![]() The Americas, the western part of the British Isles (including Ireland and Wales), and the northwestern part of Africa are land masses in the Western Hemisphere. The Western Hemisphere is west of the prime meridian and east of the International Date Line. ![]() Most of Earth's landmasses, including all of Asia and Australia, and most of Africa, are part of the Eastern Hemisphere. The Eastern Hemisphere is east of the prime meridian and west of the International Date Line. This is similar to the way the Equator serves as the 0° latitude line and divides Earth into the northern and southern hemispheres. The prime meridian and the International Date Line create a circle that divides Earth into the Eastern and Western Hemispheres. ![]() As you pass the International Date Line, you either add a day (going west) or subtract a day (going east.) Hemispheres The meridian at 180° longitude is commonly known as the International Date Line. The meridian that runs through Greenwich, England, is internationally accepted as the line of 0 degrees longitude, or prime meridian. Earth's longitude measures 360°, so the halfway point from the prime meridian is the 180° longitude line. The distance around Earth measures 360 degrees. The prime meridian also helps establish the International Date Line. in Orlando, Florida, United States 4:00 p.m. in Houston, Texas, United States, it would be reported at 12 p.m. All countries and regions measure their time zones according to UTC. Just as the prime meridian is the standard for longitude, UTC is the standard for time. UTC never changes for daylight savings or anything else. The prime meridian also sets Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). The Greenwich Meridian became the international standard for the prime meridian. They chose the meridian passing through the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, England. President Chester Arthur in 1884, representatives from 25 countries agreed to pick a single, standard meridian. Finally, at an international convention called by U.S. Even different parts of the same country published materials based on local meridians. Cartographers in China published maps with 0° longitude running through Beijing. France published maps with 0° longitude running through Paris. Different countries published maps and charts with longitude based on the meridian passing through their capital city. Governments did not always agree that the Greenwich meridian was the prime meridian, making navigation over long distances very difficult. ![]() However, there is an international agreement that the meridian that runs through Greenwich, England, is considered the official prime meridian. Any line of longitude (a meridian) can serve as the 0° longitude line. The prime meridian is arbitrary, meaning it could be chosen to be anywhere. * While waiting to someone to invent a sufficiently accurate clock, the Portuguese devised a series of highly accurate approximations including the lunar distance model and the path of the solar eclipse.The prime meridian is the line of 0° longitude, the starting point for measuring distance both east and west around Earth. While the most common prime meridian, to this day, more than a dozen countries do NOT use the Greenwich meridian (for their maps) including Austria, Norway, Switzerland, and Indonesia. The placement of the prime meridian in Greenwich In 1884 a conference held in Washington, D.C. (shown with red-and-yellow flag on map at left.īy the nineteenth century, when the English achieved dominance at sea, they began producing charts using their own island for zero longitude. Portuguese map-maker Pedro Reinel drew the first prime meridian (starting point for measuringįixed zero longitude at the Madeira Islands for their overseas voyages, their competitors, the Spaniards, soon chose nearby Ferro (Hierro) in their territories (Canary Islands) for their zero longitude. History of Prime Meridians on Sailing Charts: The first country to create world sailing charts (Portugal) put the starting point in its territory (Madeira Islands-indicated by the red-and-blue-flag).Ĭlose-up of prime meridian, with alternating blue and red colors for individual latitude degrees. While the equator can only be in one place, the prime meridian can be anywhere you chose. The First Prime Meridian on a Nautical MapĪ prime meridian is the place where to start measuring east-west distance.
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