20th Meridian West
The meridian 20° west of Greenwich is a line of longitude that extends from the North Pole across the Arctic Ocean, Greenland, Iceland, the Atlantic Ocean, the Southern Ocean, and Antarctica to the South Pole. In some geographic schema, it is used as the line of longitude which best delineates the historical separation between the Old World of Eurasia and Africa and the New World of the Americas.
The 20th meridian west forms a great circle with the 160th meridian east.
In Antarctica, the meridian defines the border between the British Antarctic Territory and Queen Maud Land. Between the 5th parallel north and the 60th parallel south it forms the eastern boundary of the Latin American Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone.
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Famous quotes containing the words meridian and/or west:
“I knew that my vocation was found. I had received the call, and having done so, I was sure my work would be assigned me. Of some things we feel quite certain. Inside there is a click, a kind of bell that strikes, when the hands of our destiny meet at the meridian hour.”
—Amelia E. Barr (1831–1919)
“We were young, we were merry, we were very very wise,
And the door stood open at our feast,
When there passed us a woman with the West in her eyes,
And a man with his back to the East.”
—Mary Elizabeth Coleridge (1861–1907)