western hemisphere - encyclopedia article about western hemisphere.

Western hemisphere

The Western Hemisphere, also Western hemisphere^[1] or western hemisphere,^[2] is a geographical term for the half of the Earth that lies west of the Prime Meridian (which crosses Greenwich in London, England, United Kingdom), the other half being the eastern hemisphere.^[3] It is also used to specifically refer to the Americas (or the New World) and adjacent waters, while excluding other territories that lie geographically in the hemisphere (parts of Africa, Europe, Antarctica, and Asia); thus, it is sometimes referred to as the American hemisphere.^[4] Western hemisphere is sometimes used as an equivalent for the geopolitical construct, the Western World, which typically includes the Americas and Europe.

Overview

A hemisphere is a geometric term that literally means 'half sphere', and in geography the term is used when dividing the Earth into two halves. The most obvious dividing line is the equator, creating the northern and southern hemispheres. These hemispheres are based on unambiguous reference points — the north and south poles — which are defined by the Earth's axis of rotation and, in turn, define the equator.

Any definition of eastern and western hemispheres, however, requires the selection of an arbitrary meridian and a corresponding meridian on the other side of the Earth. The Prime Meridian at 0° longitude is typically used, which runs through Greenwich; this is used to define the International Date Line (or End Meridian) on the other side of the Earth at 180° longitude. In its proper geographic sense, the western hemisphere includes not only the Americas, but the western portions of Europe and Africa, the easternmost tip of Russia, numerous territories in Oceania, and a portion of Antarctica while excluding some of the Aleutian Islands to the southwest of the Alaskan mainland. Often, the meridians of 20° W and the diametrically opposed 160° E are used,^[4]^[5] which excludes the European and African mainlands but also excludes a small portion of northeast Greenland and includes more of eastern Russia and Oceania (e.g., New Zealand).

Sources

1. ^ Oxford Dictionary of English, 2nd ed., rev. 2006. London, UK: Oxford University Press, p. 2001.
2. ^ Merriam Webster's Online Dictionary (based on Collegiate vol., 11th ed.) 2006. Springfield, MA: Merriam-Webster, Inc.
3. ^ "Latitude and longitude" Encyclopædia Britannica. 2006. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
4. ^ Olson, Judy M. "Projecting the hemisphere", ch. 4 from Matching the map projection to the need; Robinson, Arthur H. & Snyder, John P., eds. 1997. Bethesda, MD: Cartography and Geographic Information Society, American Congress on Surveying and Mapping.
5. ^ "Western Hemisphere". Merriam-Webster's Geographical Dictionary, 3rd ed. 2001. Springfield, MA: Merriam-Webster, Inc., p. 1294.

• • [ e] Hemispheres of the Earth
Northern hemisphere • Southern hemisphere • Western hemisphere • Eastern hemisphere • Land hemisphere • Water hemisphere

Geography - (from the Greek words Geo (γη) or Gaea (γαία), both meaning "Earth", and graphein (γράφειν) meaning "to describe" or "to write"
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EARTH was a short-lived Japanese vocal trio which released 6 singles and 1 album between 2000 and 2001. Their greatest hit, their debut single "time after time", peaked at #13 in the Oricon singles chart.
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WEST can refer to:

Western European Summer Time
WEST (AM), an AM radio station located in Easton, Pennsylvania

''This article refers to the cardinal direction; for other uses see West (disambiguation).

