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49th parallel north - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

49thparallelnorth
FromWikipedia,thefreeencyclopedia

The49thparallelnorthisacircleoflatitudethatis49 degreesnorthoftheEarth'sequatorialplane.Itcrosses Europe,Asia,thePacificOcean,NorthAmerica,andthe AtlanticOcean. ThecityofParisisabout15km(9mi)southofthe49th parallelandisthelargestcitybetweenthe48thand49th parallels.Itsmainairport,CharlesdeGaulleAirport,lies ontheparallel.

49

Roughly3,500kilometres(2,175mi)oftheCanada UnitedStatesborderwasintendedtofollowthe49th parallelfromBritishColumbiatoManitobaontheCanadiansideandfromWashingtontoMinnesotaonthe U.S.side,orfromtheStraitofGeorgiatotheLakeoftheWoods.Itsuseastheinternationalborderisaresult oftheAngloAmericanConventionof1818andtheOregonTreatyof1846.(Asusualthedefinitionof "latitude"wasambiguous,andtheactualmarkedborderwandersnorthandsouthoverabandperhaps100 meterswide.) Fromapointonthegroundatthislatitude,thesunisabovethehorizonfor16hours,12minutesduringthe summersolsticeand8hours,14minutesduringthewintersolstice.[1]Slightlylessthan1/8oftheEarth's surfaceisnorthofthe49thparallel.

49thparallelnorth

Contents
1Aroundtheworld 2Monumentsontheparallel 3TheCanadaUnitedStatesborder 3.1History 3.2Asborder 4OrdnanceSurveyofGreatBritain 5Seealso 6References 7Externallinks

Aroundtheworld
StartingatthePrimeMeridianandheadingeastwards,theparallel49northpassesthrough:

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Coordinates 490N00E

Country,territoryor sea France LowerNormandy UpperNormandy ledeFrance Picardy ChampagneArdenne Lorraine Alsace Lorraine Alsace

Notes

490N84E

Germany

RhinelandPalatinate BadenWrttemberg(passingthroughKarlsruhecity centre) Bavaria Forabout4.8km(3mi) Forabout5km(3mi) Forabout120m

490N1324E 490N150E 490N154E 490N158E 490N158E 490N1757E 490N2232E 490N3942E 490N4655E 490N8644E 490N8755E 490N1168E 490N1300E

CzechRepublic Austria CzechRepublic Austria CzechRepublic Slovakia Ukraine Russia Kazakhstan People'sRepublic Xinjiang ofChina Mongolia People'sRepublic InnerMongolia ofChina Heilongjiang Russia AmurOblast JewishAutonomousOblast KhabarovskKrai IslandofSakhalin GulfofPatience IslandofSakhalin RostovOblast VolgogradOblast

490N14021E 490N1421E 490N14257E 490N14426E

StraitofTartary Russia SeaofOkhotsk Russia

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490N14427E 490N15422E 490N12541W 490N12334W 490N1235W 490N1232W 490N12245W

SeaofOkhotsk PacificOcean Canada StraitofGeorgia Canada/ UnitedStatesborder BoundaryBay Canada/ UnitedStatesborder

PassingbetweentheislandsofKharimkotanand Ekarmain Russia'sKurilIslandchain BritishColumbiaVancouverIsland,ThetisIslandand GalianoIsland BritishColumbia/Washington(PointRoberts) SemiahmooBay BritishColumbia/Washington BritishColumbia/Idaho BritishColumbia/Montana Alberta/Montana Saskatchewan/Montana Saskatchewan/NorthDakota Manitoba/NorthDakota Manitoba/Minnesota PassingjustsouthofBigIslandandBigsbyIsland, Ontario, Canada Ontario Quebec QuebecGaspPeninsula PassingjustsouthofAnticostiIsland,Quebec, Canada NewfoundlandandLabradorislandofNewfoundland GulfofSaintMalopassingjustsouthoftheislandof Jersey LowerNormandy

490N9517W 490N9425W 490N6838W 490N6658W 490N6424W 490N5831W 490N5344W 490N538W 490N133W

LakeoftheWoods Canada SaintLawrenceRiver Canada GulfofSaintLawrence Canada AtlanticOcean EnglishChannel France

Monumentsontheparallel
ThePeaceArchisalargemonumentbetweenSurrey,BritishColumbia,andBlaine,Washington.Itis thecenterpieceofPeaceArchPark. WatertonGlacierInternationalPeaceParkinAlbertaandMontana TheInternationalPeaceGardenislocatedattheborderbetweenManitobaandNorthDakota,about midwaybetweenthenearbycommunitiesofBoissevain,ManitobaandDunseith,NorthDakota.Ithas

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asitsfocalpointthePeaceTower(actuallyfouridenticalmonuments120feet(36.6m)tallsetparallel onlyafewfeetapart,twooneachsideoftheborder,givingtheappearanceofadoubletowerfrom mostvantagepointsintheGarden). TheStadtgarteninKarlsruhe,Germany,marksthe49thparallelwithastoneandpaintedline.

