic north and declination 4 Roles of north as prime direction 5 Roles of east and west as inherently subsidiary directions 6 See also

Definitions

North can mean:

1. true north, the direction along the earth's surface toward one pole of the earth's rotation, namely the pole that is clearly on one's left when standing at the Equator while facing the rising sun. noted by the Chinese Polymath Shen Kuo in the 11th century and possibly the egyptians over 6 millenia ago A geographical pole, or geographic pole, is either of two fixed points on the surface of a spinning body or Planet, at 90 degrees from the Equator, based The equator (sometimes referred to colloquially as "the Line") is the intersection of the Earth 's surface with the plane perpendicular to the
2. magnetic north, the direction along the earth's surface in which horizontal magnetic field strength has its most positive value (but the eventual next "flipping" of the magnetic poles, perhaps in a few thousand years, implies this awkward wording: "the north magnetic pole will later lie in the southern hemisphere". The Earth's North Magnetic Pole is the wandering point on the Earth's surface at which the Earth's magnetic field points vertically downwards (i A geomagnetic reversal is a change in the orientation of Earth's magnetic field such that the positions of magnetic north and magnetic south become interchanged )
3. a loosely specified direction, usually within half a right angle of true north, especially when stating travel instructions in an area where directions of travel are constrained by an approximately rectangular grid of streets, hallways, etc. ; this is often called 'grid north' or 'plan north'.
4. the orientation of a traveller with respect to a visible or otherwise definite continuous two-way route, such that sustained travel over the whole of the route produces a change of position to a location further north, even if that involves travelling a part of the route in another direction, even straight south; often termed "northbound".
5. pertaining to the part of a route mainly or exclusively used by northbound traffic, where southbound traffic is separated by barriers, or where both are encouraged to stay mostly in one portion by Rules of the road; often termed "northbound". Traffic on Roads may consist of Pedestrians ridden or herded Animals Vehicles Streetcars and other Conveyances either singly
6. used euphemistically to refer to the direction of travel toward a goal, such as in football, the direction toward the opponents goal is north, and when players are moving crossways and not making progress toward the goal, they are said to be moving "east-west".

Etymology

The word north is traced to the Old High German nord, and the Proto-Indo-European unit ner-, meaning "left" (or "under"). Etymology is the study of the History of Words &mdash when they entered a language from what source and how their form and meaning have changed over time (Presumably a natural primitive description of its concept is "to the left of the rising sun". )

Latin borealis is from Greek boreas "north wind, north", in mythology (according to Ovid) personified as the son of the river-god Strymon, and father of Calais and Zetes; septentrionalis is from septentriones, "the seven plow oxen", a name of Ursa Maior. In Greek Mythology, the Anemoi (in Greek, Άνεμοι &mdash " winds " were Wind gods who were each ascribed Publius Ovidius Naso ( March 20, 43 BC – 17 AD was a Roman poet known to the English -speaking world as Ovid who wrote on many topics including Strymon redirects here For the Strymon Gulf see Strymonian Gulf. For the Genus of Noctuid Moths see Zethes (moth. The Boreads, in Greek mythology, were Ursa Major ( is a Constellation visible throughout the year in most of the northern hemisphere Greek arktikos "northern" is named for the same constellation (c. f. Arctic). The Arctic is the Region around the Earth 's North Pole, opposite the Antarctic region around the South Pole.

Magnetic north and declination

Magnetic north is of interest because it is the direction indicated as north on a properly functioning (but uncorrected) magnetic compass. The Earth's North Magnetic Pole is the wandering point on the Earth's surface at which the Earth's magnetic field points vertically downwards (i A compass, magnetic compass or mariner's compass is a navigational instrument for determining direction relative to the earth's Magnetic poles It consists The difference between it and true north is called the magnetic declination (or simply the declination where the context is clear). The magnetic declination (also known as grid magnetic angle in military circles at any point on the Earth is the angle between the local magnetic field -- the direction For many purposes and physical circumstances, the error in direction that results from ignoring the distinction is tolerable; in others a mental or instrument compensation, based on assumed knowledge of the applicable declination, can solve all the problems. But simple generalizations on the subject should be treated as unsound, and as likely to reflect popular misconceptions about terrestrial magnetism. Earth 's magnetic field (and the surface magnetic field) is approximately a Magnetic dipole, with one pole near the North pole (see

