Thursday, October 26, 2006

#64 Crossing 60 degrees East Longitude

I heard some talk on the ship when we crossed 60 degrees East longitude.

That’s the pseudo halfway marker from our start on the west coast of North America and folks are waxing about our journey reaching half way. Those who know my affinity for maps bring such geographic gems to my attention along with their other geography-related questions:
• Why is Greenland not a continent while Antarctica is a continent?
• Why is the bump for Mt. Everest mislocated on the library’s 3-D globe?
• Where does Europe end and Asia begin?
• What’s the name of that island I saw off the port side last week?
• How wide is the opening we’ll squeeze through to enter the Red Sea?

Go ahead. Leave your answers as comments on this post.

Yours in delegating,
Kelly

Entering the Red Sea Latitude: 12 degrees 25 minutes North Longitude: 44 degrees 54 minutes East

4 comments:

  1. I believe Greenland, considered a very large island, is located on the continental shelf of North America and is therefore considered part of the North American continent. I don't believe Antactica is attached to any other continental landmass so it is considered it's own continent.

    You're on your own for those other questions! :-) I didn't get a good look at that port-side island anyway, so I definitely would be of no help there!

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  2. Oh, and according to Wikipedia, the Suez Canal, at it's narrowest point, is 300-m-wide (984 ft) as you enter the Red Sea from the north.

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  3. Sonya,
    Thanks for the continent info. I'll pass that along to the on-board inquisitives.

    We're a big ship, but we'll fit nicely in 984 ft of width, whew!

    Mapblue,
    Looks like Sonya dispells the need for portage, whew again!

    Kelly

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  4. OK, here are my guesses, all (well, all but one) either from memory or just silly guesses. Given the state of my memory, there's not much difference between the two.

    1. Greenland is not considered a continent because most of its land mass is below sea level, having been pushed down by the enormous mass of ice on top.
    2. China and Nepal both claim Everest; most of the world agrees with Nepal but like everything else the globe was made in China.
    3. The Ural Mountains are the dividing line between Europe and Asia.
    4. Socotra
    5. 20 miles. OK, I just read a later post, so that's a cheatenous answer.

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