Zero Trivia Quiz

The North Pole is at 90°00'N, and all the lines of longitude meet there. There is no sign to mark the point, because it lies in the Arctic Ocean, and it is only possible to stand there because the sea is frozen. The nearest land is Kaffeklubben Island, about 700km away lying close to northern Greenland.

Following the Prime Meridian south it passes between Svalbard in the east and Greenland in the west. Then it goes on between Norway to the east and Iceland to the west. The most northerly land on the meridian is at Tunstall Beach (53°45'N 0°00'E), on the east coast of Yorkshire about 30km east of Kingston-upon-Hull. Because of coastal erosion, the nearest sign is about 4km south, on the road to Withernsea.

Greenwich (51°28'N 0°00'E), in London, is the original designation of the Prime Meridian, because of work done there to determine time differences around the world. The line was marked with a strip of copper set into the ground outside the Royal Observatory. The copper was replaced with stainless steel, and supplemented by a night-time green laser at the end of 1999.

There were plans to plant a line of trees along the meridian to mark the millennium, but not many were planted, and those that were have mostly not survived. However there are various other markers along the way, finishing with a monument on the promenade in Peacehaven in East Sussex on the south coast of England.

Argentan is a small town in northern France. It is situated at 48°45′N, 0°01′W, about half way between Caen to the north and Le Mans to the south. There is a small stone by the side of the main road on the east of the town to mark the meridian.

There are several other small signs and stones by roads further south in France which mark the meridian. Lourdes, a larger and more well-known town, is also very close the meridian at 43°06′N 0°03′W, but apparently has no markers for the meridian.

Candasnos is a very small village in Aragon in Spain. At the beginning of the twenty-first century there were fewer than five hundred inhabitants. It is not quite on the meridian, being situated at 41°50'N, 0°04'E. However, just outside the village an arch has been built across the motorway to mark the meridian.

Further south in Spain, in the region of Valencia, there are other roadside stones and small sculptures marking the line.

Mohammadia is in the Mascara province of Algeria. It is situated at 35°35′N 0°04′E, and is about 30km south of the Mediterranean coast. The town was built on the site of the former Roman settlement of Castra Nova, and was known as Perregaux during the time of French occupation of Algeria. On the highway between Oran and Mostaganem, near the small settlement of Stidia by the coast, there is a sign marking the Prime Meridian.

Travelling south from Mohammadia, the meridian passes very close to the small towns of Oued Taria (also in the province of Mascara) at 35°07'N 0°05'E, Aïn El Hadjar (in Saïda province) at 34°46′N 0°09′E, Bougtob (in El Bayadh Province) at 34°03′N 0°05′E, and Assela (in the province of Naâma) at 33°00′N 0°05′W. At that point there are more than 1200km of the Sahara Desert to cross before reaching the border with Mali.

At 16°16′N 0°03′W and around 600km south of the border with Algeria, the town of Gao is on the east bank of the Niger River. It is about 300km east of the fabled city of Timbuktu, and just over 100km north of the border with Burkina Faso.

Perhaps not surprisingly, since there is a lot of desert, there appear to be no markers for the Prime Meridian in Mali.

The town of Dori, the capital of the Sahel region of Burkina Faso is at 14°03'N 0°03'W. It is about 100km south of the border with Mali, around 50km west of the border with Niger, and about 300km north of the border with Togo.

The Prime Meridian is also unmarked as it passes through Burkina Faso.

Cinkasse is at 11°06'N 0°01'E in north-western Togo. It lies on the border with the smaller town of Cinkanse in Burkina Faso. It is about 4km north-east of the town of Pulmakon in neighbouring Ghana.

About 40km south of Cinkasse is the small town of Lotogou, which is also on the Prime Meridian. However almost all of Togo is east of that line.

Tema is at 05°40′N 00°00′W. It is on the coast of the Gulf of Guinea, around 20km north-east of the capital of Ghana - Accra. Outside the Presbyterian Church of Ghana, not far from the Harbour Road in Tema, there is an obelisk and a line marked on the ground to show the location of the Prime Meridian.

About 630km south of Tema, the Prime Meridian crosses the equator in the Atlantic Ocean. Brazil, France and the USA set up an organisation (PIRATA), to collect oceanographic and meteorological data in tropical parts of the Atlantic Ocean. One of their Autonomous Temperature Line Acquisition System buoys has been placed at that point. It is sometimes called Null Island.

Leaving the buoy in the Atlantic Ocean, there is no more land on the Prime Meridian before Antarctica. The nearest part of the west coast of Africa is in Gabon, and it is about 1000km away, although the Islands of Sao Tome and Principe are only around 700km to the east. Further south, St. Helena is about 1000km to the west. Landfall in Antarctica is on the Princess Martha Coast, around 70°00'S, in Queen Maud Land, which is administered by Norway.

All the lines of longitude converge once more at 90°00'S; this time it is at the South Pole. The point is marked by a short red and white striped post with a metallic sphere on top. It is surrounded by the flags of the countries which have agreed to the Antarctic Treaty.