Geography || Latitude and Longitude
What do you mean by the location of a country?
To know the location of any area or country, imaginary lines have been drawn on the globe or map. The lines drawn from the East to the West are known as lines of latitude and imaginary lines drawn from the North to the South are called lines of longitude. An area on the Earth can easily be located with the help of these lines.
What is Latitude?
Latitude is a geographic coordinate that specifies the north-south position of a point on the Earth's surface. The lines of latitude are 180 in number. The biggest line which surrounds the Earth from West to East is called the Equator. Considering it as a focal point or zero degrees ninety lines are drawn parallel to it to the North and ninety to the South. Each of these lines represents a degree.
What is Longitude?
Longitude is represented by imaginary lines extending from pole to pole and crossing all parallels at right angles. These lines, called meridians, are not parallel to one another except where they cross the equator. Any pair of meridians is farthest apart at the equator, becoming increasingly close together northward and southward and finally converging at the poles.
In longitude, the degrees are calculated from Greenwich a city in England. This is also an imaginary line. Like the Equator, it has also 0-degree longitude. There is a total of 360 degrees or lines of longitudes; 180 degrees in the East and 180 degrees in the West of Greenwich. When we say that a city is located at such a degree of longitude, it means that the city is located at that degree in the East or West of Greenwich.
Important lines of Latitude and Longitude
Equator
It is a 0-degree line of latitude which divides the Earth into two equal parts.
Tropic of Cancer
This line is located at 23.5 in the North of the Equator.
Tropic of Capricorn
This line is located at 23.5 in the South of the Equator.
Arctic Circle
Arctic Circle is located in the South of the Equator at 66.5 degrees.
Antarctic Circle
Antarctic Circle is located in the South of the Equator at 66.5 degrees.
Prime Meridian
The imaginary line of the Prime Meridian passes through Greenwich city of England. It is a vertical line that crosses the Equator and joins the North Pole with the South Pole. It is a 0-degree line.