为什么地图上都是上北下南？

artmunich

     每次坐火车从安徽来广州，我都会提醒自己，我是从北向南走，不是从上向下。为什么我会如此惴惴不安的想着这呢？相信每个人自小接触地理，都听过那有名的一句话：上北下南，左西右东。这句话荼毒甚广，笔者见过有人傻乎乎的念着这两句话，然后硬把实际上的西说成北。

     学过后，不知道以下的这几个问题有没有偶尔困扰你：
     1）为什么地图上地图上北就要在上面呢？

     2）卫星地图是直接拍摄实际的画面，怎么也是上北下南，包括我们看到的许多卫星照片？难道我们从外太空看地球真的是跟地图上一模一样？

     3）我们知道地球自西向东转，那我们实际的宇宙是不是跟地图上的宇宙垂直的呢？

     至于你有没有被困扰，反正我是经常想的。

     晚上跟@传说中的谁 @善人/jw  @何永利 @Mouse 吹水呀，我们说起这个问题。我通过度娘，搜了一个比较满意的答案，但是，度娘我们能信吗，不信请看，我们亲爱的传说都被度娘黑了。





      我当然选择google了。得到了第一个问题的答案，从沙发到5#都是第一问的答案，分别是两篇文章和一个国外某人对这个问题的答复。

      至于第二，第三，@mofangbao @topmad @athlon8048 @言深深 @zsmnantong  @尽头的尽头 。。。。该你们了

artmunich

Why Are Maps Drawn with North at the Top?

        Now it is hard to visualize a map that does not feature north at the top, but this was not always so.
     The oldest known map in the accepted sense of the word was drawn about 3, 800 BC, and represents the river Euphrates flowing through northern Mesopotamia, Iraq. This, and others that followed it, were little more than rough sketches of localized features; it was not until many centuries later that the ancient Greeks placed the science of map-making on a sound footing.
     At the forefront of the pioneers in the field was the Greek mathematician and philosopher Claudius Ptolemaeus (c. AD 90～168), more popularly known to history as Ptolemy. The last great scientist of the classical period, he was the first to draw a map that was based on all available knowledge, rather than guess or imagination. Earlier, the Bahylonians had attempted to map the world, but they presented it in the form of a flattened disc rather than a sphere, which was the form adopted by Ptolemy.
     Given the state of knowledge of those times, he got things wrong; for example, his estimate of China and the Atlantic Ocean was far from being accurate. Nevertheless, it was a useful effort, and the map remained a work of reference for over a thousand years. In fact, Christopher Columbus used a version of it when he set sail in search of the New World - which caused him some navigational problems, since Ptolemy had calculated wrongly the size of the Atlantic and was unaware that the Pacific Ocean existed.
     The really important thing about Ptolemy's map was that north was at the top. The reason for this was that he decided to orientate the map in the direction of the Vole Star since Polaris was the immovable guiding light in which the voyagers of that era placed their trust.
     North at the top remained the accepted arrangement until the early Middle Ages, when the Church began to interfere seriously with the advance of science. In accordance with the orders of the Church, maps were still produced in accordance with Ptolemy's principles ?but now Jerusalem was the central feature, as it was held to be the center of the Christian faith, and east was moved to the top.
     These maps are often called "T" Maps because they show only three continents - Europe, Asia and Africa - separated by the "T" formed by the Mediterranean Sea and the River Nile. From a navigational point of view, they were almost useless.
    More accurate maps began to appear in the 14th century, with the spread of trade and increasing reliance on the compass. Once again, north assumed its rightful place at the top of maps.