Roles of north as prime direction

The visible rotation of the night sky about the visible celestial pole provides a vivid metaphor of that direction corresponding to up. The north and south celestial poles are the two imaginary points in the sky where the Earth's Axis of rotation, "infinitely extended" intersects the Thus the choice of the north as corresponding to up in the northern hemisphere, or of south in that role in the southern, is, prior to world-wide communication, anything but an arbitrary one. Northern Hemisphere is the half of a Planet that is North of the Equator —the word hemisphere literally means 'half ball' On the contrary, it is of interest that Chinese culture even considered south as the proper top end for maps.

In Western culture:

• Up is a metaphor for north
• Maps tend to be drawn for viewing with either true north or magnetic north at the top
• Globes of the earth have the North Pole at the top, or if the earth's axis is represented as inclined from vertical (normally by the angle it has relative to the axis of the earth's orbit), in the top half. A globe is a three- Dimensional scale model of Earth ( terrestrial globe) or other spheroid celestial body such as a planet star or moon
• Maps are usually labelled to indicate which direction on the map corresponds to a direction on the earth,
  • usually with a single arrow oriented to the map's representation of true north,
  • occasionally with a single arrow oriented to the map's representation of magnetic north, or two arrows oriented to true and magnetic north respectively,
  • occasionally with a compass rose, but if so, usually on a map with north at the top and usually with north decorated more prominently than any other compass point. For Compass Airlines an Airline in the US using the Callsign "Compass Rose" See Compass Airlines A compass rose is a figure displaying the orientation

The notion that north should always be up and east at the right was established by the Greek astronomer Ptolemy. Claudius Ptolemaeus ( Greek: Klaúdios Ptolemaîos; after 83 &ndash ca The historian Daniel Boorstin suggests

Perhaps this was because the better-known places in his world were in the northern hemisphere, and on a flat map these were most convenient for study if they were in the upper right-hand corner. Daniel Joseph Boorstin ( October 1, 1914 – February 28, 2004) was an American Historian, Professor, Attorney

Roles of east and west as inherently subsidiary directions

While the choice of north over south as prime direction reflects quite arbitrary historical factors, east and west are not nearly as natural alternatives as first glance might suggest. Their folk definitions are, respectively, "where the sun rises" and "where it sets". Except on the Equator, however, these definitions, taken together, would imply that

• east and west would not be 180 degrees apart, but instead would differ from that by up to twice the degrees of latitude of the location in question, and
• they would each move slightly from day to day and, in the temperate zones, markedly over the course of the year.

Reasonably accurate folk astronomy, such as is usually attributed to Stone Age peoples or later Celts, would arrive at east and west by noting the directions of rising and setting (preferably more than once each) and choosing as prime direction one of the two mutually opposite directions that lie halfway between those two. The Stone Age is a broad prehistoric time period during which Humans widely used stone for toolmaking Celts (ˈkɛlts or /ˈsɛlts/, see Names of the Celts The true folk-astronomical definitions of east and west are "the directions, a right angle from the prime direction, that are closest to the rising and setting, respectively, of the sun (or moon).

See also

• "The North", a sense of the term that refers to the Northern part of the world, as contrasted to the South
• Nordicity
• The world's most northern bagpipe orchestra, city, capital, zoo etc. Nordicity is the degree of Northernness The concept was developed by Canadian Geographer Louis-Edmond Hamelin in the 1960s based on previous This is a list of various different northernmost things on earth
• Nordicism
• Septentrionalism
• Arctic

The Nordic race was one of the racial categories into which the Europeans were divided by anthropologists in the first half of the twentieth century Early modern publications dealing with Old Norse ( Viking Age) culture appeared in the 16th century e The Arctic is the Region around the Earth 's North Pole, opposite the Antarctic region around the South Pole.

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