Who first depicted the world in the orientation we commonly see today? Was there a reason they orientated like that - maybe based off of early compasses - or was it just a coincidence that North points to one of our poles?
Same with the other directions. Who decided which direction would be West and East? Were they originally related to North or have a different origin?
Thank you ahead of time!
Looking at the etymology of the English words provides a clue for cultures that use languages from the PIE language family. The directions reference the sun: the word south refers to the sunny side, east to the sunrise, and west to the sunset. If you orient yourself to face east, north is to your left. From a Eurocentric point of view, e.g. to an Ancient Greek or Roman, Russia is east (sunrise) and Britain is west (sunset).
As for why maps usually place north at the top -- /u/khosikulu discusses the development of the cartographic convention in Why have cartographers always pictured north as up and south as down?, with followup comments in Why do maps universally have north as up?