![Compass Rose English South](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9a/Compass_Rose_English_South.svg)
South is one of the
cardinal direction
The four cardinal directions, or cardinal points, are the four main compass directions: north, east, south, and west, commonly denoted by their initials N, E, S, and W respectively. Relative to north, the directions east, south, and west are at ...
s or
compass points. The direction is the opposite of
north and is
perpendicular to both
east and
west.
Etymology
The word ''south'' comes from
Old English
Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain, Anglo ...
''sūþ'', from earlier
Proto-Germanic ''*sunþaz'' ("south"), possibly related to the same
Proto-Indo-European root that the word ''sun'' derived from. Some languages describe south in the same way, from the fact that it is the direction of the sun at noon (in the Northern Hemisphere), like Latin meridies 'noon, south' (from medius 'middle' + dies 'day', cf English meridional), while others describe south as the right-hand side of the rising sun, like Biblical Hebrew תֵּימָן teiman 'south' from יָמִין yamin 'right', Aramaic תַּימנַא taymna from יָמִין yamin 'right' and Syriac ܬܰܝܡܢܳܐ taymna from ܝܰܡܝܺܢܳܐ yamina (hence the name of
Yemen, the land to the south/right of the
Levant).
Navigation
![Joaquín_Torres_García_-_América_Invertida](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0d/Joaqu%C3%ADn_Torres_Garc%C3%ADa_-_Am%C3%A9rica_Invertida.jpg)
By
convention
Convention may refer to:
* Convention (norm), a custom or tradition, a standard of presentation or conduct
** Treaty, an agreement in international law
* Convention (meeting), meeting of a (usually large) group of individuals and/or companies in a ...
, the ''bottom or down-facing side'' of a
map is south, although
reversed map
South-up map orientation is the orientation of a map with south up, 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 ...
s exist that defy this convention. To go south using a compass for
navigation, set a
bearing or
azimuth of 180°. Alternatively, in the
Northern Hemisphere
The Northern Hemisphere is the half of Earth that is north of the Equator. For other planets in the Solar System, north is defined as being in the same celestial hemisphere relative to the invariable plane of the solar system as Earth's Nort ...
outside the
tropics, the
Sun will be roughly in the south at
midday.
South Pole
True south is one end of the axis about which the
Earth rotates, called the
South Pole. The South Pole is located in
Antarctica.
Magnetic south is the direction towards the south
magnetic pole
Magnetic pole may refer to:
* One of the two ends of a magnet
* Magnetic monopole, a hypothetical elementary particle
* The magnetic poles of astronomical bodies, a special case of magnets, especially:
** The North Magnetic Pole
The north mag ...
, some distance away from the south geographic pole.
Roald Amundsen, from
Norway, was the first person to
reach the South Pole, on 14 December 1911, after
Ernest Shackleton from the
UK was forced to turn back some distance short.
Geography
The
Global South
The concept of Global North and Global South (or North–South divide in a global context) is used to describe a grouping of countries along socio-economic and political characteristics. The Global South is a term often used to identify region ...
refers to the socially and economically less-developed southern half of the globe. 95% of the Global North has enough food and shelter, and a functioning education system.
[ In the South, on the other hand, only 5% of the population has enough food and shelter. It "lacks appropriate technology, it has no political stability, the economies are disarticulated, and their foreign exchange earnings depend on primary product exports".]
Use of the term "South" may also be country-relative, particularly in cases of noticeable economic or cultural divide. For example, the Southern United States, separated from the Northeastern United States
The Northeastern United States, also referred to as the Northeast, the East Coast, or the American Northeast, is a geographic region of the United States. It is located on the Atlantic coast of North America, with Canada to its north, the Southe ...
by the Mason–Dixon line, or the South of England, which is politically and economically unmatched with all of the North of England
Northern England, also known as the North of England, the North Country, or simply the North, is the northern area of England. It broadly corresponds to the former borders of Angle Northumbria, the Anglo-Scandinavian Kingdom of Jorvik, and the ...
.
Southern Cone
The Southern Cone ( es, Cono Sur, pt, Cone Sul) is a geographical and cultural subregion composed of the southernmost areas of South America, mostly south of the Tropic of Capricorn. Traditionally, it covers Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay, bou ...
is the name that is often referred to as the southernmost area of South America that, in the form of an inverted "cone", almost like a large peninsula, encompasses Argentina, Chile, Paraguay, Uruguay and the entire South of Brazil (Brazilian states of Rio Grande do Sul
Rio Grande do Sul (, , ; "Great River of the South") is a Federative units of Brazil, state in the South Region, Brazil, southern region of Brazil. It is the Federative_units_of_Brazil#List, fifth-most-populous state and the List of Brazilian st ...
, Santa Catarina, Paraná and São Paulo). Rarely does the meaning broaden to Bolivia
, image_flag = Bandera de Bolivia (Estado).svg
, flag_alt = Horizontal tricolor (red, yellow, and green from top to bottom) with the coat of arms of Bolivia in the center
, flag_alt2 = 7 × 7 square p ...
, and in the most restricted sense it only covers Chile, Argentina and Uruguay.
The country of South Africa is so named because of its location at the southern tip of Africa. Upon formation the country was named the Union of South Africa in English, reflecting its origin from the unification of four formerly separate British colonies. Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
derives its name from the Latin Terra Australis ("Southern Land"), a name used for a hypothetical continent in the Southern Hemisphere since ancient times.
Other uses
In the card game bridge, one of the players is known for scoring purposes as South. South partners with North and plays against East and West.
In Greek religion, Notos, was the south wind and bringer of the storms of late summer and autumn.
References
External links
*
{{CandODirections
Orientation (geometry)