In geography and cartography, the hemispheres of Earth refer to any division of the globe into two hemispheres (from Ancient Greek ἡμισφαίριον (hēmisphaírion) '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[2]
- Southern Hemisphere, the half that lies south of the Equator[2]
- East–West
- Eastern Hemisphere, the half that lies east of the prime meridian and west of the 180th meridian[2]
- Western Hemisphere, the half that lies west of the prime meridian and east of the 180th meridian[2]
The East–West division can also be seen in a cultural and religious sense, as a division into two cultural and religious hemispheres. Some geographers prefer to split the hemispheres at 20 degree west and 160 degree east so that Africa and Europe are not split.[2]
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[3]
- 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
- Antarctica
- Arctic Ocean
- Earth's geographical centre
- Eastern Hemisphere
- Global North and Global South
- Land and water hemispheres
- Northern Hemisphere
- Southern Hemisphere
- Western Hemisphere
References
- ^ "Hemisphere". 2011-03-22.
- ^ a b c d e "hemisphere | National Geographic Society". education.nationalgeographic.org. Retrieved 2022-08-27.
- ^ Boggs, S. W. (1945). "This Hemisphere". Journal of Geography. 44 (9): 345–355. doi:10.1080/00221344508986498.
External links
Media related to Earth's hemispheres at Wikimedia Commons