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41st parallel north

The 41st parallel north is a circle of latitude that is 41 degrees north of the Earth's equatorial plane. It crosses Europe, the Mediterranean Sea, Asia, the Pacific Ocean, North America, and the Atlantic Ocean.

At this latitude the sun is visible for 15 hours, 8 minutes during the summer solstice and 9 hours, 13 minutes during the winter solstice.¹

United States

In the United States, the parallel defines the southernmost border of Wyoming (bordering Utah and Colorado), and part of the border between Nebraska and Colorado.

In 1606, King James I of England created the Colony of Virginia. In the First Virginia Charter, he gave the London Company the right to "begin their Plantation and Habitation in some fit and convenient place between four and thirty and one and forty degrees of the said latitude all alongst the coast of Virginia and coasts of America." The Jamestown Settlement was established roughly at the midpoint of that territory. The later Pilgrim (Plymouth Colony) settlers were originally bound for the northern portion of the Virginia territory. Instead, they landed north of the 41st parallel on Cape Cod, where they had exclusive rights to the land under the charter for the Plymouth Colony.²

As originally set by King Charles II of England in 1664, the point at which the 41st parallel crosses the Hudson River marks the northeastern border between New Jersey and New York. This border then proceeds northwest to the Tri-States Monument at the confluence of the Delaware and Neversink rivers.³

The 41st parallel was also one of the principal baselines used for surveying a portion of lands in Ohio. This marked the southern boundary of the Connecticut Western Reserve and the Firelands using the western boundary with Pennsylvania as the principal meridian. It also served as the baseline for a later survey of Ohio land north of the Greenville Treaty line up to the Fulton line which was the original boundary between Michigan and Ohio under the Northwest Ordinance (see the Toledo Strip). The later survey used the boundary with Indiana as the meridian.

The Union Pacific Railroad built along the 41st parallel for much of its length when building the first transcontinental railroad.⁴

Around the world

Starting at the prime meridian and heading eastwards, the parallel 41° north passes through:

42nd parallel north

Main article: 42nd parallel north

The 42nd parallel north is a circle of latitude that is 42 degrees north of the Earth's equatorial plane. It crosses Europe, the Mediterranean Sea, Asia, the Pacific Ocean, North America, and the Atlantic Ocean.

At this latitude the sun is visible for 15 hours, 15 minutes during the summer solstice and 9 hours, 6 minutes during the winter solstice.⁵

The earth's rotational speed at this latitude is roughly equal to the speed of sound.

One minute of longitude along the 42nd parallel is approximately 0.7456 nautical miles (0.8580 mi; 1.381 km).

United States

The parallel 42° north forms most of the New York–Pennsylvania border, although due to imperfect surveying in 1785–1786, this boundary wanders around on both sides of the true parallel. The area around the parallel in this region is known as the Twin Tiers.

The 42nd parallel became agreed upon as the northward limit of the Spanish Empire by the Adams–Onís Treaty of 1819 with the United States, which established the parallel as the border between the Viceroyalty of New Spain of the Kingdom of Spain and the western territory of the United States of America from the meridian of the headwaters of the Arkansas River west to the Pacific Ocean.⁶ The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo of 1848 then ceded much of what was then northern Mexico to the United States; as a result, the northernmost U.S. states which were created from Mexican territory (California, Nevada, and Utah) have the parallel 42° north as their northern border, and the adjoining U.S. states of Oregon and Idaho have the parallel as their southern border.

Around the world

Starting at the Prime Meridian and heading eastwards, the parallel 42° north passes through:

43rd parallel north

The 43rd parallel north is a circle of latitude that is 43 degrees north of the Earth's equatorial plane. It crosses Europe, the Mediterranean Sea, Asia, the Pacific Ocean, North America, and the Atlantic Ocean.

On 21 June the sun averages, with negligible variance, its local maximum, 70.83 degrees in the sky.⁷

At this latitude the sun is visible for 15 hours, 22 minutes during the summer solstice and 9 hours, 0 minutes during the winter solstice.⁸

Around the world

Starting at the Prime Meridian and heading eastwards, the parallel 43° north passes through:

44th parallel north

The 44th parallel north is a circle of latitude that is 44 degrees north of the Earth's equatorial plane. It crosses Europe, the Mediterranean Sea, Asia, the Pacific Ocean, North America, and the Atlantic Ocean.

