Concept in Definition ABC

Initially the concept of south has a dimension geographic. It is a reference of the orientation on our planet along with the other three cardinal points, that is, the north, the east and the west.

The cardinal points as a reference system are essential for orientation, both by land and by sea. This system of location in space comes from the ancient world, when the situation of the stars was not sufficient for navigation and it became necessary to devise more reliable and precise. Thus, the four cardinal points are established from the movement solar, which rises in the east or east and sets at the end of the day in the west or west. Taking these two dimensions as the axis of reference, an individual can establish where the north is, and therefore also the south, which is precisely its opposite cardinal point.

To know this location precisely, the compass was invented, which always points north. Regarding the invention of the compass, historians agree that it was originally the Chinese who 2000 years ago began to orient in the north-south direction using magnetite, a stone with magnetic properties that is also oriented in the same direction.

The south as a socio-political concept

To the margin From the geographical sense, the south is a concept with a whole series of social and political implications. If we think about our planet, we find a curious reality: the countries of the northern hemisphere are more prosperous than those of the southern hemisphere. Although there is no conclusive explanation that allows us to understand the reason Due to this difference in wealth between the North and the South, many analysts consider that the climatic factor favors the nations of the North. The reason is quite simple: the better the weather, the less work is done and therefore the production is less.

Interestingly, in the nations located in the northern hemisphere, the least advanced territories are usually located in the south. In fact, analysts and experts have coined a very illustrative concept, the north-south gap. Although the climatic factor may be important, it is considered that there are other aspects that explain the poverty of the south with respect to the opulence of the north (in the north of the planet, English is the language that for decades has an unquestionable international dimension due to the hegemony of the United States and previously Great Brittany).

If we take the phenomenon of migration as a reference, in most cases the migratory movements go from the south to the north. Another striking circumstance is the case of the location of some nations:

1) Spain is located in the southern part of the northern hemisphere (and is a poorer country than the northern European nations) and, at the same time, in the territory the north of Spain is richer than the south,

2) Italy has a sociopolitical situation similar to Spain and 3) The United States presents a notable social, economic and cultural between the northern and southern states.

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