I’m not sure how important all this is, but I had no idea so much of Africa was above the equator, and I have an unpleasant suspicion that I assumed the equator was more or less at the upper edge of Africa/lower edge of Europe because it just seemed tidier. Is tidiness/simplicity a named bias?
People are often surprised by how far south the United States is compared to Europe. Chicago is on the same latitude as Rome. North Dakota is parallel to the wine growing region of Bordeaux in France. It seems like people consider the US/Europe to be parallel, and South America/Africa parallel.
I was surprised when someone in Wales had trouble growing basil which I (in Delaware and Philadelphia) I thought of as the easiest plant in the world. However, Wales is a good bit north of the middle Atlantic states, and doesn’t get nearly as much sunlight.
The Czech Republic isn’t any further east than central and southern Italy. And certain people (not me) are surprised that certain parts of Ireland are further west than mainland Portugal. (Generally speaking, it’s like people’s mental map of the world is rotated around 20° clockwise.)
As for the Portugal/Ireland thing, one could easily blame the conically projected maps which conventionally have the 15th (or so) eastern meridian vertical, making Portugal’s 5th western meridian slanted and pushing poor Portugal more to the left than the more northern Ireland.
And it is easy to underestimate the east-west dimensions of Italy. We tend to assume that it is hanging freely from below the Alps, right down as a pendulum in equilibrium should, while actually it is tilted almost 45 degrees to the right. The region commonly refered to as “south Italy” could be as easily be described as “east Italy”, although that strangely never happens.
Similar thing happens to Norway. Northern Norway can be as far east as Cairo or Kiev, which only few people realise.
The region commonly refered to as “south Italy” could be as easily be described as “east Italy”
Yes, especially because the borders of pretty much any reasonable definition of it (the border of the former Kingdom of the Two Sicilies; the western border of “Neapolitan and related varieties” in this map; the western borders of present-day Abruzzo, Molise and Campania; the western borders of present-day Molise and Campania, to name the ones I can think of at the moment) run mostly north-to-south. There’s no way someone from Termoli will identify as any less of a southerner than someone from Rome, which is geographically further south.
“I assumed the equator was more or less at the upper edge of Africa/lower edge of Europe”—I’ve met Danes who thought along the same lines, so I’m not sure it’s not a common mistake to make. Just as all of North America is north of the equator and all of South America is south of the equator; I guess it just seems more convenient that way.
On an unrelated note, nobody have explicitly mentioned the Gulf Stream or the North Atlantic Drift in the comments, so I figure I should point out the importance of this one when talking about the climate of Western Europe. I live in Jutland, more specifically quite close to the 56th parallel north—this is equivalent to the Southern parts of Hudson Bay or the Bering Sea, and we have a temperate climate.
The Equator passes through South America, actually. I think that there is a perception of the world’s land area being divided in two by the Equator, but most of the world’s land area is in the Northern Hemisphere (about 2⁄3, more if you don’t count Antarctica).
“The Equator passes through South America”—I know that. Ecuador’s named Ecuador for a reason. My point was that people get both of these (Africa/Europe & North/South America) wrong.
If you’d read the last link in my post above you’d not have posted the comment you just did.
I’m not sure how important all this is, but I had no idea so much of Africa was above the equator, and I have an unpleasant suspicion that I assumed the equator was more or less at the upper edge of Africa/lower edge of Europe because it just seemed tidier. Is tidiness/simplicity a named bias?
People are often surprised by how far south the United States is compared to Europe. Chicago is on the same latitude as Rome. North Dakota is parallel to the wine growing region of Bordeaux in France. It seems like people consider the US/Europe to be parallel, and South America/Africa parallel.
I was surprised when someone in Wales had trouble growing basil which I (in Delaware and Philadelphia) I thought of as the easiest plant in the world. However, Wales is a good bit north of the middle Atlantic states, and doesn’t get nearly as much sunlight.
The Czech Republic isn’t any further east than central and southern Italy. And certain people (not me) are surprised that certain parts of Ireland are further west than mainland Portugal. (Generally speaking, it’s like people’s mental map of the world is rotated around 20° clockwise.)
As for the Portugal/Ireland thing, one could easily blame the conically projected maps which conventionally have the 15th (or so) eastern meridian vertical, making Portugal’s 5th western meridian slanted and pushing poor Portugal more to the left than the more northern Ireland.
And it is easy to underestimate the east-west dimensions of Italy. We tend to assume that it is hanging freely from below the Alps, right down as a pendulum in equilibrium should, while actually it is tilted almost 45 degrees to the right. The region commonly refered to as “south Italy” could be as easily be described as “east Italy”, although that strangely never happens.
Similar thing happens to Norway. Northern Norway can be as far east as Cairo or Kiev, which only few people realise.
Yes, especially because the borders of pretty much any reasonable definition of it (the border of the former Kingdom of the Two Sicilies; the western border of “Neapolitan and related varieties” in this map; the western borders of present-day Abruzzo, Molise and Campania; the western borders of present-day Molise and Campania, to name the ones I can think of at the moment) run mostly north-to-south. There’s no way someone from Termoli will identify as any less of a southerner than someone from Rome, which is geographically further south.
This is at least partially due to different weather- the Gulf Stream makes Europe much warmer than parts of North America at similar latitudes.
Edit: Read down, this has already been mentioned.
“I assumed the equator was more or less at the upper edge of Africa/lower edge of Europe”—I’ve met Danes who thought along the same lines, so I’m not sure it’s not a common mistake to make. Just as all of North America is north of the equator and all of South America is south of the equator; I guess it just seems more convenient that way.
On an unrelated note, nobody have explicitly mentioned the Gulf Stream or the North Atlantic Drift in the comments, so I figure I should point out the importance of this one when talking about the climate of Western Europe. I live in Jutland, more specifically quite close to the 56th parallel north—this is equivalent to the Southern parts of Hudson Bay or the Bering Sea, and we have a temperate climate.
The Equator passes through South America, actually. I think that there is a perception of the world’s land area being divided in two by the Equator, but most of the world’s land area is in the Northern Hemisphere (about 2⁄3, more if you don’t count Antarctica).
Edit: My apologies (see next comment).
“The Equator passes through South America”—I know that. Ecuador’s named Ecuador for a reason. My point was that people get both of these (Africa/Europe & North/South America) wrong.
If you’d read the last link in my post above you’d not have posted the comment you just did.
It is now.
Might that be because you’ve seen lots of maps of the Mediterranean with the Tropic of Cancer marked?