CoordKit

Hemisphere finder: what hemisphere am I in?

Northern or Southern? Eastern or Western? Search any place or use your location to see both of its hemispheres.

Hemispheres

-1.2833°, 36.8167° · Africa/Nairobi

Nairobi is in the
Southern Hemisphere
Eastern Hemisphere
From the equator
143km S
From the prime meridian
4,093km E

Four hemispheres from two signs

A coordinate’s signs tell you its hemispheres: latitude + means north, − means south; longitude + means east, − means west. Drag the sliders and watch the dot move between quadrants.

Northern + Western

N + WN + ES + WS + EEquator · Prime meridian

The four hemispheres

Northern Hemisphere

Everything north of the equator. It holds about 68% of the world’s land and nearly 90% of its people, including all of Europe and North America, most of Asia and about two-thirds of Africa.

Southern Hemisphere

South of the equator: Australia, Antarctica, most of South America, southern Africa and part of Asia (much of Indonesia). It is mostly ocean.

Western Hemisphere

West of Greenwich to the 180° meridian: the Americas, the western tip of Europe and Africa (Portugal, Ireland, Senegal and others), and much of the Pacific.

Eastern Hemisphere

East of Greenwich to 180°: most of Europe and Africa, all of Asia and Australia.

Curious what lies on the exact opposite side of the planet? Try the antipode map.

Frequently asked questions

What hemisphere am I in?

Every place is in two hemispheres at once: Northern or Southern (split by the equator) and Eastern or Western (split by the prime meridian at 0° and the 180° meridian). Press the location button above to find yours. If your latitude is positive you are in the Northern Hemisphere; if your longitude is negative you are in the Western.

Which hemisphere is the United States in?

The Northern and Western Hemispheres. All 50 states have positive latitude and negative longitude, although the far end of Alaska’s Aleutian Islands crosses the 180° meridian into the Eastern Hemisphere.

Which countries are in all four hemispheres?

Kiribati is the only country with territory in all four, because its islands straddle both the equator and the 180° meridian. Several countries cross the equator (such as Brazil, Indonesia and Kenya) and several cross the prime meridian (such as the UK, France, Spain and Ghana).

Is the Eastern/Western split official?

It is a convention. The prime meridian through Greenwich was adopted in 1884, and the opposite meridian (180°) closes the circle. Some geographers instead split at 20° W and 160° E so that the Americas fall entirely in the Western Hemisphere and Europe and Africa in the Eastern.

What changes between the Northern and Southern Hemispheres?

Seasons are reversed (December is summer in Australia), the Sun at noon is to the south in the north and to the north in the south, the night sky shows different stars, and the Coriolis effect makes large storms spin counter-clockwise in the north and clockwise in the south.

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