The International Date Line
180º Longitude
The
line where each new day starts (in local time)
Why is Greenwich home of the Prime Meridian?
International Date Line
The International Date Line is an imaginary line which runs from the North Pole to the South Pole and is 180° away from the Greenwich Meridian.
There is much confusion about why each new day starts in Greenwich but not at the International Date Line.
The International Conference in 1884 deemed that there would be a single Universal Day and that this would begin at mean midnight at Greenwich.
Twenty five time zones were established to the east and west of Greenwich with the International Date Line lying along the 180° line of longitude. The line deviates in places to avoid crossing any land. Along this line the calendar moves into a new day but only in local time, which is measured relative to Greenwich Mean Time.
People who live on the International Date Line move their clocks (and calendars) into a new day 12 hours before the Universal Day officially begins in Greenwich.
Some small islands are moving their territory into a new time zone so that they can claim to be first into the millennium. Any government is able to define their time and time zones at any time relative to Greenwich. Countries like China only have a single time zone. Changing time zones is no different to 'clocking' the mileometer (odometer) on a car (automobile) so that it appears different to what it actually is.
You can begin your millennium party at whatever time you choose but the official world millennium party begins in Greenwich!
Do you live on The Prime Meridian? or any other important line
of longitude
or perhaps you know of a monument or plaque
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