42nd parallel north
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- This article is about the circle of latitude. For the USA trilogy, see U.S.A. trilogy.
The parallel 42° north is an imaginary circle of latitude that is 42 degrees north of the Earth's equatorial plane.
The parallel 42° north passes through Spain, Portugal, the Mediterranean Sea, Corsica, Italy, the Adriatic Sea, Montenegro, Albania, Serbia, Macedonia, Bulgaria, Turkey, the Black Sea, Georgia, Russia, the Caspian Sea, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, China, Mongolia, North Korea, the Sea of Japan, Hokkaidō, the Pacific Ocean, Oregon, California, Nevada, Idaho, Utah, Wyoming, Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, Lake Michigan, Michigan, Lake Erie, Ontario, Pennsylvania, New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and the Atlantic Ocean.
[edit] 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 Adams-Onís Treaty of 1819 established the parallel 42° north as the border between the Viceroyality 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. The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo of 1848 ceded northern Mexico to the United States. As a result, the U.S. states of Oregon and Idaho have the parallel 42° north as their southern border and the U.S. states of California, Nevada, and Utah have the parallel 42° north as their northern border.
The parallel 42° north passes through the southern end of Lake Michigan and Lake Erie. Part of the water boundary between the United States and Canada passes south of the 42nd parallel, and the southern tip of the Canadian province of Ontario just barely goes south of it - this is located at Point Pelee and Pelee Island.
