Latitudes are the imaginary lines drawn by joining all the points having similar angular distance on the earth’s surface, measured in degrees from the centre of the earth. 0° latitude i.e the equator, divides the earth into two equal parts.
The equator lies midways between the poles. All of these lines are parallel to each other and are therefore called parallel of latitudes, and on the globe are actually circles, becoming smaller polewards.
North and South poles are 90° N and 90° S latitudes respectively. Between these points, lines of latitudes are drawn at intervals of 1°. There are 89 parallels in northern hemisphere and 89 in southern. So total number of parallels, including equator is 179 (89 + 89 + 1).
North of the equator is called as the Northern Hemisphere and South of the equator is known as Southern Hemisphere. The distance between two consecutive latitudinal lines is 111 km.
The imaginary lines on the earth surface joining north and south poles crossing the equator are known as longitudes. Such lines are also called meridians.
The longitudinal lines are not parallel to each other. The distance between two longitudinal
lines is maximum at the equator (111.33 km.).
East of the Prime meridian is known as Eastern hemisphere and west of the Prime meridian is known as Western hemisphere. 180° longitude is known as International Date Line. India completely lies in the northern hemisphere.
The mainland extends between the latitudes 8°4' and 37°6'north and longitudes 68°7'E and 97°25'E. The southernmost boundary of Indian territory extends up to 6°45'N. The southern part of India lies within the tropics and the northern part lies in the subtropical zone or the warm temperate zone.
