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A story on the map · 6 stops

The Earth's imaginary lines

The lines on every globe: what each one means, and why it is where it is.

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The stops

  1. The Equator runs round the middle of the Earth, halfway between the poles. Everything north of it is the Northern Hemisphere. Everything south of it is the Southern Hemisphere.
  2. The Prime Meridian runs from pole to pole through Greenwich, in London. East of it is the Eastern Hemisphere, and west of it is the Western Hemisphere.
  3. Together they give every place an address. Lagos is about 6° north of the Equator and 3° east of the Prime Meridian: 6° N, 3° E. The first number is its latitude, the second its longitude.
  4. The Tropic of Cancer, 23.4° north. It is the furthest north the Sun can ever be straight overhead, at noon on about 21 June. It crosses the Sahara, India and Mexico.
  5. The Tropic of Capricorn, 23.4° south: the furthest south the Sun is ever overhead, on about 21 December. It crosses Brazil, southern Africa and the middle of Australia. The band between the two tropics is "the tropics".
  6. The Arctic Circle, 66.6° north. Above it, the Sun stays up all day for at least one day each summer, and does not rise for at least one day each winter. The Antarctic Circle does the same in the south. Why are they exactly there? The next story: the Earth leans.
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Next

Why do we have seasons? Why leaves dry and fall, and why Christmas is in summer in Sydney.

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