Kiribati date line shift
Topic: Latitude, Longitude and Time · NCERT: Beyond NCERT
Meaning
The International Date Line runs roughly along the 180° meridian, and the calendar date changes when you cross it. It zigzags so that it does not split a country or an island group. Kiribati's islands lie on both sides of 180°, so the country was split across two dates. In 1995 Kiribati moved the line east so all its islands share one date. As a result, its Line Islands (UTC+14) became the first inhabited land to see each new day.
Example
Samoa, in the South Pacific, made a similar shift. It skipped 30 December 2011 entirely and moved to the west side of the line, which made trade with Australia and New Zealand easier. Because of shifts like these, clock times on earth can now differ by up to 26 hours, from UTC+14 to UTC−12.
Don't confuse with
- The 180° meridian: this is a straight line of longitude. The International Date Line only roughly follows it, bending around Kiribati, Fiji, Tonga, Chukotka and the Aleutians.