Circle of latitude that is 37 degrees north of the Earth's equatorial plane
The 37th parallel north is a circle of latitude that is 37 degrees north of the Earth's equatorial plane . It crosses Europe , the Mediterranean Sea , Africa , Asia , the Pacific Ocean , North America , and the Atlantic Ocean .
At this latitude the Sun is visible for 14 hours, 42 minutes during the summer solstice and 9 hours, 37 minutes during the winter solstice .[ 1]
The 37th parallel north is roughly the northern limit of the visibility of Canopus , the second-brightest star of the night sky. Along with the 37th parallel south , it is the latitude at which solar irradiance is closest to the planetary average,[ 2] with higher solar irradiance equatorward and lower poleward.
Around the world
Starting at the Prime Meridian and heading eastward, the parallel 37° north passes through:
United States
The 37th parallel defining borders between states in the United States.
In the United States , the parallel defines the southern borders of Utah , Colorado , and Kansas , and the northern borders of Arizona , New Mexico , and Oklahoma . It dates to the Kansas–Nebraska Act of 1854 when Congress divided Unorganized Territory into Kansas and Nebraska north of the 37th parallel and a remainder Indian Territory to the south. Before that, the line had been thought to be the boundary between the Cherokee and Osage reservations – the 2.46 miles (3.96 km) discrepancy resulting in the creation of the Cherokee Strip . Congress extended the line west to New Mexico Territory , thus defining which states and territories would constitute The South between the Colorado and Mississippi Rivers, and creating what later became the Oklahoma Panhandle .[ 3]
Landmarks on the 37th parallel include Santa Cruz, California ; Gilroy, California ; Madera, California ; Ubehebe Crater in Death Valley ; Colorado City, Arizona ; the Four Corners at the intersection with the 32nd meridian west from Washington (the only place where four U.S. states meet at a point); Cairo, Illinois ; Bowling Green, Kentucky ; and Newport News, and Hampton, Virginia . It enters the Chesapeake Bay at the northernmost tunnel entrance / exit of the Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel and the southernmost point of Old Point Comfort on the former Army base, Ft. Monroe.
The parallel 37° north formed the southern boundary of the historic and extralegal Territory of Jefferson .
See also
References