The geographical western hemisphere of Earth, highlighted in yellow.
Western hemisphere
The
Western Hemisphere, also
Western hemisphere or
western hemisphere, is a
geographical term for the half of the
Earth that lies
west of the
Prime Meridian (which crosses
Greenwich in
London,
England,
United Kingdom), the other half being the
eastern hemisphere. It is also used to specifically refer to the
Americas (or the
New World) and adjacent waters, while excluding other territories that lie geographically in the hemisphere (parts of
Africa,
Europe,
Antarctica, and
Asia); thus, it is sometimes referred to as the
American hemisphere.
[Olson, Judy M. "", ch. 4 from ; Robinson, Arthur H. & Snyder, John P., eds. 1997. Bethesda, MD: Cartography and Geographic Information Society, American Congress on Surveying and Mapping.] Western hemisphere is sometimes used as an equivalent for the
geopolitical construct, the
Western world, which typically includes
the Americas,
Europe,
Australia and
New Zealand.
Any definition of eastern and western hemispheres, however, requires the selection of an arbitrary
meridian and a corresponding meridian on the other side of the Earth. The Prime Meridian at 0°
longitude is typically used, which runs through Greenwich; this is used to define the
International Date Line (or
End Meridian) on the other side of the Earth at
180° longitude. In its proper geographic sense, the western hemisphere includes not only the Americas, but the western portions of Europe and Africa, the easternmost tip of
Russia, numerous territories in
Oceania, and a portion of Antarctica while excluding some of the
Aleutian Islands to the southwest of the
Alaskan mainland. Sometimes, the meridians of
20° W and the diametrically opposed
160° E are used,
which excludes the European and African mainlands but also excludes a small portion of northeast
Greenland and includes more of eastern Russia and Oceania (e.g.,
New Zealand).
The two major regions of
Antarctica are named after their positions mainly within a single hemisphere;
West Antarctica is named for the Western Hemisphere.
Countries common to both hemispheres
Below is a list of the countries which are in both the Western and Eastern hemispheres on the
Prime Meridian, in order from north to south:
Below is a list of the countries which are in both the Western and Eastern hemispheres along the
180th meridian, in order from north to south:
Countries in the Western Hemisphere but not in the Americas
The following countries lie outside the Americas (or New World) yet are in part or entirely within the Western Hemisphere.
Sources
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