Page 1 - Lesson Notes

1

SAI INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL

SESSION 2020-21
GRADE -VI
GEOGRAPHY

CH-2 GLOBE:LATITUDES AND LONGITUDES

SUB –TOPIC : LONGITUDES
NOTES:

 Longitudes are used as lines of reference along with latitudes to find the
location of a place on Earth.
 These are known as meridians of longitude.
 They run from south pole to north pole vertically.
 The counting of meridians starts from 0°and we count 180° Eastward and
Westward.
 At 0° we have Prime Meridian, passing through Greenwich where British
Royal Observatory is located.
 Unlike latitudes all meridians are of equal length.
 Prime Meridian divides the Earth into two equal parts: Eastern Hemisphere
and Western Hemisphere.
 180° East and 180° West meridians are on the same line.
 Meridians are are semi circles.
 Distance between them keeps on decreasing.
 It finally becomes zero at poles where all of them meet.
 Hence longitude of a place is followed by E or W to indicate whether it is in
Eastern or Western hemisphere.
 The distance between longitudes is measured in degrees(°).Degree is again
divided into minutes(‘) and minute into seconds (‘’).
 Location of any place on Earth is determined if we have both latitude and
longitude of the place.
GRID:
 Latitudes drawn horizontally and longitudes drawn vertically intersect each
other at a point. At that point a place is located.
 Grid is the criss crossing of latitudes and longitudes to find places on Earth.