Hemispheres of the Earth
The Hemispheres of the Earth in geography and cartography refer to any bipartite division of the globe into a hemisphere (from Ancient Greek ἡμισφαίριον hēmisphairion meaning "half of a sphere").
Division of the Earth by the equator and prime meridian.
The most common such divisions are by latitudinal or longitudinal markers:
- North-South
- Northern Hemisphere, the half that is north of the equator
- Southern Hemisphere, the half that lies south of the equator
- East-West
- Eastern Hemisphere, the half that is east of the prime meridian and west of 180° longitude
- Western Hemisphere, the half that lies west of the prime meridian and east of 180° longitude
The East-West division can also be seen in a cultural sense -- the cultural hemispheres.
However, other schemes have sought to divide the planet in a way that maximizes the preponderance of one geographic feature or another in each division:
- Land-Water
- Land hemisphere, the hemisphere on the Earth containing the largest possible area of land
- Water hemisphere, the hemisphere on the Earth containing the largest area of water
See also
External links
Media related to Earth's hemispheres at Wikimedia Commons
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