SSC MTS EXAM

Detailed explanation-1: -It is guessed that because the Europeans were doing most of the exploration at the time in the northern hemisphere, choosing the north to keep on top was probably intuitive. Because of its usability, Mercators’ map soon became a world standard, and hence the idea of the north at the top stuck.

Detailed explanation-2: -Since the initial Muslim inhabitations were to the north of Mecca, a south oriented map would have made the followers look upwards. The Chinese, who invented the compass, thought that the compass pointed south. As a result, their maps were southward oriented. In ancient India, maps pointed to the East.