TheCanadaUnitedStatesborder
Mainarticle:CanadaUnitedStatesborder

History
FollowingtheLouisianaPurchasebytheUnitedStatesin1803,it wasgenerallyagreedthattheboundarybetweenthenewterritoryand BritishNorthAmericawasalongthewatershedbetweentheMissouri ThePeaceArchborder RiverandMississippiRiverbasinsononesideandtheHudsonBay basinontheother.However,itisoftendifficulttopreciselydetermine thelocationofawatershedinaregionoflevelplains,suchasincentral NorthAmerica.TheBritishandAmericancommitteesthatmetafterthe Warof1812toresolveboundarydisputesrecognizedtherewouldbe muchanimosityinsurveyingthewatershedboundary,andagreedona simplerbordersolutionin1818:the49thparallel.Bothsidesgainedand lostsometerritorybythisconvention,buttheUnitedStatesgainedmore thanitlost,inparticularsecuringtitletotheRedRiverBasin.This conventionestablishedtheboundaryonlybetweentheLakeofthe WoodsandtheRockyMountainswestoftheRockies,theconvention establishedjointoccupationoftheOregonCountrybybothparties.A geographicaloversightresultedinthecreationoftheNorthwestAngle. AlthoughtheConventionof1818settledtheboundaryfromthepointof viewofthenonAboriginalpowers,neithertheUnitedKingdomnorthe UnitedStateswasimmediatelysovereignovertheterritoriesonitsside oftheline:effectivecontrolstillrestedwiththelocalnations,mainlythe Mtis,Assiniboine,LakotaandBlackfoot.Theirsovereigntywas graduallycededbyconquestandtreatyduringtheseveraldecadesthat followed.Amongthesenations,the49thparallelwasnicknamedthe MedicineLinebecauseofitsseeminglymagicalabilitytopreventU.S. soldiersfromcrossingit.

49thparallelatWatertonLake, showingtheclearedstripofland alongtheU.S./Canadianborder.

Inthe1844U.S.presidentialelection,theDemocraticPartyassertedthatthenorthernborderoftheOregon Territoryshouldbe5440,laterreflectedinthe1846slogan"FiftyFourFortyorFight!"However,the Oregonboundarydisputewassettleddiplomaticallyinthe1846OregonTreaty.Thisagreementdividedthe OregonCountrybetweenBritishNorthAmericaandtheUnitedStatesbyextendingthe49thparallel boundarytothewestcoast,endingintheStraitofGeorgiaitthencircumventsVancouverIslandthrough BoundaryPass,HaroStrait,andtheStraitofJuandeFuca.ThishadthesideeffectofisolatingPointRoberts, Washington.

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Asborder
AlthoughpartsofVancouver IslandandpartsofEastern Canadaaresouthofthe49th parallel,andpartsoftheUnited States(Alaska,Northwest Angle)arenorthofit,theterm 49thparallelissometimesused metonymicallytorefertothe The49thparallelnorthasaborder entireCanadaU.S.border. betweentheCanadianprovincesof Actually,manyofCanada's BritishColumbia,Alberta, mostpopulatedregions(and SaskatchewanandManitoba(tothe about72%ofthepopulation)are north),andtheUSstatesof southofthe49thparallel, Washington,Idaho,Montana,North includingthetwolargestcities DakotaandMinnesota(tothesouth). Toronto(4342'north)and Montreal(4530'north),the federalcapitalOttawa(45.25north)andthecapitalsofallprovinces exceptthePrairieprovinces(Alberta,SaskatchewanandManitoba), thesebeingtheonlyprovincesentirelynorthofthe49thparallel.The threeMaritimeprovincesareeachentirelysouthoftheparallel,butthe vastmajorityofCanadianterritoryliesnorthofit.

Atypicalboundarymarker,one ofmanyalongthe49thparallel. ThisonedividesBlaine, WashingtonfromSurrey,British Columbia.

Partsofthe49thparallelwereoriginallysurveyedusingastronomicaltechniquesthatdidnottakeintoaccount slightdeparturesoftheEarth'sshapefromasimpleellipsoid,orthedeflectionoftheplumbbobbydifferences interrestrialmass.Thesurveysweresubjecttothelimitationsofearlytomid19thcenturytechnology,but accurateresultswereobtained.However,insomeplacesthesurveyed49thparallelisseveralhundredfeet fromthegeographical49thparallelforthecurrentlyadopteddatum,WGS84.TheDigitalChartoftheWorld (DCW),whichusestheClarke1866ellipsoid,reportstheborderonaverageatlatitude485951north, roughly270metres(886ft)southofthemodern49thparallel.Itrangesbetween485925and 49010north,810metres(2,657ft)and590metres(1,936ft)oneithersideoftheaverage.Inanycase,the Earth'sNorthPolemovesaroundslightly,notionallymovingthe49thandotherparallelswithitseepolar motion. In1909theUnitedStates,UnitedKingdomandCanadasignedandratifiedatreatyconfirmingtheoriginal surveylinesastheofficialandpermanentinternationalborder.Nevertheless,thedifferenceofthesurveyfrom thegeographical49thparallelwasarguedinfrontoftheWashingtonSupremeCourtinthecaseofStateof Washingtonv.Norman,underthepremisethatWashingtondidnotproperlyincorporatetheportionsofland northofthegeographical49thparallel,aslaidoutbydetailedGPSsurveying.Thecourtdecidedagainstthe premise,rulingthattheinternationallysurveyedboundaryalsoservedasthestateboundary,regardlessofits actualposition.

OrdnanceSurveyofGreatBritain

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TheBritishnationalgridreferencesystemusesthepoint49N,2Wasitstrueorigin. 490000N20000W[2]

Seealso
48thparallelnorth 50thparallelnorth BoundaryLake(Manitoba/NorthDakota) CanadaU.S.border NorthwestAngle(northernLakeoftheWoodsCounty) PointRoberts,Washington Oregonboundarydispute PigWar,1859 Warof1812 Weiwurstquator

References
1. ^http://aa.usno.navy.mil/data/docs/Dur_OneYear.php 2. ^"Thetrueorigin" (http://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/oswebsite/gps/information/coordinatesystemsinfo/guidetonationalgrid/page2.ht ml).WelcometoOSNet.Southampton:OrdnanceSurvey.20070904.Retrieved13August2009.

Externallinks
Washingtonv.Norman(http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl? court=wa&vol=2002_sc/694176&invol=3)fromFindLaw

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