Gr"A stating that Africa is [at] the South Pole

Question

(Saw it today at the Kolel in Mikraot Gedolot, sorry can't find it online, please help).

At the beginning of Divrei Hayamim, Pirush HaGr"a explains various nations coming out of Noah's sons and how they divided the Earth and writes that Yefet got the North lands and the North pole and Cham got Africa [at] the South pole (קוטב הדרומי) (thanx to @DonielF):

" שם נטל חלק שליש במזרחי והוא אפריקי. וחם ויפת חלקו המערבי לשנים: חם נטל חלק הדרומי והוא אזיע, ויפת הצפוני והוא איראפיא. וכל השמות שנכתבו כאן הוא שם מדינות: גומר נטל קרוב לקוטב הצפוני, ומגוג אחריו, וכן כולם. וכוש קרוב לקוטב הדרומי, ומצרים אחריו... "

As Gr"A was well educated, how should we understand this statement, as a continuation of the Flat Earth movement in Judaism or as another tradition?

Does the Gra say that Africa is at the South Pole, or that the place referred to by Chazal as אפריקי is at the South Pole? There are many different interpretations of אפריקי, the most commonly cited ones (in my experience) being Carthage and what is modern-day Turkey, but perhaps the Gra felt that this was a different place. Would give new meaning to Tamid 32a, that Alexander the Great had to travel through a mountainous region that is always dark in order to reach אפריקי. — DonielF, Mar 31 '19 at 19:54
@DonielF I'll photo it tomorrow B"H, but he said that Yefet got the North pole and Cham the South pole ig Africa. — Al Berko, Mar 31 '19 at 20:38
Found the quote in my Mikraos Gedolos: שם נטל חלק שליש במזרחי והוא אפריקי. וחם ויפת חלקו המערבי לשנים: חם נטל חלק הדרומי והוא אזיע, ויפת הצפוני והוא איראפיא. וכל השמות שנכתבו כאן הוא שם מדינות: גומר נטל קרוב לקוטב הצפוני, ומגוג אחריו, וכן כולם. וכוש קרוב לקוטב הדרומי, ומצרים אחריו... Nowhere does he say that Africa is the South Pole, nor does he say that Europe is the North Pole. What I see is that parts of their regions are close to the poles, which is geographically accurate: Kush apparently had South Africa, and Gomer apparently had Scandinavia. — DonielF, Mar 31 '19 at 20:46

score 7 · Answer 1 · answered Mar 31 '19 at 20:54

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In my Mikraos Gedolos, I see the following quote (it's in his commentary to I:1:4):

שם נטל חלק שליש במזרחי והוא אפריקי. וחם ויפת חלקו המערבי לשנים: חם נטל חלק הדרומי והוא אזיע, ויפת הצפוני והוא איראפיא. וכל השמות שנכתבו כאן הוא שם מדינות: גומר נטל קרוב לקוטב הצפוני, ומגוג אחריו, וכן כולם. וכוש קרוב לקוטב הדרומי, ומצרים אחריו...

Nowhere does he say that Africa is the South Pole, nor does he say that Europe is the North Pole. He does say that Kush is close to the South Pole, perhaps South Africa (apparently learning that Africa was basically split between Kush in the south and Mitzraim in the north, with Kena'an beWhat I see is that parts of their regions are close to the poles, which is geographically accurate: Kush apparently had South Africa, and Gomer apparently had Scandinavia.

answered Mar 31 '19 at 20:54

DonielF

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So how do you understand "קרוב לקוטב הדרומי"? For me, it looks like Earth ends after Egypt or at most at the Equator. – Al Berko Mar 31 '19 at 21:01
I understand that some part of Africa is close to the South Pole, which is true. Mitzraim wasn't necessarily just Egypt, nor was Kush necessarily just Ethiopia; with this Gra in hand, it's possible to take part of the teaching cited in Pesachim 94a less metaphorically, that Egypt was 400x400 parsa, and Kush was significantly larger. – DonielF Mar 31 '19 at 21:03
But I still don't think he meant it to bend to another hemisphere. In his perception, the South pole is the place of maximum heat as opposed to the NP so it aligns with the Equator. – Al Berko Mar 31 '19 at 21:05
I'm not sure where you get that from in his text. Is it that he uses his piece to explain why the Gomerites are so white and the Kushim are so black? – DonielF Mar 31 '19 at 21:18
I'm sure he didn't know the South pole is even colder than the North one. So he saw it as one directional - from hot to cold, namely from the Equator, which he called the South pole – Al Berko Mar 31 '19 at 21:22
I'm still not seeing where he discusses temperature in this piece. – DonielF Mar 31 '19 at 21:23
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What's the literal meaning of קוטב? The only things I can think of offhand are קטב מרירי in Haazinu and אין עושין זיתים בבד ובקוטב in Sheviis 8:6, neither of which seems obviously relevant. – Heshy Mar 31 '19 at 21:28
@Heshy In modern Hebrew it means "pole," as in the poles of a sphere or magnet. Hence קוטב הדרומי is the South Pole and קוטב הצפוני is the North Pole. – DonielF Mar 31 '19 at 21:29
Ok, but what's the history of that usage? Would the Gra have used it that way? – Heshy Mar 31 '19 at 21:31
@Heshy I honestly don't know how far back that usage goes. It certainly makes sense in the context of the Gra, so I'm going to assume that's what he meant until I find evidence otherwise. – DonielF Mar 31 '19 at 21:32
@Heshy I think the Oskar goes to Heshy: the source seems to be in Kuzari 4, 1: " ואינם יודעים את דרך מהלכה אך תחת זאת הוא מוליך אותם אל הקטב הדרומי או אל קטב הצפון ואומר להם הנה השמש הקבילו פניה" BUT, the usage seems to be similar to ours (the contemporary Hebrew) – Al Berko Mar 31 '19 at 21:48
wouldnt "southern potion" be africa and "eastern portion" be asia? unless the Gra had opposite names in his time – Asher Apr 01 '19 at 01:42
@Asher He says that: Shem got the east, i.e. Asia; Cham got the south, i.e. Africa; and Yefes got the north, i.e. Europe. Kush is in the southernmost part of Africa, and Gomer is in the northernmost part of Europe. – DonielF Apr 01 '19 at 01:43
@DonielF yes but he says eastern portion is "afriki" which sounds like africa to me. i guess he had different names – Asher Apr 12 '19 at 18:58
@Asher Nowhere does he say that the eastern portion is Afriki, and even if he did, it's not necessarily the case that Afriki refers to Africa - cf. https://judaism.stackexchange.com/q/82769/ – DonielF Apr 12 '19 at 19:01
@DonielF שם נטל חלק שליש במזרחי והוא אפריקי but i'll concede it must not be africa – Asher Apr 12 '19 at 19:16

Gr"A stating that Africa is [at] the South Pole

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