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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

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 maps 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, 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 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 contract bridge, 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)