Did you know that the Prime Meridian was established in 1884? A meridian is an imaginary line that runs from the north pole to south pole. They are related to longitudinal lines on a map and are used to create map coordinates. Initially there was no global coordination for time or place; cities used local solar time and the starting longitudinal line on a map was usually the capital of the country where the map was made. This made navigating and travelling long distances extremely difficult. In 1884, the meridian passing through the Royal Greenwich Observatory in London, England was selected as the Prime Meridian giving the world a common reference point for map making and time keeping.
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Bonus Facts:
Before 1884, countries designated 0° longitude as the meridian that passed through the country’s capital.
US President Chester A, Arthur organized the 1884 International Meridian Conference in Washington DC. 26 countries participated in the conference.
There were many locations suggested for the prime meridian including St. Paul’s Cathedral in London, Mecca, and the Pyramid of Giza.
France abstained from the vote to use Greenwich as the Prime Meridian and continued to use the Paris Meridian for several decades.
The Prime Meridian was also used to establish eastern and western hemispheres of Earth, Coordinated Universal Time, and the International Date Line. The start of a day is defined as midnight at the Prime Meridian.
The Prime Meridian passes through the United Kingdom, France, Spain, Algeria, Mali, Burkina Faso, Togo, Ghana, and Antarctica.
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