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From Citizendium, the Citizens' Compendium

East is one of the four cardinal directions in geography. It is the opposite of west.

East is the direction in which the Earth rotates about its axis. As such, it appears to be the direction from which the Sun rises in the morning. For the same reason, the Moon also appears to rise in the east in the evening or night.

While east is actually 90 degrees clockwise from north, on a compass, it is displayed as being 90 degrees counter-clockwise of north. This is because a compass always points north.

On most terrestrial maps, north is commonly at the top, making east the right side of the map.