I think we're forgetting that north and south are arbitrary and interchangeable as far as physics is concerned. If our dominant civilisations had grown up in southern Africa or South America we probably would've called that half of the world "north", that hemisphere of the world would appear at the top of maps, and the sun would arise in the west, as in my world.

(In fact to physics, the "North Pole" is actually a south magnet, since the north pole of any magnet is only attracted the south poles of other magnets. The magnetic field of earth also regularly flips, so that north becomes south every million years or so. We are due for a flip some time soon!)