The International Date Line is an imaginary line drawn close to the 180th meridian to indicate the point where the date changes by one day on a transpacific voyage. East of the line it is one day earlier than it is to the west. This happens because time everywhere in the world is measured from Greenwich Mean Time, which lies at 0 degrees longitude, which is also known as the prime meridian. Every 15 degrees of longitude is equivalent to one hour. Moving westwards 180 degrees from Greenwich, travellers lose 12 hours; moving eastwards they gain 12 hours. As a result at longitude 180 degrees west (which is the same as 180 degrees east) there is a difference of 24 hours, or one day. In order to avoid crossing land at any point, the International Date Line curves eastwards of the 180th meridian around Siberia, westwards around the Aleutian Islands, and eastwards around Fiji Islands and New Zealand.© & (p) 1995-2000
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