What's So Special About This Spot?Your feet are placed on a line that has played a key role in navigating the earth for over two thousand years! The 45th Parallel is not a visible line but a mapping tool that represents a contour halfway between the Equator and the North Pole. It was originally used by seafarers navigating the ocean wilderness with only the sun and stars to guide them.
What Goes Around, Comes AroundToday, even though a myriad of global technologies can pinpoint our location on earth to within 12 inches, the 45th Parallel is still a valuable way of connecting ourselves to other places on the planet. Imagine a line that starts at your feet and then joins the prairies of South Dakota, the north woods of Maine, the wine country of France, the deserts of Mongolia, and then back again at your feet.
What started out as a mapping tool now connects a diversity of landscapes and cultures around the globe.
Hipp-a Who?The system of latitude and longitude actually dates back to 200 B.C. and a Greek astronomer, Hipparchus.
The 45th parallel, as part of that system, was corrected to shift slightly north 10 miles when discovered that the earth's rotation caused a bulge at the equator.
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