At this latitude, astronomically, the sun is visible circa 15 hours 29 minutes before the dawn during the summer solstice and 8 hours, 53 minutes during the winter solstice.⁹

Around the world

Starting at the Prime Meridian and heading eastwards, the parallel 44° north passes through:

45th parallel north

Main article: 45th parallel north

The 45th parallel north is a circle of latitude that is 45 degrees north of Earth's equator. It crosses Europe, Asia, the Pacific Ocean, North America, and the Atlantic Ocean. The 45th parallel north is often called the halfway point between the equator and the North Pole, but the true halfway point is 16.0 km (9.9 mi) north of it (approximately between 45°08'36" and 45°08'37") because Earth is an oblate spheroid; that is, it bulges at the equator and is flattened at the poles.¹⁰

At this latitude, the sun is visible for 15 hours 37 minutes during the summer solstice, and 8 hours 46 minutes during the winter solstice. The midday Sun stands 21.6° above the southern horizon at the December solstice, 68.4° at the June solstice, and exactly 45.0° at either equinox.¹¹

Around the world

Starting at the Prime Meridian and heading eastwards, the parallel 45° north passes through:

See also

• Circles of latitude between the 35th parallel north and the 40th parallel north
• Circles of latitude between the 45th parallel north and the 50th parallel north
• The Twin Tiers region of New York and Pennsylvania
• The "Jefferson" region of Oregon and California

References

1. "Duration of Daylight/Darkness Table for One Year". U.S. Naval Observatory. 2019-09-24. Archived from the original on 2019-10-12. Retrieved 2021-03-10. https://web.archive.org/web/20191012094319/http://aa.usno.navy.mil/data/docs/Dur_OneYear.php ↩

2. "Boundaries and Charters of Virginia". http://www.virginiaplaces.org/boundaries/charters.html ↩

3. Graff, Bill (Summer 2006). "Sentinels at the Northern Border" (PDF). Unearthing New Jersey Vol. 2, No. 2. New Jersey Geological Survey. http://www.njgeology.org/enviroed/newsletter/v2n2.pdf ↩

4. Goetzmann, William H. (1959). Army Exploration in the American West, 1803-1863. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press. pp. 286–287. /wiki/William_H._Goetzmann ↩

5. "Duration of Daylight/Darkness Table for One Year". U.S. Naval Observatory. 2019-09-24. Archived from the original on 2019-10-12. Retrieved 2021-03-10. https://web.archive.org/web/20191012094319/http://aa.usno.navy.mil/data/docs/Dur_OneYear.php ↩

6. Nugent, Walter (2008). Habits of Empire: A History of American Expansion. Alfred A. Knopf. pp. 161, 166–167. ISBN 978-1-4000-4292-0. 978-1-4000-4292-0 ↩

7. See declination of the Sun /wiki/Declination_of_the_Sun ↩

8. "Duration of Daylight/Darkness Table for One Year". U.S. Naval Observatory. 2019-09-24. Archived from the original on 2019-10-12. Retrieved 2021-03-10. https://web.archive.org/web/20191012094319/http://aa.usno.navy.mil/data/docs/Dur_OneYear.php ↩

9. "Duration of Daylight/Darkness Table for One Year". U.S. Naval Observatory. 2019-09-24. Archived from the original on 2019-10-12. Retrieved 2021-03-10. https://web.archive.org/web/20191012094319/http://aa.usno.navy.mil/data/docs/Dur_OneYear.php ↩

10. "The Half-Way to the Pole Line". 2 May 2006. Archived from the original on 2 May 2006. Retrieved 16 July 2018. https://web.archive.org/web/20060502045609/http://www.go.ednet.ns.ca/~mag/files/midway.htm ↩

11. "Duration of Daylight/Darkness Table for One Year". U.S. Naval Observatory. 2019-09-24. Archived from the original on 2019-10-12. Retrieved 2021-03-10. https://web.archive.org/web/20191012094319/http://aa.usno.navy.mil/data/docs/Dur_OneYear.php ↩