Geographical zone

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Geographical zone

Each of the five main latitude regions of the earth's surface is said to be a geographical zone, divided by the major circles of latitude. The differences between them relate to climate, and the behaviour of the sun. They are as follows:

In the Torrid Zone, also known as the Tropics

Tropics

The Tropics, seated in the equatorial regions of the world, are limited in latitude by the Tropic of Cancer in the northern hemisphere at approximately 23?26' N latitude, and the Tropic of Capricorn in the southern hemisphere at 23?26' S latitude....
, the sun is directly overhead at least once during the year - at the edges of the tropics this occurs at the summer solstice

Solstice

A solstice is an astronomical event that occurs twice each year, when the tilt of the Earth's Rotation is most inclined toward or away from the Sun, causing the Sun's apparent position in the sky to reach its north or south extreme....
, and over the equator

Equator

The equator is the intersection of the Earth's surface with the Plane perpendicular to the Earth's rotation and containing the Earth's center of mass....
, at the equinoxes.

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The North Frigid Zone, north of the Arctic Circle
Arctic Circle

The Arctic Circle is one of the five major circle of latitude that mark maps of the Earth. It is the parallel of latitude that runs 66degree 33'39? north of the Equator....
The North Temperate Zone, between the Arctic Circle and the Tropic of Cancer
Tropic of Cancer

The Tropic of Cancer, or Northern tropic, is one of five major degree measures or major circle of latitude that mark maps of the Earth. It is the northernmost latitude at which the Sun can appear directly overhead at noon....
The Torrid Zone, between the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn
The South Temperate Zone, between the Tropic of Capricorn
Tropic of Capricorn

The Tropic of Capricorn, or Southern tropic, is one of the five major circle of latitude that mark maps of the Earth. It lies 23degree 26' 22? south of the Equator, and marks the most southerly latitude at which the sun can appear directly overhead at noon....
and the Antarctic Circle
Antarctic Circle

The Antarctic Circle is one of the five major circle of latitude that mark maps of the Earth. As of 2000, it lies at latitude 66degree 33' 39? south of the equator....
The South Frigid Zone, south of the Antarctic Circle

In the Torrid Zone, also known as the Tropics

Tropics

Solstice

Equator

The equator is the intersection of the Earth's surface with the Plane perpendicular to the Earth's rotation and containing the Earth's center of mass....
, at the equinoxes. This is the hottest part of the earth, and there are two annual seasons: a dry and a wet. The Torrid Zone includes most of Africa

Africa

Africa is the world's second-largest and second most-populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km? including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area....
, southern India

India

India, officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and outlying territories by total area country by geographical area, the List of countries by population country, and the most populous liberal democracy in the world....
, southern Asia

Asia

Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent. It covers 8.6% of the Earth's total surface area and, with over 4 billion people, it contains more than 60% of the world's current human population....
, Indonesia

Indonesia

The Republic of Indonesia , is a transcontinental country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Comprising Islands of Indonesia, it is the world's largest Archipelago state....
, New Guinea

New Guinea

New Guinea, located just north of Australia, is the List of islands by area, having become separated from the Australian mainland when the area now known as the Torres Strait flooded after the last glacial period....
, northern Australia

Australia

Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the southern hemisphere comprising the Australia of the world's smallest continent, the major island of Tasmania, and numerous list of islands of Australia in the Indian Ocean and Pacific Oceans....
, southern Mexico

Mexico

The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federalism constitutionalism republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of Mexico....
, Central America

Central America

Central America is a central geography region of the Americas. It is the southernmost, isthmus portion of the North American continent, which connects with South America on the southeast....
and northern South America

South America

South America is the southern continent of the Americas, situated entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere....
.

In the two Temperate Zones, the sun is never directly overhead, and the climate is mild, generally ranging from warm to cool. The four annual seasons, Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter occur in these areas. The North Temperate Zone includes Great Britain

Great Britain

Great Britain is an island lying to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the List of islands by area, and the largest in Europe. With a population of 58.9 million people it is List of islands by population....
, Europe

Europe

Europe is, conventionally, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural , the Caspian Sea, and by the Caucasus Mountains to the southeast....
, northern Asia, North America

North America

North America is the northern continent of the Americas, situated in the Earth's northern hemisphere and almost totally in the western hemisphere....
and northern Mexico

Mexico

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses , and numerous Islands of New Zealand, most notably Stewart Island/Rakiura and the Chatham Islands....
, southern South America

South America

South Africa

The Republic of South Africa, also known by Official names of South Africa, is a country located at the southern tip of the continent of Africa....
.

