Hemisphere

Hemisphere (from the Greek hemisphairion, “half a sphere”), term referring to any half of the earth. The globe can be divided into 3 sets of hemispheres. The northern and southern hemispheres make up one set: everything north of the equator is in the northern hemisphere and everything south of the equator is part of the southern hemisphere. The eastern and western hemispheres form another set: the eastern hemisphere comprises Europe, Asia, Africa, and Australia, and the western hemisphere is made up of North and South America. The generally accepted boundary lines are 20' west and 160' east longitudes. The earth may also be separated into the land hemisphere (the half with the most land, centered close to London, England) and the sea hemisphere (the half made up mostly of water, centered near New Zealand).