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Prime Meridian, also known as the International Meridian or Greenwich Meridian, is the meridian (line of longitude) passing through the Royal Greenwich Observatory in London — it is the meridian at which longitude is defined to be 0 degrees.
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State Party United Kingdom
Type Cultural
Criteria i, ii, iv, vi
Reference 795
Region Europe and North America

Inscription History
Inscription 1997 (21st Session)
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London
Canary Wharf is the centre of London's modern office towers
London shown within England
Coordinates:
Sovereign state United Kingdom
Constituent country England
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Motto
Dieu et mon droit (French)
"God and my right"
Anthem
No official anthem specific to England — the anthem of the United Kingdom is "God Save the Queen".
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Motto
"Dieu et mon droit" ^[2] (French)
"God and my right"
Anthem
"God Save the Queen" ^[3]
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Eastern Hemisphere, also Eastern hemisphere^[1] or eastern hemisphere,^[2] is a geographical term for the half of the Earth that is east of the Prime Meridian (which crosses Greenwich, England, United Kingdom) and west of the International Date
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Americas are the lands of the Western hemisphere or New World consisting of the continents of North America^[1] and South America with their associated islands and regions. The Americas cover 8.3% of the Earth's total surface area (28.
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The New World is one of the names used for the Americas. When the term originated in the late 15th century, the Americas were new to the Europeans, who previously thought of the world as consisting only of Europe, Asia, and Africa (collectively, the Old World).
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Africa is the world's second-largest and second most-populous continent, after Asia. At about 30,221,532 km² (11,668,545 sq mi) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area, and 20.4% of the total land area.
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Europe is one of the seven traditional continents of the Earth. Physically and geologically, Europe is the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, west of Asia. Europe is bounded to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the west by the Atlantic Ocean, to the south by the Mediterranean Sea,
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Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent. It covers 8.6% of the Earth's total surface area (or 29.4% of its land area) and, with almost 4 billion people, it contains more than 60% of the world's current human population.
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Geopolitics is the study that analyzes geography, history and social science with reference to spatial politics and patterns at various scales (ranging from home, city, region, state to international and cosmopolitics).
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Western world, the West or the Occident (Latin occidens -sunset, -west, as distinct from the Orient) ^[1] can have multiple meanings dependent on its context (e.g., the time period, or the social situation).
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A sphere is a symmetrical geometrical object. In non-mathematical usage, the term is used to refer either to a round ball or to its two-dimensional surface. In mathematics, a sphere is the set of all points in three-dimensional space (R³
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Geometry (Greek γεωμετρία; geo = earth, metria = measure) is a part of mathematics concerned with questions of size, shape, and relative position of figures and with properties of space. Geometry is one of the oldest sciences.
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equator is an imaginary line on the Earth's surface equidistant from the North Pole and South Pole. It thus divides the Earth into a Northern Hemisphere and a Southern Hemisphere. The equators of other planets and astronomical bodies are defined analogously.
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Northern Hemisphere or northern hemisphere^[1] is the half of a planet that is north of the equator—the word hemisphere literally means 'half ball'. It is also that half of the celestial sphere north of the celestial equator.
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Southern Hemisphere or southern hemisphere^[1] is the half of a planet that is south of the equator—the word hemisphere literally means 'half ball'. It is also that half of the celestial sphere south of the celestial equator.
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North Pole, also known as the Geographic North Pole or Terrestrial North Pole, is, subject to the caveats explained below, defined as the point in the northern hemisphere where the Earth's axis of rotation meets the Earth's surface.
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South Pole, also known as the Geographic South Pole or Terrestrial South Pole, is the southernmost point on the surface of the Earth. It lies on the continent of Antarctica, on the opposite side of the Earth from the North Pole.
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meridian (or line of longitude) is an imaginary arc on the Earth's surface from the North Pole to the South Pole that connects all locations with a given longitude. The position of a point on the meridan is given by the latitude.
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equator divides the planet into a Northern Hemisphere and a Southern Hemisphere, and has a latitude of 0. Longitude is the east-west geographic coordinate measurement most commonly utilized in cartography and global navigation.
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International Date Line (IDL), also known as just the Date Line, is an imaginary line on the surface of the Earth opposite the Prime Meridian which offsets the date as one travels east or west across it.
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180th meridian or antimeridian is the meridian defined as 180° longitude. It is the line of longitude exactly opposite the Prime Meridian. It is common to both east longitude and west longitude.
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Anthem
Hymn of the Russian Federation

Capital
(and largest city) Moscow

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