🌍 Social ScienceUnit 1 of 68 lessons

Hemispheres, parallels and meridians

✦ Lesson 2

Hemispheres, parallels and meridians

The Earth is shaped like a ball, called a sphere. To find places on it, geographers draw imaginary lines on maps and globes. You cannot see them on the real Earth, but they are very useful!

The Equator and the two hemispheres

The Equator is an imaginary line around the middle of the Earth. It cuts the planet into two halves called hemispheres (hemi means half).

North PoleSouth PoleNorthernHemisphere— EquatorSouthernHemisphere┆ Greenwich Meridian┄ parallels
Northern Hemisphere

The half between the Equator and the North Pole. Spain and all of Europe are here.

Southern Hemisphere

The half between the Equator and the South Pole. Australia, Argentina and Antarctica are here.

Parallels and meridians

Parallels ↔

Circles that go around the Earth from east to west, parallel to the Equator. The Equator is the biggest one. Two famous parallels are the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn.

Meridians ↕

Half circles that go from the North Pole to the South Pole. The most important one is the Greenwich Meridian (the Prime Meridian). It divides the Earth into the Eastern and Western Hemispheres.

🇪🇸 Did you know?

The Greenwich Meridian crosses Spain! It goes through Aragón and the Comunidad Valenciana, near Castellón. So part of Spain is in the Eastern Hemisphere and part is in the Western Hemisphere, but all of Spain is in the Northern Hemisphere.

🌐 Equator → North + South↔ parallels · ↕ meridians
▶ Video · Coming soon

Hemispheres, parallels and meridians

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Northern or Southern Hemisphere?

Is it above or below the Equator?

🇪🇸
Spain
Northern Hemisphere
🦘
Australia
Southern Hemisphere
🧊
The North Pole
Northern Hemisphere
🐧
Antarctica
Southern Hemisphere
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