Tuesday, April 29, 2008

"North" is not "Up"

Just a quick note here:

An annoyance when it comes to geographical discussion is the concept of "north" and the basic assumption that that direction will also be referred to as "up" or "upper". The two best examples I know of both refute this assumption: Egypt had an "upper" and a "lower" kingdom. The Upper Kingdom was south and the Lower Kingdom was north since the Upper Kingdom was higher in elevation and up the Nile River; Macedonia had "upper" and "lower" regions as well, with the Upper Macedonian cantons being "up" in the mountains and upriver, but to the west, while lower was on the plain and centralized. North in the Macedonian kingdom was Palioura.

"Up" is a spacial term that is also used for rivers and the basic meaning, elevation.

"North" is a geographical concept of where the needle in the compass points.

Please do not confuse these again.

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