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European & North American Cities Transposed Onto The Opposite Continent At The Same Latitude

July 31, 2015 18 Comments

European & North American Cities Transposed Onto The Opposite Continent At The Same Latitude

Maps created by Beardsley Klamm via metafilter

The map above does an excellent job of illustrating the relative latitudes of European and North American cities by transposing them on the opposite continent.

As with our previous look at the Counterintuitive Comparison Of Relative Population Latitudes Of US, Canada & Europe, there are quite a few interesting things to note.

Just a few observations:

  • London (51°30′N) is farther north than Calgary (51°03′N) with Amsterdam, Berlin and Dublin being located even further north.
  • Montreal is south of Paris.
  • Phoenix is placed close to the Ancient city of Carthage, which was a Phoenician city-state. People from Phoenix today are known as Phoenicians. (Credit: reddit users twomancanoe and svaachkuet)
  • Miami is at the same latitude as Saudi Arabia.
  • Honolulu at the same latitude as the Sahara desert.
  • Los Angeles, San Diego, Phoenix and Houston are all at the same latitude as North Africa.
  • Anchorage is further south than Reykjavik.
  • Winnipeg has been placed near Lviv, Ukraine and coincidentally has a large Ukraine population. Even the city’s flag has Ukraine colours. (credit: reddit user ajyablo)
  • Reykjavik’s average temperature in January is -0.6°C (31°F) and is warmer than Boston’s average January temperature of -1.7°C (29°F) despite Reykjavik being over 20 degrees further north (64°08′N vs 42°21′N).
  • Missoula is placed roughly where Geneva is.
  • The map also shows just how wide America and Canada are compared to Europe, stretching the equivalent distance from Spain to the Caspian Sea.

The reason many European cities have milder climates than equivalent cities in North America at the same latitude is of course the Gulf Stream.

Curious what the map for the Southern hemisphere might look like? Well Reddit user Yearlaren has created the following map of South American cities transposed with Australian and New Zealand ones:

Oz-SA-cities

Want to learn more about the Gulf Stream and relative latitudes? Then have a look at the following books:

  • The Gulf Stream: Tiny Plankton, Giant Bluefin, and the Amazing Story of the Powerful River in the Atlantic
  • A Portrait of the Gulf Stream: In Praise of Currents
  • The World Today: Concepts and Regions in Geography

Notice anything else interesting about either map? Please leave your comments below.

Filed Under: World Maps Tagged With: latitude

Comments

  1. Stephen T says

    July 31, 2017 at 2:47 am

    Almost all of Russia is in Canada.!? Brrrr!

    Reply
    • Bonnie Mahlmeister says

      August 7, 2019 at 5:33 am

      I can’t read the map either. Could someone see that latitude with Madrid, Spain ?

      Reply
  2. kellson says

    December 9, 2017 at 1:30 pm

    Why is the image resolution so low? Can’t make out the city names.

    Reply
    • Willie says

      May 15, 2018 at 8:19 pm

      I agree, the resolution is a bit dicey.

      Reply
  3. PeterT says

    June 4, 2018 at 9:00 am

    Microsoft’s ZoomIt will solve that. [Ctrl 1, Esc]
    Or just Win-key +. [Win-key Esc]

    Reply
  4. J. Vaughan says

    October 8, 2018 at 10:51 am

    As an almost-totally-blind person, might I please ask what European cities are on the same latitude as Washington, D. C.?

    Reply
    • Robert says

      November 23, 2018 at 4:09 am

      The closest are Ankara, Athens, Rome, Madrid, Valetta.

      Reply
  5. Gord Marsden says

    November 22, 2018 at 1:53 pm

    The Gulf Stream plus the Mediterranean makes the difference in climate

    Reply
  6. Natalie Bomke says

    March 17, 2019 at 2:03 am

    The Great Lakes on you US map are wrong, honestly missing completely.

    Reply
  7. David says

    April 21, 2019 at 12:53 pm

    Agree, the image quality is so poor that this website is unusable!

    Reply
  8. DDK says

    May 26, 2019 at 5:02 am

    Sadly, I can’t read a word of this map. I’ve been looking for something like this for a long time so it’s very disappointing that it’s unreadable. I even got out a big magnifying glass! ☹️

    Reply
  9. Murali S Vajapeyam says

    June 17, 2019 at 1:20 pm

    This article does not explain why Chicago is so brutally cold in winter 🙂

    Reply
    • Wayne Courtney says

      October 11, 2019 at 8:33 pm

      Because the Great Lakes are fresh water lakes making them colder than the salt water oceans, making the winds that come off of them very cold. In Contrast European countries are warmer because of the Gulf Stream and the salt water of the Mediterranean Sea.

      Reply
  10. OK says

    December 21, 2019 at 11:44 pm

    Use your “mouse” and “click” on it to “enlarge” it.

    Reply
  11. Marton Kiss says

    January 18, 2020 at 6:03 pm

    Very kool maps. But….as a person from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, the Capital of this province, we HATE seeing Calgary as a representation of our corner of the world. Again….Edmonton is the Capital! Pleeze, fellow readers, pay NO attention to Calgary! It is the Marsha Brady of our province….Marsha, Marsha, Marsha.

    Reply
  12. Brian says

    April 12, 2020 at 6:38 am

    Parts of California, USA are on the same latitude

    Reply
  13. Karthikeyan says

    November 30, 2020 at 12:59 am

    For those who could not read the map, please click on the map image to find a bigger image.

    https://i.imgur.com/yIe8gWy.jpg

    Reply
  14. Starfire says

    June 6, 2021 at 7:27 am

    Where’s Toronto?? Canada’s largest city!

    Reply

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