Cardinal direction

In geography, the four cardinal directions are north, east, south and west. North and south are oriented toward the respective poles of the Earth. The Earth's rotation defines the orientation of east and west.

The four cardinal directions correspond to the following degrees of a compass: North: 0 (= 360) degrees, East: 90 degrees, South: 180 degrees and West: 270 degrees (see azimuth).

In mathematics, cardinal directions or cardinal points are the four principal directions or points of the compass in a plane.

Germanic origin of names

During the Migration Period, the Germanic languages' names for the cardinal directions entered the Romance languages, where they replaced the Latin names borealis (or septentrionalis), australis (or meridionalis), occidentalis and orientalis. See French language.

Five Directions

Traditional Chinese culture and some others view the center as a fifth principal direction. In Asia, each direction is often identified with a color, and geographical or ethnic terms may contain the name of the color instead of the name of the corresponding direction.

Central Asia

The five cardinal directions were historically identified with colors. This was common to the Central Asian cultural area and was carried west by the westward migration of the Turkic peoples.

North: Black
- Heilongjiang "Black Dragon River" province in Northeast China, also the Amur River
- Black Sea: north of Turkey
- Kara-Khitan Khanate
- Black Wallachia
South: Red
- Red River (Vietnam): south of China
- Red Sea: south of Turkey
East: Green or Blue (青 "qīng" corresponds to green or blue)
- Qingdao (Tsingtao) "Green Island": a city on the east coast of China
West: White
- White Sheep Turkmen
- Ak Deniz "White Sea" in Turkish indicates the Sea of Marmara, the Aegean Sea, or the Mediterranean Sea
- Belarus: "White Russia", western region of Rus
Center: Yellow
- Huangshan "Yellow Mountain" in central China
- Golden Horde: "Central Army" of the Mongols

Americas

In Mesoamerica and North America, traditional indigenous beliefs also focus on the belief in the four cardinal directions and a center. Each direction was associated with a color, which varied, but each color corresponded to the hues of corn (green, black, red, white, and yellow).

In New age religion (which is derived from the ancient cultures of the world including the Native Americans) there are only FOUR cardinal points:

- North - South - East - West

Each of these represent an element, emotion/feeling, colour and traditional animal/symbol (which can also be related to the zodiac which each have their own element the exception of spirit which is not classed as one of the four traditional elements) The cardinals and their representations are as follows:

- North: Element: Earth Colour: Green Emotion: Safety, Security, Peace of mind Symbol: Spring, Trees, Ivy, Parrots (especially alexandrine and exotic birds)

- South: Element: Fire Colour: Red Emotion: Love, happiness Symbol: Autumn, cupids bow and arrow, autumn leaves, roses, bees and beeswax

-East: Element: Air Colour: Light blue and occasionally yellow Emotion: Religious peace, peace, unity, contentment Symbol: dove, olive branch, buddist stance

-West: Element: Water Colour: Deep blue with a tint of green Emotion: Knowledge, power Symbol: waves, ocean, seaweed

Seven Directions

In various Native American and New Age practices, there are seven primary directions: north, south, east, west, heaven, land, and center (or self, now).

Non-compass directional systems

Use of the compass directions is common and deeply embedded in European culture, and perhaps even more so in Chinese culture. Some other cultures make greater use of other referents, such as towards the sea vs. towards the mountains (Hawaii, Bali), or upstream and downstream (Yurok, Karok).