40th parallel north

40°

40th parallel north

The 40th parallel north is a circle of latitude that is 40 degrees north of the Earth's equatorial plane. It crosses Europe, the Mediterranean Sea, Asia, the Pacific Ocean, North America, and the Atlantic Ocean.

At this latitude the sun is visible for 15 hours, 1 minute during the summer solstice and 9 hours, 20 minutes during the winter solstice. On 21 June, the maximum altitude of the sun is 73.83 degrees and 26.17 degrees on 21 December.

Around the world

Starting in Spain at the Prime Meridian and heading eastwards, the parallel 40° north passes through:

Co-ordinates	Country, territory or sea	Notes
	Spain	Valencian Community
	Mediterranean Sea	Passing just north of the island of Majorca, Spain
	Spain	Island of Minorca
	Mediterranean Sea
	Italy	Island of Sardinia
	Mediterranean Sea	Tyrrhenian Sea
	Italy
	Mediterranean Sea	Gulf of Policastro
	Italy
	Mediterranean Sea	Gulf of Taranto
	Italy	Apulia
	Mediterranean Sea	Strait of Otranto
	Albania
	Greece
	Mediterranean Sea	Aegean Sea
	Greece	Kassandra and Sithonia
	Mediterranean Sea	Aegean Sea
	Greece	Island of Lemnos
	Mediterranean Sea	Aegean Sea
	Turkey	Passing just north of Ankara
	Armenia
	Azerbaijan	Passing through Nagorno-Karabakh
	Caspian Sea
	Turkmenistan
	Uzbekistan
	Tajikistan
	Kyrgyzstan
	Tajikistan	For about 9 km
	Kyrgyzstan
	Uzbekistan	Sokh exclave - for about 7 km
	Kyrgyzstan
	Uzbekistan	Shohimardon exclave - for about 4 km
	Kyrgyzstan
	People's Republic of China	Xinjiang Gansu Inner Mongolia Shanxi Hebei Beijing (passing just north of the city centre) Hebei Tianjin Hebei Liaoning (for about 8 km)
	Pacific Ocean	Liaodong Bay, Yellow Sea
	People's Republic of China	Liaoning (Liaodong Peninsula)
	North Korea	North Pyeongan Province Jagang Province Yanggang Province South Hamgyeong Province
	Pacific Ocean	Sea of Japan
	North Korea	Mayang Island
	Pacific Ocean	Sea of Japan
	Japan	Island of Honshū — Akita Prefecture — Iwate Prefecture
	Pacific Ocean
	United States	California Nevada Utah Colorado Nebraska / Kansas border Missouri Illinois Indiana Ohio West Virginia Pennsylvania New Jersey
	Atlantic Ocean	Passing just north of Corvo Island, Azores, Portugal
	Portugal
	Spain	Extremadura Castile-La Mancha Community of Madrid - for about 10 km Castile-La Mancha Valencian Community - Rincón de Ademuz exclave, for about 4 km Castile-La Mancha - for about 5 km Aragon Valencian Community

United States

The 40th parallel defines the border between Nebraska and Kansas.

Survey marker on the Kansas/Nebraska state line

The parallel 40° north forms the boundary between the states of Kansas and Nebraska. On 30 May 1854, the Kansas–Nebraska Act created the Territory of Kansas and the Territory of Nebraska divided by the parallel 40° north. Both territories were required to determine for themselves whether to permit slavery. Open conflict between free-state and pro-slavery forces in the Kansas Territory was one of the root causes of the American Civil War.

The parallel 40° north formed the original northern boundary of the British Colony of Maryland. A subsequent royal grant gave the Colony of Pennsylvania land north of the 40th parallel but mistakenly assumed it would intersect the Twelve Mile Circle, which it does not. Pennsylvania's border was thus unclear and the colony pushed for a border far south of the 40th parallel. The Mason–Dixon Line was drawn between 1763 and 1767 as the compromise boundary between the overlapping claims of these two colonies.

The parallel 40° north passes through the cities of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Columbus, Ohio; as well as northern suburbs of Indianapolis, Indiana and Denver, Colorado. The parallel goes directly through the Port Columbus International Airport, with runway 10L-28R lying immediately north of the line, runway 10R-28L lying slightly south of it, and the line going through the northernmost edges of the terminal. It also passes through the main campus of The Ohio State University; specifically, it cuts directly across the Oval greenspace, between University Hall and the William Oxley Thompson Memorial Library.

Baseline Road in Boulder, Colorado traces the parallel 40° north.

Thistle, Utah, a ghost town since 1983, is slightly (30 seconds) below 40° north.

See also

• 39th parallel north
• 41st parallel north
• Baseline (surveying)
• Geological Exploration of the Fortieth Parallel