The parallel 36°30′ north is a circle of latitude that is 36 and one-half degrees north of the Equator of the Earth. This parallel of latitude is particularly significant in the History of the United States as the line of the Missouri Compromise, which was used to divide the prospective slave and free states west of the Mississippi River, with the exception of Missouri, which is mostly north of this parallel. This parallel also crosses the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, California (which was admitted as a free state in 1850), and parts the Mediterranean Sea, northmost North Africa, Italy, and Asia, and it ran though the former slave states of Virginia, North Carolina, Kentucky, and Tennessee, dividing them roughly in half.
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In the United States of America, the parallel 36°30′ forms part of the boundary between Tennessee and the Kentucky, in the region west the Tennessee River and east of the Mississippi River. This parallel also forms part of the boundary between Missouri and Arkansas, in the region west of the White River and east of Oklahoma, and also the northern boundary of the Texas Panhandle (see: Texas and Oklahoma. The rest of the boundaries between Virginia and North Carolina; between Virginia and Tennessee; and between Tennessee and Kentucky lie close to the parallel 36°30′. The reason why the entire boundary between Kentucky and Tennessee does not follow this parallel is because of numerous surveying mistakes that were made during the 17th century, when surveying technology was not very advanced. There were serious problems, especially where the Cumberland River crosses this boundary twice and where the Tennessee River crosses it once.
The parallel 36°30′ north is part of a nearly straight east-west line of state borders (with small variations) starting on the East Coast of the United States, beginning with the border between Virginia and North Carolina. However, this boundary line lies a few miles north of 36°30′ in places, and much of the border between Kentucky and Tennessee lies a few miles north of 36°30′.
In southeastern Missouri, the Missouri Bootheel along the Mississippi River extends about 50 miles (80 kilometers) to the south, all the way to the 36th parallel north, and about 30 miles (50 kilometers) inland. This was because politicians in that region along that major river felt thought that it would be advantageous to be located in Missouri rather than in the Arkansas Territory that became the State of Arkansas in 1836. The parallel 36°30′ then forms the rest of the boundary between Missouri and Arkansas.
The Missouri Compromise of 1820 established the latitude 36°30′ as the northern limit for slavery to be legal in the territories of the west. As part of this compromise, Maine (formerly a part of Massachusetts was admitted as a free state, of course, in order to maintain the balance of power in the U.S. Senate between the free states and the slaveholding states.
The bulk of Missouri lies north of the 36°30′ line, but Southern plantation owners who lived in southeastern Missouri wanted to have slavery there, especially for farming on their cotton plantations. Hence, part of the Missouri Compromise arose from this factor. Also, the slave states of the Southern United States wanted to have another slave state on their side so that the Senate could not pass laws that would abolish slavery in the United States. This situation remained in effect for decades because as the free states of Michigan, Wisconsin, and Iowa were admitted to the Union, the new slave states of Arkansas, Florida, and Texas were also admitted.
When the Republic of Texas joined the United States in 1845, it was required to cede all of its claimed land north of the 36°30′ latitude to the Federal Government. Over the following half-century, this land became parts of Kansas, Colorado, New Mexico, and Oklahoma. The Compromise of 1850 confirmed that the 36°30′ parallel was the northmost boundary of Texas. Then, Kansas was admitted to the Union as a free state in 1859.
The creation of the New Mexico Territory and the Utah Territory in 1850, the Kansas Territory in 1854, and the Colorado Territory[1] in 1861 moved the boundaries of the one western territories, New Mexico, north to the 37th parallel north. New Mexico Territory was eventually split in two states, New Mexico and Arizona, which were admitted in 1911–12, but this was long after the 13th Amendment has abolished slavery in all of the United States.
The gap between the northern boundary of Texas on the parallel 36°30′ north and the southern boundaries of Kansas and Colorado on the parallel 37° north created the No Man's Land that later became the Oklahoma Panhandle in 1889. While a significant part of Nevada (containing Las Vegas) is south of 36°30′, at the time of the admission of Nevada in 1864, it was in the New Mexico Territory. This land was not split off from the new Arizona Territory until 1871, when it was given to Nevada by the Federal government.
The Compromise of 1850 made no attempt to divide California along the line of 36°30′, or to allow slavery south of it. In fact, California was immediately admitted to the union as a free state
During the War Between the States (1861–65), all of the states south of 36°30′ north except for California, joined the Confederate States of America. All of the states north of the parallel, except for Virginia, stayed in the Union, although Kentucky and Missouri had Confederate legislatures that were elected in parallel with their regular legislatures. Also Maryland, another slave state, was occupied by the Union Army under the commands of President Lincoln, and its legislature was thus pressured into voting not to secede. Naturally, Lincoln and the remaining members of the U.S. Congress wanted Maryland to stay in the Union in order to prevent the national capital city of Washington, D.C. from being surrounded by Confederate states, and hence being cut off from the rest of the Union. If such a thing had happened, then the Federal government would have been forced to move somewhere else farther north, such as to Philadelphia.
Starting at the Prime Meridian and heading eastwards, the parallel 36°30′ north passes through:
| Co-ordinates | Country, territory or sea | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Mediterranean Sea | ||
| Algeria | ||
| Tunisia | ||
| Mediterranean Sea | Passing just south of the island of Sicily, Italy | |
| Greece | Mani Peninsula, island of Elafonisos and Cape Malea | |
| Aegean Sea | Passing just south of the island of Folegandros, Greece Passing just north of the island of Santorini, Greece Passing just south of the island of Astypalaia, Greece |
|
| Greece | Island of Kandelioussa | |
| Aegean Sea | Passing just south of the island of Nisyros, Greece Passing just north of the island of Tilos, Greece Passing just south of the island of Symi, Greece Passing just north of the island of Rhodes, Greece |
|
| Turkey | ||
| Mediterranean Sea | Gulf of Antalya | |
| Turkey | ||
| Mediterranean Sea | Gulf of İskenderun | |
| Turkey | ||
| Syria | ||
| Iraq | ||
| Iran | ||
| Turkmenistan | ||
| Afghanistan | ||
| Pakistan | Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Gilgit-Baltistan – claimed by India |
|
| People's Republic of China | Xinjiang Qinghai – passing just south of Xining Gansu Ningxia Gansu Shaanxi Shanxi Hebei Shandong |
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| Yellow Sea | ||
| South Korea | ||
| Sea of Japan | Passing just north of the island of Dōgo, Japan | |
| Japan | Island of Honshū: – Ishikawa Prefecture – Toyama Prefecture – Nagano Prefecture – Gunma Prefecture – Tochigi Prefecture – Ibaraki Prefecture |
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| Pacific Ocean | ||
| United States | California Nevada Arizona New Mexico Oklahoma / Texas border Oklahoma Missouri / Arkansas border Missouri Kentucky (Kentucky Bend) / Tennessee border (for about 5 km) Missouri (for about 5 km) Kentucky / Tennessee border Tennessee North Carolina |
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| Atlantic Ocean | ||
| Spain | ||
| Mediterranean Sea |
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