Book 6, Question 109
Why Is the International Date Line in the Pacific?
Earth needs a line where the calendar date jumps. That is the International Date Line, and most of it runs through the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Putting it in the emptiest ocean means fewer people wake up on the wrong day!
From the book
Page from A Million Whys Book 6
More fun facts
- The international date line was set up in 1884.
- It runs through the middle of the Pacific Ocean, roughly along the line of 180 degrees longitude.
- It sits halfway around the world from the prime meridian in Greenwich, England.
- The line zigzags around places like eastern Russia and Alaska's Aleutian Islands.
- The date line is not a law. Each country can choose which date it uses.
- In 2011, the island nation of Samoa switched sides of the date line for the second time.
- When you cross the date line, you become a time traveler of sorts!
Sources: NOAA Ocean Service, Smithsonian Magazine
Questions kids ask
Why does the date change at the date line?
It marks the boundary between one calendar day and the next.