The Chatham Islands |
 Introduction: This photograph of part of a page in the Philip’s Atlas of the World shows that the Chatham Islands are directly east of the South Island of New Zealand. They are so far east, in fact, that they are in the western hemisphere: the islands lie between 176 and 177 degrees W. To ensure that the whole of New Zealand is on the same side of the International Dateline, the dateline – as is shown in this picture – veers east off the 180 degrees line of longitude a short distance south of the 45th degree of latitude (and it only returns to longitude 180 slightly north of the equator). The Chatham Islands are 768 kilometres / 477 miles from Wellington, and 860 kilometres / 534 miles from Christchurch. |