Western Hemisphere

Western Hemisphere

Encyclopedia

Tutorials

Encyclopedia

Dictionary

Directory

Email this to a friend Western Hemisphere

Western Hemisphere

The geographical western hemisphere of Earth, highlighted in yellow.

Western hemisphere

The Western Hemisphere, also Western hemisphere^[1] or western hemisphere,^[2] is a geographical term for the half of the Earth that lies west of the Prime Meridian (which crosses Greenwich in London, England, United Kingdom), the other half being the eastern hemisphere.^[3] It is also used to specifically refer to the Americas (or the New World) and adjacent waters, while excluding other territories that lie geographically in the hemisphere (parts of Africa, Europe, Antarctica, and Asia); thus, it is sometimes referred to as the American hemisphere.^[4] Western hemisphere is sometimes used as an equivalent for the geopolitical construct, the Western World, which typically includes the Americas, Europe and Australia.

Overview
Countries in both hemispheres
Countries in the Western Hemisphere but not in the Americas
Sources

Overview

Any definition of eastern and western hemispheres, however, requires the selection of an arbitrary meridian and a corresponding meridian on the other side of the Earth. The Prime Meridian at 0° longitude is typically used, which runs through Greenwich; this is used to define the International Date Line (or End Meridian) on the other side of the Earth at 180° longitude. In its proper geographic sense, the western hemisphere includes not only the Americas, but the western portions of Europe and Africa, the easternmost tip of Russia, numerous territories in Oceania, and a portion of Antarctica while excluding some of the Aleutian Islands to the southwest of the Alaskan mainland. Often, the meridians of 20° W and the diametrically opposed 160° E are used,^[4]^[5] which excludes the European and African mainlands but also excludes a small portion of northeast Greenland and includes more of eastern Russia and Oceania (e.g., New Zealand).

The two major regions of Antarctica are named after their positions mainly within a single hemisphere; West Antarctica is named for the Western Hemisphere.

Countries in both hemispheres

Below is a list of the countries which are in both the Western and Eastern hemispheres on the Prime Meridian, in order from north to south:

Below is a list of the countries which are in both the Western and Eastern hemispheres along the 180th meridian, in order from north to south:

Countries in the Western Hemisphere but not in the Americas

The following countries lie outside the Americas (or New World) yet are in part or entirely within the Western Hemisphere.

Sources

bg:??????? ????????? ca:Hemisferi occidental da:Vestlige Halvkugle de:Westliche Hemisphäre et:Läänepoolkera es:Hemisferio Occidental fr:Hémisphère Ouest fy:Westlik healrûn gl:Hemisferio occidental ko:??? id:Belahan barat it:Emisfero occidentale lv:Rietumu puslode ms:Hemisfera Barat nl:Westelijk halfrond ja:??? no:Vestlige halvkule pl:Pó?kula zachodnia pt:Hemisfério ocidental ru:???????? ????????? simple:Western Hemisphere sk:Západná hemisféra vi:Tây bán c?u tr:Bat? Yar?mküresi uk:??????? ??????? zh:???

Source: Wikipedia | The above article is available under the GNU FDL. | Edit this article

Western Hemisphere

Contents

Overview

Countries in both hemispheres

Countries in the Western Hemisphere but not in the Americas

Sources