Time zones, also called time zones, were established through a meeting made up of representatives from 25 countries in Washington, the US capital, in 1884. On that occasion, the world was divided into 24 different time zones.
The methodology used for this division assumed that approximately 24 hours are spent (23 hours, 56 minutes and 4 seconds) for the Earth to perform the rotation movement, that is, to rotate around its own axis, performing a movement of 360°. Therefore, in one hour the Earth moves 15°. This data is obtained by dividing the terrestrial circumference (360°) by the time taken to perform the rotation movement (24 h).
The reference time zone for determining the time is Greenwich, whose center is 0°. This meridian, also called initial, crosses Great Britain, in addition to cutting the extreme west of Europe and Africa. The time determined by the Greenwich time zone is called GMT. From there, the other time zone limits are established.
The Earth rotates from west to east around its own axis, which is why the spindles east of Greenwich (initial landmark) have the hours ahead (+); the time zones located west of the initial meridian have the hours delayed (-).
Some countries with large territorial extension in the east-west direction have more than one time zone. Russia, for example, has 11 different time zones, a consequence of its large area. Brazil also has more than one time zone, as the country has a territorial extension of 4,319.4 kilometers in the east-west direction, a fact that provides the existence of four distinct time zones, however, thanks to Decree No. 11,662, published in the Official Gazette of April 25, 2008, the country started to adopt only three.
Understanding time zones is extremely important, especially for people who travel and have contact with people and business relationships with different time zones from their own, thus providing knowledge of times in different parts of the globe.
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By Wagner de Cerqueira and Francisco
Graduated in Geography
Would you like to reference this text in a school or academic work? Look:
FRANCISCO, Wagner de Cerqueira and. "Timezone"; Brazil School. Available in: https://brasilescola.uol.com.br/geografia/fuso-horario.htm. Accessed on June 27, 2021.
