Who put the Equator - where the equator is .. ? .... In other words - who set the north-south divide .. ? .... Who put the lines of latitude and longitude where they are - i.e. North / South .. ? ....... The world is round - so these places could have been put anywhere ... Couldn't they .. ? .... Sue In pondering mood ...

Well, my geography is a bit rusty but the lines of longitude were determined by the folk at Greenwich Observatory way back when. The earth makes one revolution in 24 hours so they divided the 360 degrees of the circumference of the earth into 24 equal areas marked by a line of longitude with the 0 degree line running through the Observatory. The major lines are thus 15 degrees or one hour apart which is why time zones change by one hour for each 15 degrees of longitude. Of course, you can split each 15 deg. section into as many smaller segments as you wish. The Equator and the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn are determined by the oscillation of the earth based if I remember right on when the sun is directly overhead at mid-day at each extreme with the Equator being equi-distant between the Tropics. I don't know who first decided to mark lines of latitude on the globe but they are based on the number of degrees north or south of the Equator which is at 0 degs. with the major lines being at 2 degree intervals I think. I expect Google would be able to give much more accurate info. but I can't be bothered looking on account of it's bedtime. <g> Geo. Who put the Equator - where the equator is .. ? .... In other words - who set the north-south divide .. ? .... Who put the lines of latitude and longitude where they are - i.e. North / South .. ? ....... The world is round - so these places could have been put anywhere ... Couldn't they .. ? .... Sue In pondering mood ...

Many thanks George ... My education was either very lacking - or I was absent that day ... Geography was never my strong subject though ... All of what you said makes sense - I think .. :-) ..... Thanks again ... Sue Well, my geography is a bit rusty but the lines of longitude were determined by the folk at Greenwich Observatory way back when. The earth makes one revolution in 24 hours so they divided the 360 degrees of the circumference of the earth into 24 equal areas marked by a line of longitude with the 0 degree line running through the Observatory. The major lines are thus 15 degrees or one hour apart which is why time zones change by one hour for each 15 degrees of longitude. Of course, you can split each 15 deg. section into as many smaller segments as you wish. The Equator and the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn are determined by the oscillation of the earth based if I remember right on when the sun is directly overhead at mid-day at each extreme with the Equator being equi-distant between the Tropics. I don't know who first decided to mark lines of latitude on the globe but they are based on the number of degrees north or south of the Equator which is at 0 degs. with the major lines being at 2 degree intervals I think. I expect Google would be able to give much more accurate info. but I can't be bothered looking on account of it's bedtime. <g> Geo.

Your mind certainly does wonder sometimes don't it?? LOL DiDi http://photobucket.com/albums/d100/didi_45 -----Original Message----- Who put the Equator - where the equator is .. ? .... In other words - who set the north-south divide .. ? .... Who put the lines of latitude and longitude where they are - i.e. North / South .. ? ....... The world is round - so these places could have been put anywhere ... Couldn't they .. ? .... Sue In pondering mood ... ==== GEN-TRIVIA-ENG Mailing List ==== RANDOM TAGLINE - GEN-TRIVIA-ENG - MAILING LIST Remember - this list is only as good as you, the Lister, make it. If you don't post, then it's no fun at all. :-)