Hemispheres of Earth
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In geography and cartography, the hemispheres of Earth refer to any division of the globe into two hemispheres (from Ancient Greek ἡμισφαίριον hēmisphairion, meaning "half of a sphere").
The most common such divisions are by latitudinal or longitudinal markers:[1]
- North–South
- Northern Hemisphere, the half that lies north of the Equator
- Southern Hemisphere, the half that lies south of the Equator
- East–West
- Eastern Hemisphere, the half that lies east of the prime meridian and west of the 180th meridian
- Western Hemisphere, the half that lies west of the prime meridian and east of the 180th meridian
The East–West division can also be seen in a cultural and religious sense, as a division into two cultural and religious hemispheres.
However, other schemes have sought to divide the planet in a way that maximizes the preponderance of one geographic feature or another in each division:
- Land–Water [2]
- Land Hemisphere, the hemisphere on Earth containing the largest possible area of land
- Water Hemisphere, the hemisphere on Earth containing the largest possible area of water
Earth may also be split into hemispheres of day and night by the terrestrial terminator.
See also[edit]
- Antarctica
- Arctic Ocean
- Earth's geographical centre
- Eastern Hemisphere
- Land and water hemispheres
- Northern Hemisphere
- Southern Hemisphere
- Western Hemisphere
References[edit]
- ^ "Hemisphere". 2011-03-22.
- ^ Boggs, S. W. (1945). "This Hemisphere". Journal of Geography. 44 (9): 345–355. doi:10.1080/00221344508986498.
External links[edit]
Media related to Earth's hemispheres at Wikimedia Commons