*

*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*


Basic Geography: The Equator and the Prime Meridian

• Latitude and Longitude • About Latitude and Longitude • Geography in General

Share This Page

Follow This Site
*
*

The earth is a world, of course, and also deserve to be divided into several lines called latitude and longitude.

You are watching: How are the equator and prime meridian alike

Latitude lines run eastern and west and measure north and also south; longitude lines run north and south and meacertain east and also west. The lines measure ranges in degrees.

But wbelow perform you start? Wright here is 0 degrees?

Well, that depends on whether you're searching for 0 degrees latitude or 0 degrees longitude. They are various things.

*
The equator is 0 level latitude. This imaginary line, which runs through parts of South America, Africa, and Asia, is officially the halfmethod allude in between the North Pole and the South Pole.

The prime meridian is 0 degrees longitude.

*
This imaginary line runs via the UK, France, Spain, western Africa, and Antarctica.

By making use of the equator and also prime meridian, we deserve to divide the human being into four hemispheres, north, southern, eastern, and also west. For circumstances, the USA is in the Western Hemispbelow (bereason it is west of the prime meridian) and also also in the Northern Hemispright here (because it is north of the equator).

See more: What Is 32 Ounces Is How Many Quarts In 32 Ounces? Convert 32 Fl Oz To Qt

The earliest maps have the equator noted on them, however it wasn't until the late 1ninth Century that the prime meridian was named. Until that time, as many kind of as 14 different locations were being established on assorted maps as 0 levels longitude. The International Meridian Conference of 1884 adjusted all that, naming an imaginary line drawn through Greenwhich, England, as the prime meridian.

These lines are attracted just on maps and also globes, yet. You won't discover an "equator line" on the roads of Brazil. These lines are simply for the identification of wbelow things are on a map or a globe.