Longitude

This line represents the longitude.

Distance per degree of longitude at equator.

This line shows the longitude.

The International Date Line, established in 1884, passes through the mid-Pacific Ocean and roughly follows a 180 degrees longitude north-south line on the Earth.

The International Date Line is located halfway round the world from the prime meridian—the zero degrees longitude established in Greenwich, England, in 1852.

Longitude is measured from Greenwich.

Alex Jarrett discovered that he lived within a few kilometers of the place where the 43 degree north latitude line crosses the 72 degree west longitude line.

In the 19th century a navigator wanting to know the ship's longitude needed to know the time, which was kept on board the ship by a chronometer.

A minute of longitude is a mile only on the equator, for the meridians are coming closer to each other as they converge toward either pole.

But was it responsible governance to pass the Longitude Act without other efforts to protect British seamen? Or might it have been subterfuge—a disingenuous attempt to shift attention away from the realities of their life at sea.