page_title: South-up map orientation
section_title: Cultural diversity education
hierarchical_section_title: South-up map orientation / Cultural diversity education
caption_attribution_description: English: Copy of Al Idrisi Tabula Rogeriana with arabic names translitterated into the roman alphabet.
context_page_description: South-up map orientation is the orientation of a map with south up, or at the top of the map, amounting to a 180-degree rotation of the map from the standard convention of north-up. Maps in this orientation are sometimes called upside down maps or reversed maps.
  Other maps with non-standard orientation include T and O maps, polar maps, and Dymaxion maps.
context_section_description: Cultural diversity and media literacy educators use south-up oriented world maps to help students viscerally experience the frequently disorienting effect of seeing something familiar from a different perspective. Having students consider the privileged position given to the Northern hemisphere (especially Europe and North America) on most world maps can help students confront their more general potential for culturally biased perceptions.
caption: The Tabula Rogeriana, drawn by al-Idrisi for Roger II of Sicily in 1154, is a south-up map and one of the most advanced maps of the pre-modern world.
exif: {}