Humans are obsessed with edges. Here are some examples:
Q: What’s the most easterly point in Canada?
A: Cape Spear Lighthouse in Newfoundland and Labrador.
Q: How far does one have to travel to cross the Sahara Desert from east to west?
A: Approximately 4,800 kilometres from the Red Sea to the Atlantic Ocean.
Q: What is the highest point in Saskatchewan?
A: A cattle pasture in the Cypress Hills.
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Sometimes, however, the answer isn’t as cut and dried. Take, for instance, the most easterly point in the continental United States.
The obvious answer is West Quoddy Head in Maine, of course, but what if I were to tell you it’s actually the Alaskan island of Semisopochnoi?
I can feel your skepticism from here, but bear with me.
Semisopochnoi is one of the Aleutian Islands, which stretches out into the Pacific Ocean. In fact, it stretches so far west that it bumps into the 180th meridian, which divides the Eastern Hemisphere from the Western Hemisphere.
In other words, when looking at a map that includes the 180th meridian, everything to the left of the line is in the Eastern Hemisphere and everything to the right of it is in the Western Hemisphere.
The 180th meridian cuts through the island of Semisopochnoi, which means the western side is actually in the Eastern Hemisphere.
And that means, if you want to look at it a certain way, that this little bit of Alaska could be considered the most easterly point in the continental U.S.
I must admit I have my own fascination with how geography is defined.
Twenty years ago I decided to see if I could drive across the prairie ecoregion in one day.
The project required discussions with biologists about where they thought I should start in Manitoba and end in Alberta, which wasn’t as easy as it sounds. It turns out it can be hard to get scientists to commit themselves to answering that kind of question.
They eventually provided me with a start line and a finish line, and I set off on the longest day of the year in June 2002.
It turned out to be quite the trip, and the mission was declared a success — more edges defined and conquered.
