But did you ever wonder who divvied up the world in this way?
When
people explored regions, even back in ancient times, they often drew
maps of what they saw. Many people used coordinate systems on their
maps—numbered or lettered lines running both vertically and
horizontally, as an aid to finding and talking about features on the
map. However, mapmakers' systems were different from one another, and
that could be confusing!
The
wealthiest and most powerful nations in the world used some of that
wealth and power to explore faraway places, and so the
latitude/longitude systems they used became widespread. Still, many
different nations counted longitude with a different starting point,
a different line of longitude being zero, a different “Prime
Meridian.” For example, geographers in France counted the line of
longitude running through Paris as the Prime Meridian, but
geographers in England counted the line of longitude running through
Greenwich (just outside of London) as the Prime Meridian.
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| This line marks the spot where East meets West! |
And
when you are traveling all over the world, and writing letters to
people all over the world, and doing cooperative science experiments
with people all over the world, that is really confusing!
By
the way, it was obvious to everyone where the zero-line of latitude
should be—the equator. The equator is an imaginary line that runs
around the planet's “waist,” the mid-point between the two poles
that serve as the axis of rotation, and it's a very obvious and
“fair” location for the starting point of latitude. But there
just isn't an obvious and objective spot to start longitude. Should
it be the line that intersects Tokyo, Japan? Cairo, Egypt? New York,
United States?
Any
of these lines would work as well as any other line—so how did
people choose the Prime Meridian?
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| If you go to Greenwich, England, you can have one foot in the Western Hemisphere and the other in the Eastern Hemisphere. |
On
this date in 1884, representatives of 25 nations around the world met
in Washington, D.C., to set up a standard latitude/longitude system
(and also standard time zones). Probably because Great Britain was an
important colonial power, but also because the United States of
America already used it, the British system of longitude, with the
Prime Meridian running through Greenwich in Great Britain, was
finally chosen. One nation (Haiti) voted against this, and two
nations (Brazil and France) refused to vote on the issue, but 22
“yea” votes carried the day, and the world finally had one
standard Prime Meridian.
Find
out more about longitude at Kids Geo.
Also
on this date:
