Using your globe
Finding places on your globe
Although a globe is round, with no beginning or end, there are two main reference lines from which all distances and locations are calculated. One is the equator, running east and west around the middle of the globe, dividing it into two equal halves. The other is the prime meridian, an imaginary line running from pole to pole and cutting through Greenwich, a section of London, England. Both of these lines are 0º and the globe numbering system starts at the point where they intersect.
All lines running east and west, parallel to the equator, are called latitude lines. They are sometimes referred to as parallels because they are parallel to each other. Latitude lines are shown at 15º intervals north and south of the equator. Look at New Orleans on your globe and you will find it located at 0º. Since it is north of the equator, we say it is 0º north latitude, or 0N.
The lines running north and south from pole to pole are called longitude lines, sometimes referred to as meridians. Longitude lines are numbered along the equator on your globe at 15º intervals east and west of the prime meridian at Greenwich. Again using New Orleans as an example, we find it located at 90º or 90º west of 0º longitude. Thus, New Orleans is located at 0N latitude and 90W longitude.
Remember, latitude lines go from 0º at the equator to 90º at the poles. Longitude lines go from 0º at the prime meridian to 180º, a point on the exact opposite side of the globe. In giving a position, latitude is always stated first.
Lines of latitude and longitude appear on your globe only at certain intervals; otherwise, they would cover up all other map detail.
Seeing the world on a globe
People have been slow to accept the concept of a spherical world, yet the ancient Greeks knew the Earth was round. The Greek historian Strabo wrote of a world globe ten feet in diameter made by Crates of Mallus and exhibited in 150 B.C.
Thus, for centuries, men have known the shape of Earth, but most visualized it only as the small, flat area that embraced their everyday lives.
Today, however, we live in a global community, and the globe has become the map of our modern world. And exploration in outer space with manned and unmanned satellites has brought home graphically the roundness of our Earth and its place in the universe.
One of the basic uses of your globe is to find places–cities, nations, land and water areas–just as easily as you can find the busiest street corner in your home town. Finding a place is not enough, however, unless you see it in its true geographical relationship to the rest of the world or, in other words, see those countries which are its neighbours and the true distances and directions between them.
The question “Where is it?” is answered best by using a globe, for only on a globe are distances, directions, sizes and shapes of countries, and their relationship to each other–all correct! Seeing the true geographical relationships of all nations on this round replica of our world increases our understanding of their economic, social and political status, as well as their interdependence. It has been said that wider use of the globe among all peoples of Earth could be a powerful instrument for peace.
Your globe will dispel any misconceptions about distances and directions obtained from studying flat maps. Looking straight down at the north pole, you see that ours is largely a northern world. Many great nations form a circle around the pole–Japan, China, Russia, the Scandinavian countries, the United Kingdom, Canada, the United States. Today, the Arctic has become a busy intersection for planes following the shortest routes between major cities of the world.
Not only is your globe a true guide to our modern world; its usefulness extends to many other areas of learning. It illuminates the pages of history, makes events in today’s world more significant, and enriches our understanding of the sciences, including the exciting new sciences of inner and outer space.
Learning the uses of your globe from the pages that follow will assist you toward its fullest enjoyment.
The International Date Line
You will find the International Date Line along the 180º meridian in the Pacific Ocean on your globe. It is half way around the world from Greenwich. When it is noon in Greenwich, it is midnight on the International Date Line, and it is there that a new day is born.
Since we gain or lose an hour every 15º we travel east or west of Greenwich, if we were to travel completely around the world, we would lose or gain an entire day. The International Date Line is the place internationally agreed upon at which the loss or gain of a day takes place.
There are a few jogs in the date line. In order that the eastern tip of Siberia may have the same date as the rest of Russia and the Aleutian Islands may have the same date as Alaska, the date line jogs away from the 180º meridian to avoid these points.
On a flight from Tokyo to San Francisco, a traveler who had started his dinner on Sunday would finish it across the date line on Saturday—the day preceding! When it is noon, Sunday, January 1, on the west side of the line, it is noon, Saturday, December 1, on the east side. Going west you advance a day; going east you go back a day.
Only at the stroke of midnight on the International Date Line is a day the same all over the world. A moment later, there are two days going on at the same time. When Tuesday has arrived at the International Date Line, it is still Monday over the rest of the world. The new day moves westward.
When a day is six hours old, it has traveled one-quarter of the way around the world. Then one-quarter of the world is having Tuesday and the other three-quarters are having Monday. Six hours later, the new day is half way around the world and in another six hours, three-quarters of the way. Finally, it approaches the date line again and another new day, Wednesday, is born.
Measuring in degrees
Thousands of years ago, the Babylonians invented the system of dividing up a circle that cartographers use today. The distance around your globe, or any sphere or circle regardless of its size, is measured by dividing it into 60 sections called degrees, and each degree represents a fraction of the complete globe.
Angular distance is a term sometimes used in describing the location of a place on the globe. On the preceding page, we located New Orleans at 0º N latitude because, as shown in the illustration, a radius or line drawn from New Orleans to the centre of Earth forms a 0º angle with one drawn from the equator to the centre. Similarly, a radius drawn from the prime meridian at the equator to Earth’s centre forms a 90º angle with one drawn from the New Orleans meridian to the centre. This locates the city 90º west of the 0º meridian. Because Earth’s area is so great that 1º can equal as much as 69.17 miles, the degree is broken down into smaller parts for more exact measurements such as those required for navigation. Each degree can be divided into 60 equal parts called minutes (´), and each minute can be further divided into 60 parts called seconds (˝).
Even the tiny second can be divided into decimals for greater accuracy, making it possible to pinpoint any place on the face of Earth, no matter how small. A single house in New Orleans, for instance, might be located at 0º 7´ 14.085˝ N and 90º 4´ 1.55˝ W.
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