South or south?

[lauren1]

In the sentence, "This time period was when segregation was occurring in the south before the civil rights movement," would the word south be capitalized?
Thanks!

[bwkcaj_ca]

I would capitalize it since "The South" is name of a place.

Outside North America many people might not know the significance of "The North" and "The South" with reference to the civil war and might not agree.

[lauren1]

Okay. Thanks so much for the help!

[Rover_KE]

Context is all-important, Lauren. Please give us some in future posts.

I was going to answer no until I read that it referred to one of the sides in the American Civil War.

In general usage, such as 'London is south of Manchester', a capital s would be wrong.

Rover

[SoothingDave]

This is well after the Civil War, but "the South" is a region (not a direction) and I would capitalize it.