The two Frigid Zones, or polar regions

Polar region

Earth polar regions are the areas of the globe surrounding the geographical pole also known as Geographical zone. The North Pole and South Pole being the centers, these regions are dominated by the polar ice caps, resting respectively on the Arctic Ocean and the continent of Antarctica....
, experience the midnight sun

Midnight sun

The midnight sun is a natural phenomenon occurring in latitudes north and nearby to the south of the Arctic Circle, and south and nearby to the north of the Antarctic Circle where the sun remains visible at the local midnight....
and the polar night

Polar night

The polar night is the night lasting more than 24 hours, usually inside the polar circles. The opposite phenomenon, when the sun stays above the horizon for a long time is called the polar day, or midnight sun....
for part of the year - the edge of the zone experiences one day at the solstice

Solstice

Geographical pole

A geographical pole , is either of two points on the surface of a spinning planet or other spinning body, at 90 degrees from its equator, at one of the two points where the Axis of rotation around which the body spins meets the surface of the body....
), the day is literally one year long, with six months of daylight and six months of night. The Frigid Zones are the coldest parts of the earth, and are covered with ice and snow. The North Frigid Zone (the Arctic

Arctic

The Arctic is the region around the Earth's North Pole, opposite the Antarctica region around the South Pole. The Arctic includes the Arctic Ocean and parts of Canada, Greenland , Russia, the United States , Iceland, Norway, Sweden and Finland....
) includes northern Canada

Canada

Canada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean....
and Alaska

Alaska

Alaska is the largest U.S. state of the United States by area; it is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait....
, Greenland

Greenland

Greenland is a member country of the Kingdom of Denmark located between the Arctic Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago....
, northern Scandinavia

Scandinavia

Scandinavia is a historical and geographical subregion in northern Europe that includes the Scandinavian Peninsula. It consists of the kingdoms of Norway, Sweden, and Denmark; some authorities also include Finland and some might even include Iceland....
, northern Russia

Russia

Russia , or the Russian Federation , is a list of countries spanning more than one continent country extending over much of northern Eurasia....
, and the Arctic ice. The South Frigid Zone (The Antarctic) is filled by the continent of Antarctica

Antarctica

Antarctica is Earth's southernmost continent, overlying the South Pole. It is situated in the Antarctica of the southern hemisphere, almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle, and is surrounded by the Southern Ocean....
; the next closest mainland is the southern tip of Chile and Argentina, followed by New Zealand.

The edges of the Temperate Zones are also sometimes referred to as the Subtropics

Subtropics

For information on the American literary journal, see Subtropics The subtropics are the Geographical zone of the Earth immediately north and south of the tropics zone, which is bounded by the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn, at latitude 23.5? north and south....
, Subarctic

Subarctic

The Subarctic is a region in the Northern Hemisphere immediately south of the true Arctic and covering much of Alaska, Canada and Siberia, the north of Scandinavia, northern Mongolia and the Chinese province of Heilongjiang....
and Subantarctic

Subantarctic

The Subantarctic is a region in the Southern Hemisphere immediately north of Antarctica and covering the many islands of the southern parts of the Indian Ocean, Atlantic Ocean and Pacific Ocean, which are north of the Antarctic Convergence....
.

History

The idea of a geographical zone was first hypothesized by the ancient Greek scholar Aristotle

Aristotle

Aristotle was a Greeks philosopher, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. He wrote on many subjects, including physics, metaphysics, Poetics , theater, music, logic, rhetoric, politics, government, ethics, biology and zoology....
. He said that the earth was divided into three types of climatic zones, based on their distance from the equator.

Thinking that the area near the equator was too hot for habitation, Aristotle dubbed the region around the equator (from 23.5° N to 23.5° S) as the "Torrid Zone." He reasoned that from the Arctic Circle to the pole was permanently frozen. He called this uninhabitable zone the "Frigid Zone." The only area that Aristotle believed was livable was the "Temperate Zone", lying between the "Frigid Zone" and the "Torrid Zone". One of the reasons Aristotle believed that the Temperate Zone was the best for life could come from the fact that he lived in that zone.

As knowledge of the earth's geography improved a second "Temperate Zone" was discovered south of the equator, and a second "Frigid Zone" was discovered around the Antarctic.

Aristotle's map was vastly oversimplified, although the general idea was correct. Today, the most commonly used climate map is the Köppen climate classification

Köppen climate classification

The K?ppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classifications. It was developed by Wladimir K?ppen, a Russian climatologist, around 1900 ....
, developed by German climatologist and amateur botanist Wladimir Köppen

Wladimir Köppen

Wladimir Peter K?ppen was a Russian born geography, meteorology, climatology and botany of Germans descent. After studies in St. Petersburg, he spent the bulk of his life and professional career in Germany and Austria....
(1846-1940), which divides the world into six major climate regions, based on average annual precipitation, average monthly precipitation, and average monthly temperature.

Geographical zone

History

See also