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Eastern Hemisphere
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Eastern Hemisphere, also Eastern hemisphere, is a term that can be used in a geopolitical sense as a synonym for 'Old World', intended to avoid the perceived Eurocentrism of that phrase. In this sense it usually means Europe, Asia, Africa, and Oceania, in parallel to Western Hemisphere as a designation for the Americas.
The geographic terms eastern hemisphere and western hemisphere are not very common because they contradict each other to much there is no universally accepted nor practical line that unambiguously demarcates the two hemispheres, as opposed to the equator (equidistant from the Earth's poles) which divides the northern and southern hemispheres. The most common divider is the Prime Meridian, at 0° longitude. Using this demarcation puts portions of western Europe and Africa in the western hemisphere, diluting the usefulness for cartography as well as for political metaphor.
Had the International Date Line (or End Meridian) at 180° longitude been used as a dividing line, the meanings of the terms Eastern Hemisphere and Western Hemisphere would have been reversed. So, in a way, these terms are just as Eurocentric as the terms Old World and New World.
Though uncommon, another definition places the dividing lines at 20°W and 160°E, so as to more neatly divide the intended continents.[citation needed]