Talk:Western Hemisphere

What is the population?

What is the population of the Western Hemisphere, and any is it not included? 99.164.108.120 (talk) 05:01, 26 September 2010 (UTC) can the western hemisphere be defined through one country that has a philosophical opposition to universal health care? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 114.198.82.50 (talk) 12:15, 4 December 2019 (UTC)

Croatia and Fiji Are Now Parts Of Western Hemisphere

June: Fall, September: Winter, December: Spring and March: Summer is now part of Croatia and Fiji.

Summer / Winter in Western Hemisphere

winter in the Western Hemisphere lasts from the winter solstice (typically December 21) etc.....

This seems to me is correct for the Northern Hemisphere, but not for all the Western Hemisphere??

Yes, you are right. Now deleted. Grafen (talk) 17:43, 29 June 2014 (UTC)

Population of the 4 hemispheres?

What on earth is this idiotic statement?

 The population of the geographical Western Hemisphere exceeds 1 billion. Of the 4 hemispheres, only Southern Hemisphere is less populated.

That of the 4 halves of the world, one half is the smaller than the other 3 halves? We count everybody twice?

166.137.242.89 (talk) 13:29, 25 October 2014 (UTC)

Is the Western Hemisphere convex?

According to the definition of the Western Hemisphere as all points on the Earth's surface having a western longitude, seemingly an unbreakable commitment of this article, the WH is indeed convex, at least based on geodesics confined to the Earth's surface.

Not everyone buys that definition however. For those contrarians, is there any alternative definition that retains the property of being convex?

I've proposed a convex boundary for the Western Hemisphere here. Have I offended anyone by either inclusion or exclusion?

This omits some of the western-most Aleutian islands. If that's a problem then the answer would be no, the Western Hemisphere does not have a convex boundary when drawn so as to exclude Russia and include all American territories.

It should be clear at a glance that if either Greenland or Iceland wants out then the answer is likewise no.

Note that Wikipedia's WP:NOR policy notwithstanding, the policy does not apply to talk pages. Vaughan Pratt (talk) 09:23, 1 December 2014 (UTC)

New Sectioning

The primary meaning of "Western Hemisphere" is the geopolitical one I have added and placed first. This is shown by the Merriam Webster's Geographical Dictionary, truly a "reliable reference", giving only the geopolitical definition. This is also the definition of the way it is used by the United States government, as referenced.

My Original Research: In addition I consulted six dictionaries at the local library, and all of the gave the same, one-and-only definition, which is the geopolitical one. They are all referenced above. I also used Google to search the London Times, the Guardian, the New York Times, the Washington Post, and the Sydney Morning Herald and could find no use of "Western Hemisphere" except as a synonym for Americas.

I came here because someone had used this page to learn about the Western Hemisphere and came away with the one-and-only definition on it, which is of course not the only one. They then edited a Wikipedia article to deride the primary meaning of the phrase.

I also removed instances of what I believe to be original research from the article:

• the population claim;
• the list of countries; and
• tallest mountain.

I could find no references for them. I could have missed it, but until I see a reliable reference, I will continue to think this is original research.

Finally, I am aware that this is a part of the Geography Portal and the Hemispheres of the Earth. I made these changes only after hours research in two libraries, consultation with the map librarian at the University of Michigan, consultation with reference librarians at two libraries. I do not make them lightly, but with serious consideration of the world wide reach of Wikipedia. I think it important to have more than a tag at the top, and so I posted the paragraph.

Nick Beeson (talk) 21:33, 28 May 2015 (UTC)

While getting rid of the lists is probably something I would applaud - the idea that the Western Hemisphere is simply the Americas is something that is really only true of people brought up in the Americas (and perhaps only the USA). I suspect a sensible single article can be written covering the strict and the more figurative sense. Andrewgprout (talk) 00:56, 29 May 2015 (UTC)

Hemi-sphere, Trio-sphere or Tetro-sphere?

Loosely defined as it may be, the geographical and socio-political concept of "Western Hemisphere" (or "The Americas") has served its limited purpose well. Its complement the complex and contiguous "Eastern Hemisphere" - not so well.

For humans, access to the "Western" continents required difficult and dangerous migrations from their original Afro-Eastern origins. It is distinct and relatively isolated from the contiguous Euro-Asian-Afro land-mass.

The term Hemisphere is colloquial and convenient, but not precise —nor need it be exactly 180° 0′ 0.000″ nor based precisely on the arbitrary Greenwich Prime Meridian. It also tends to over-emphasize the most recent European colonial migrations (only most recent 500 years).

I question whether there been any use of "trio-sphere" or other such terms? — not that it matters, as the established informal "Western Hemisphere" has no need for such cartographic, mathematical or geographic precision. HalFonts (talk) 04:10, 29 June 2016 (UTC)

user:halFonts what exactly is it you are trying to say, I have to disagree that a hemisphere can be anything other than 180 degrees, And what is a trio or a tetro sphere and why did you bring this up its not in the article.Andrewgprout (talk) 10:58, 29 June 2016 (UTC)

NPOV

Text does NOT reflect sources - at all. If I have a free moment some day I might bother correcting it but for now I don't have a free moment. 204.69.139.16 (talk) 23:40, 15 May 2017 (UTC)

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Ban the use of “Western Hemisphere” altogether

It’s clear from the state of this talk page, that at best “Western hemisphere” is a highly confusing and ambiguous term; and at worst a term that is either unknown or positively disliked - especially by non-Americans. I personally wasn’t aware of it, until I came across an article about a plant species that was native to North and South America, and the Caribbean countries. Now whatever that is, it certainly is not “the Western Hemisphere”; and that term should never have been used. There is a very easy solution - don’t use it at all. If we are talking about specific regions such as the Americas, say “the Americas”. In the unlikely event we really are talking about the actual hemisphere of the globe that starts at Greenwich, London, and ends somewhere in the Pacific Ocean - then specify it. But you will also have to specify which west African, north European, Pacific countries it does or doesn’t include.

“Western Hemisphere” is a meaningless, useless term which, I suspect, has been erected purely for political purposes. Darorcilmir (talk) 15:59, 11 October 2019 (UTC)

Are you from Mars? Western Hemisphere is a geographic term, not a political term like the Americas, you've just said the opposite. Every geographic atlas divides the world into Northern, Southern, Eastern, and Western Hemispheres. There is a movement to modify the dividing line between Eastern and Western Hemispheres so the whole of Africa and Europe can be part of the Eastern Hemisphere (which means New Zealand and some Pacific Island countries will be part of the Western Hemisphere). Nevertheless, Western Hemisphere has always been a valid and pretty technical term in geography. 2001:8003:9008:1301:7061:6A95:DED0:758C (talk) 07:55, 31 May 2020 (UTC)