I am thinking that we are all somewhat directional. Europeans who live on the Atlantic think "west" as do our folks who live on the Pacific Coast. We on the East Coast look east. I spent considerable amounts of time "up north" in Europe, Russia and the US and we thought "north" as a natural direction while many in south Europe for instance think "south". Point is we all have something of built in "natural compasses"...
We look to the North Star for guidance while those in Argentina look at the Southern Cross. We are drawn to the dawn or the sunset as surely as to the oceans.
Just thinking about this as Columbus set out first south and then west and Lief Ericsson headed north and then west while the native peoples here looked east to see what was coming their way and those they left behind looked west to watch for the return.