Sail south from the Dry Tortugas across the Straits of Florida and in no time the 506-year-old city of Havana, Cuba will appear on the horizon; colorfully presented in this 1762 French map by J. N. Bellin, when its population exceeded New York City's. Harvard Library
Cuba oriented towards the East.
The way maps are represented has a lot to do with the cultural, religious, and geopolitical vision of a specific historical moment.
In the past, maps were oriented towards the direction where the sun rises, the East. In fact, the word “orient” comes from the Latin oriens, orientes, the word that means East. In general, North and West were rarely placed at the top; North was an area of darkness, and West was Poniente, where the sun set.
Chinese maps, on the other hand, were oriented towards the North, since, despite considering the South to be sacred (as it was the area where the emperor lived), symbolically all subjects had to look towards it in a position of subordination.
The map of Havana published in 1762 by the Universal Magazine of London is also oriented towards the east, however, the insert it has of the island of Cuba is oriented towards the north.
The way maps are represented has a lot to do with the cultural, religious, and geopolitical vision of a specific historical moment.
In the past, maps were oriented towards the direction where the sun rises, the East. In fact, the word “orient” comes from the Latin oriens, orientes, the word that means East. In general, North and West were rarely placed at the top; North was an area of darkness, and West was Poniente, where the sun set.
Chinese maps, on the other hand, were oriented towards the North, since, despite considering the South to be sacred (as it was the area where the emperor lived), symbolically all subjects had to look towards it in a position of subordination.
The map of Havana published in 1762 by the Universal Magazine of London is also oriented towards the east, however, the insert it has of the island of Cuba is oriented towards the north.
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