http://www.wnkaoshi.com/reading/reading.asp?item_ID=Reading_ZK(1)_18A

artmunich

好吧，为了给大家更多一点的选择，我找到了本文的中文翻译
http://www.wwenglish.com/en/club/read/6297.htm

            为什么把地图画成北方朝上？
         现在很难设想，若绘制地图不以北方作为地图的上方。可是过去可并不总是这样绘制的。
     现在已知的被公认为世上最古老的地图绘制于公元前3800年，这幅地图描绘的是流经伊拉克北部的美索不达米亚平原的幼发拉底河。这张地图，以及从这以后绘制的一些地图，最多也只不过算做是一些局部地区的很粗略的一些草图而已；直到很多世纪以后，古希腊人才把绘制地图这门科学置于坚实合理的基础之上。
         在绘制地图这一专业先驱者当中，处于最前列最古的地位的就是古希腊的数学家兼哲学家克劳迪o托勒密尤斯，即历史上广为人知的托勒密。他，作为古典时期的最后一位伟大的科学家，以当时的知识水平为基础，而不是凭猜测或想象，是绘制出地图的第一个人。在这以前更早的时候，巴比伦人曾经企图绘制世界地图，但是巴比伦人绘制成一个扁平的圆盘形，而不是绘制像托勒密所绘制的球形。
         由于那个时代的知识水平有限，所以他把一些情况搞错了，例如：他对中国和大西洋的看法，远远不够精确。尽管如此，他努力绘制的地图还是很有用处的。他所绘制的地图在从那时起的一千多年的时间内仍不失为一份重要参考资料。事实上，克里斯托佛o哥伦布在扬帆前去寻找新世界的时候，所用过的就正是托勒密所绘制的地图版本--这就是造成了哥伦布在航海中产生了一些问题的那个版本。因为托勒密对大西洋的范围有多大计算错了。再加上他就不知道还有个太平洋。
     托勒密所绘制的地图有一点是十分重要的，那就是他把北方置于地图的上方。他之所以要这样做就是因为他决定以北极星的方向来确定地图的方位。因为北极星是一盏不动的导航灯，那个时代的航海家们主要依靠北极星来导航。
     直到中世纪初期为止基督教会开始严重地干涉科学的进步和发展。在中世纪初期以前一致公认的依然是把北方置于地图的上方。依照教会的命令，地图的绘制依然要遵循托勒密的原则原理--但当时耶路撒冷具有中心的特征，因为基督教的信仰认为耶路撒冷是中心，结果就把东方移成了地图的上方。
         这种地图通常被叫做"丁"字形地图，因为这些地图上只表明了三大洲--欧洲、亚洲和非洲--的情况，这三大洲被地中海和尼罗河所形成的"丁"字隔开了。从航海的观点看来，这种地图几乎是没有用处的。
          随着贸易的扩张及越来越依靠罗盘，在14世纪开始出现了更加精确的地图。北方再一次被摆放到地图上的正确的位置--地图的上方。

artmunich

     Why is north always depicted at the top of maps?
It took until the mid-16th century for the north to start hogging the tops of maps. And to this day not everyone agrees. Some Australian mapmakers are putting south at the top to avoid being from down under.

While drawing up the first maps of the 'known world' in Alexandria in the second century AD, the astronomer Ptolemy decided to put north at the top. His Geographia included lines of longitude and latitude and he clearly thought of the world as being round, even though the information came from a relatively small part of the globe.

After the great library at Alexandria burnt down, religion took over. For nearly 1,500 years, maps from the Christian world took their lead from the Bible. In maps such as the Mappa Mundi at Hereford Cathedral, Jerusalem was placed at the centre of a flat, circular world with east at the top. This practice of aligning to where the sun rose helped give us the word 'orient'.

Arabic maps of the time put south at the top, perhaps because south lies to the right of east and so seems more 'righteous' than the left handed north. Later, European mapmakers, such as Fra Mauro in the mid-15th century, would use the Arab maps as sources and adopt south for the top of their maps.

At about the same time, Ptolemy's work was rediscovered and some mapmakers chose to embrace his techniques, with north returning to the top After Gerardus Mercator published his famous projection in 1569, north was established as the mapmakers' popular choice.

artmunich

Dear Cecil:

Why is north up? Did the early explorers, mapmakers, astronomers, and the like get together and vote, or did it just sort of happen? Does everyone on earth think of north as up, or could a Northern Hemispherian like myself travel south of the equator and buy a globe with Antarctica on top?

— David J., Chicago

Cecil replies:

You're on to something here, David. With a few minor exceptions, which we'll get to directly, mapmakers throughout the world invariably put north on top, even if they were born and raised in Tierra del Fuego. What we're dealing with, in other words, is a case of blatant directionism, the unfairness of which can't help but rankle any right-thinking person. Why should the big N always be on top when there are hundreds of other directions — thousands, if you get down to seconds of arc — that have an equally legitimate claim on our affections? I grieve to think of the shattered dreams of, say, south southeast.

People who live in the southern hemisphere like to give the impression they could care less about how maps are oriented. But don't be deceived. An Australian friend of mine once showed me a world map printed up by her countrymen that had south on top, thereby putting Australia, as she rather ominously phrased it, "in its rightful place." Mark my words, someday the slogan "Down with Yankee imperialism" will have shocking new meaning.

But getting back to your question. The notion that north should always be up and east at the right was established by the Egyptian astronomer Ptolemy (90-168 AD). "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," historian Daniel Boorstin opines. Mapmakers haven't always followed Ptolemy; during the Middle Ages, Boorstin notes, maps often had east on top — whence the expression "to orient." But north prevailed over the long haul. By the time Southern Hemispheroids had become numerically significant enough to bitch, the north-side-up convention was too well established to change.

— Cecil Adams

传说中的谁

支持A因斯坦！不过@artmunich你至于把我那么点糗事拿出来说么？

mofangbao

传说中的谁 发表于 2011-8-25 08:08

                               
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支持A因斯坦！不过@artmunich你至于把我那么点糗事拿出来说么？

A因斯坦让偶滴压力大大的啊

传说中的谁

@mofangbao度娘也真是的，那么不堪入目的内容就成了家园的标签了

尽头的尽头

好问题啊，我表示鸭梨很大，要研究研究。。。

artmunich

传说中的谁 发表于 2011-8-25 08:17

                               
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@mofangbao度娘也真是的，那么不堪入目的内容就成了家园的标签了

这件事告诉我们，在生活中要洁身自爱，做一个自律的、有修养的、高雅的、注意细节的、保持耐心的、....好淫~不能学传说那样呀