The One Minute Geographer: This Fragile Earth (7) Look at the World Like an Australian
Above is an unusual world map that we could call ‘An Australian’s View of the World.’ Australia is Up Top, no longer Down Under! It’s a perfectly scientific map, as accurate as any world map using the same projection. There is no up or down, left or right, top or bottom in the universe. It’s simply convention that leads us to orient maps relative to the direction of the earth’s spin and to place north at the top on (probably) 99% of maps.
Below is a map of Europe we don’t usually see.
Some musings, specific to me, that this map makes me think about. Is it time to bring back the idea of Central Europe? Central Europe used to be thought of as Germany, Poland, Czech Republic and Slovakia, Austria and Hungry and maybe a couple of other small counties. That regional concept largely disappeared with Soviet-dominated countries, when we began to think of this group of countries within the polarity of an Eastern and Western Europe.
Other impressions I get from this map of Europe: Iceland seems closer to the rest of Europe than I usually think. On the other hand, Portugal and Ireland seem…
