Why is the prime meridian located where it is?

Question

please help me!!!

Answer 1

The actual reason it is where it is, strange as it may sound, is because Great Britain is an island. The nation that arose there was therefore uniquely suited to become a sea-faring nation, and when the whole Earth was being explored in the 16 and 1700s, the British figured out that it would be very helpful to know WHERE YOU ARE on the planet at all times, and they hadn't quite figured out how to launch a GPS satellite system just yet so they did the next best thing and commissioned a royal observatory in Greenwich to prepare accurate star charts for use in sextant star navigation on the open seas. Since the star charts were all drawn from Greenwich, it was most convenient to place the zero longitude mark from there. The British star charts were the best around, and other nations stole them or copied them for their own use. A century or two later there was held an international conference on the matter, and everyone agreed to leave the prime meridian at Greenwich, despite great protestations from the French. So it has been there ever since. (The prime meridian of Mars was established by Giovanni Shapparelli, but that is a different story all together. )

Answer 2

The location of the prime meridian is completely arbitrary, and through history there have been many "prime" meridians used by mapmakers: the Canary Islands, Paris, London, Philadelphia, and Washington to name just a few.

When worldwide standard time was adopted in 1888, that also required a worldwide standard prime meridian. The British standard, which is the meridian of the Royal Observatory at Greenwich, was adopted because most seafaring nations already were using British Admiralty charts.

Answer 3

The Prime Meridian "splits" the Earth into the Eastern and Western Hemisphere, just like the equator with the North and South Hem. Both are at 0 degrees Latitude and Longtitude

Answer 4

because the measurements to make it where taken from Greenwich observatory in London, (well a little outside) and that is where the line passes through, the line was actaully found out to be 20ft from where it is marked in the pavement by satelight technology in 2001 (I think), ironic really

hope this helps

Answer 5

For the answer as to why it is where it is;

the French would have tried to eat it
the Irish would have gone to war over it
the Americans probably would have shot it
and everybody else was too backward at the time

Answer 6

becuase it cuts the planet into a half it seperates the west and east to provide diffrent weather and time.