40th parallel north
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The parallel 40° north is an imaginary circle of latitude that is 40 degrees north of the Earth's equatorial plane.
Starting at the prime meridian and heading eastwards, the parallel 40° north passes through:
- Spain (mainland and Minorca);
- The Mediterranean Sea;
- Italy (Sardinia);
- The Tyrrhenian Sea;
- Italy (mainland);
- The southern extent of the Adriatic Sea and the northern extent of the Ionian Sea;
- Albania;
- Greece;
- The Aegean Sea;
- Turkey;
- Armenia;
- Azerbaijan (including Nagorno-Karabakh);
- The Caspian Sea;
- Turkmenistan;
- Uzbekistan;
- Tajikistan;
- Kyrgyzstan;
- The People's Republic of China;
- The Yellow Sea (Liaodong Bay);
- North Korea;
- The Sea of Japan;
- Japan (Honshū);
- The Pacific Ocean;
- The United States;
- The Atlantic Ocean;
- Portugal.
[edit] United States
The parallel 40° north forms the boundary between the State of Kansas and State of Nebraska. On May 30, 1854, the Kansas-Nebraska Act created the Territory of Kansas and the Territory of Nebraska divided by the parallel 40° north. Both territories were required to determine for themselves whether to permit slavery. Open conflict between free-state and pro-slavery forces in the Kansas Territory led to the American Civil War.
The parallel 40° north formed the original northern boundary of the British Colony of Maryland. A subsequent royal grant gave the Colony of Pennsylvania land north of the parallel 39° north. The Mason-Dixon Line was drawn between 1763 and 1767 as the compromise boundary between the overlapping claims of these two colonies.
From west to east, the parallel passes through (or forms the boundary of) the following states: California, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Nebraska, Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, West Virginia, Pennsylvania and New Jersey.
The parallel 40° north passes through the cities of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Columbus, Ohio; as well as northern suburbs of Indianapolis, Indiana and Denver, Colorado. The parallel goes directly through the Port Columbus International Airport, with runway 10L-28R lying immediately north of the line, runway 10L-28L lying slightly south of it, and the line going through the northernmost edges of the terminal.
Baseline Road in Boulder, Colorado traces the parallel 40° north.
