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Re: Who's on top ? and why ?
I think the world map, has less to do with top of the world, as it does with the center of the world. Whoever compiles the map, puts themselves at the center of the universe. After that, as they add territories, they try to keep the map in proportion to the distances, for practical reasons (travel and exploration) which then may shift the center of the map to keep the map efficient in terms of content and space. If we wish to be complete we then add the rest of the known territories, which we hope to possess. One may notice England aligns with the vertical center, with Greenwich mean time defined as center of all time zones.
If Australia had been the center, the top and bottom of the earth would have been designed based on where the most prized part of the original empire was. I would guess north would still be at the top because of the exotic things found closer to the equator relative to the southern capital. Why would one put icebergs at the top. We would have the Greenwich mean time called Sidney time, with Australia at the center of the map.
The modern map reached steady state because of the efforts of the British Empire, so this will become a center at least in 1-D with the final map made for both practical efficiency and vanity, since it needs to be used in the field but will be influenced by those who live in the ivory towers. That was the compromise.
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