Author Jerry Brotton presents a five-part series exploring each of the four cardinal directions in turn – north, east, south and west – and the possibility that, in the age of digital mapping, we are being left disoriented.

Throughout history the cardinal directions have been crucial to virtually all societies in understanding themselves in relation to the wider world. More than points on a compass, they are ideas in their own right – creating their own political, moral and cultural meanings. They’ve shaped how we divide the world geopolitically into East and West (Orient and Occident) while contrasting the ‘Global South’ with the industrialised ‘Global North’ drives much current development policy, especially around climate change.

In Part 3 of this series, Jerry looks East. It’s the direction of the sunrise, emblematic of the human life cycle; a symbol of birth and the beginning of life’s journey encapsulated in one day, ending with twilight and the setting of the sun. Over centuries the West - with which it forms an axis - came to be understood in direct relation to the East. It created a stereotype of the East - or Orient - as not just an idea, but a fantasy of beguiling mystery, also despotic and irrational. Meanwhile places to the east of Europe developed their own assumptions about the West, with China asserting its geopolitical power by drawing on the iconography of the east: rebirth, renewal and the rising sun.

So why is north at the top of most world maps? The four cardinal points on a compass are defined by the physical realities of the magnetic North Pole (north-south) and the rising and setting of the sun (east-west) but there is no reason why north is at the top of maps, any other cardinal point would do just as well. The convention was developed by the western world. So why not put west at the top? Well, early societies refused to privilege the west because it was the direction of the sunset, where darkness and death reigned. For medieval Christianity, east was at the top, because that was the direction of the Garden of Eden, shown on many mappae-mundi. On early Islamic maps south was at the top, while Chinese maps used north because the emperor looked 'down' southwards and everyone else looked 'up', north.

Series contributors include Google spatial technologist Ed Parsons, historian Sujit Sivasundaram, neuroscientist Hugo Spiers, author Rana Kabbani, director of the China institute at SOAS Steve Tsang, former head of maps at the British library Peter Barber, barrister and specialist in equality law Ulele Burnham, historian and sinologist Timothy Brook, author Irna Qureshi, geographer Alistair Bonnett, wayfinder and science writer Michael Bond, librarian at Hereford Cathedral Rosemary Firman and historian of Islamic maps Yossef Rappaport.

Presenter: Jerry Brotton
Producer: Simon Hollis

A Brook Lapping production for BBC Radio 4 Show less