40th parallel north

The **40th parallel north** is a circle of latitude that is 40 degrees north of the Earth's equatorial plane. It crosses Europe, the Mediterranean Sea, Asia, the Pacific Ocean, North America, and the Atlantic Ocean.

At this latitude, the sun can be seen for 15 hours, 1 minute during the summer solstice and 9 hours, 20 minutes during the winter solstice.

## Around the world

Starting in Spain at the Prime Meridian and heading eastwards, the parallel 40° north passes through:

- {| class="wikitable plainrowheaders"
! scope="col" width="125" | Co-ordinates
! scope="col" | Country, territory or sea
! scope="col" | Notes
|-
|
! scope="row" |
| Valencian Community
|-
| style="background:#b0e0e6;" |
! scope="row" style="background:#b0e0e6;" | Mediterranean Sea
| style="background:#b0e0e6;" | Passing just north of the island of Majorca,
|-
|
! scope="row" |
| Island of Menorca
|-
| style="background:#b0e0e6;" |
! scope="row" style="background:#b0e0e6;" | Mediterranean Sea
| style="background:#b0e0e6;" |
|-
|
! scope="row" |
| Island of Sardinia
|-
| style="background:#b0e0e6;" |
! scope="row" style="background:#b0e0e6;" | Mediterranean Sea
| style="background:#b0e0e6;" | Tyrrhenian Sea
|-
|
! scope="row" |
|Campania
|-
| style="background:#b0e0e6;" |
! scope="row" style="background:#b0e0e6;" | Mediterranean Sea
| style="background:#b0e0e6;" | Gulf of Policastro
|-
|
! scope="row" |
|Basilicata, Calabria
|-
| style="background:#b0e0e6;" |
! scope="row" style="background:#b0e0e6;" | Mediterranean Sea
| style="background:#b0e0e6;" | Gulf of Taranto
|-
|
! scope="row" |
| Apulia
|-
| style="background:#b0e0e6;" |
! scope="row" style="background:#b0e0e6;" | Mediterranean Sea
| style="background:#b0e0e6;" | Strait of Otranto
|-
|
! scope="row" |
|Passing just north of Sarandë and just south of Gjirokastër
|-
|
! scope="row" |
|
|-
| style="background:#b0e0e6;" |
! scope="row" style="background:#b0e0e6;" | Mediterranean Sea
| style="background:#b0e0e6;" | Aegean Sea
|-
|
! scope="row" |
| Kassandra and Sithonia
|-
| style="background:#b0e0e6;" |
! scope="row" style="background:#b0e0e6;" | Mediterranean Sea
| style="background:#b0e0e6;" | Aegean Sea
|-
|
! scope="row" |
| Island of Lemnos
|-
| style="background:#b0e0e6;" |
! scope="row" style="background:#b0e0e6;" | Mediterranean Sea
| style="background:#b0e0e6;" | Aegean Sea
|-
|
! scope="row" |
| Passing just north of Ankara
|-
|
! scope="row" |
| Passing through Verin Artashat and Norashen, Ararat
|-
|
! scope="row" |
| Passing through Nagorno-Karabakh
|-
| style="background:#b0e0e6;" |
! scope="row" style="background:#b0e0e6;" | Caspian Sea
| style="background:#b0e0e6;" |
|-
|
! scope="row" |
|
|-
|
! scope="row" |
|
|-
|
! scope="row" |
|
|-
|
! scope="row" |
|
|-
|
! scope="row" |
| For about 9 km
|-
|
! scope="row" |
|
|-
|
! scope="row" |
| Sokh exclave - for about 7 km
|-
|
! scope="row" |
|
|-
|
! scope="row" |
| Shohimardon exclave - for about 4 km
|-
|
! scope="row" |
|
|-valign="top"
|
! scope="row" |
| Xinjiang
 Gansu
 Inner Mongolia
 Shanxi
 Hebei
 Beijing (passing just north of the city centre)
 Hebei
 Tianjin
 Hebei
 Liaoning (for about 8 km)
|-
| style="background:#b0e0e6;" |
! scope="row" style="background:#b0e0e6;" | Pacific Ocean
| style="background:#b0e0e6;" | Liaodong Bay, Yellow Sea
|-
|
! scope="row" |
| Liaoning (Liaodong Peninsula)
|-
|
! scope="row" |
|North Pyeongan Province - Passing through Sinuiju
Jagang Province
South Hamgyeong Province - Passing just north of Hamheung
|-
| style="background:#b0e0e6;" |
! scope="row" style="background:#b0e0e6;" | Pacific Ocean
| style="background:#b0e0e6;" | Sea of Japan
|-
|
! scope="row" |
| Mayang Island
|-
| style="background:#b0e0e6;" |
! scope="row" style="background:#b0e0e6;" | Pacific Ocean
| style="background:#b0e0e6;" | Sea of Japan
|-valign="top"
|
! scope="row" |
| Island of Honshū
— Akita Prefecture
— Iwate Prefecture
|-
| style="background:#b0e0e6;" |
! scope="row" style="background:#b0e0e6;" | Pacific Ocean
| style="background:#b0e0e6;" |
|-valign="top"
|
! scope="row" |
| California - passing though Cooks Valley
 Nevada
 Utah
 Colorado
 Nebraska / Kansas border
 Missouri
 Illinois
 Indiana
 Ohio - passing just north of Columbus
 West Virginia
 Pennsylvania - passing through Philadelphia
 New Jersey

|-
| style="background:#b0e0e6;" |
! scope="row" style="background:#b0e0e6;" | Atlantic Ocean
| style="background:#b0e0e6;" | Passing just north of Corvo Island, Azores,
|-
|
! scope="row" |
| Passing near Pombal and Covilhã
|-
|-valign="top"
|
! scope="row" |
| Extremadura
 Castile-La Mancha
 Community of Madrid - for about 10 km
 Castile-La Mancha
 Valencian Community - Rincón de Ademuz exclave, for about 4 km
 Castile-La Mancha - for about 5 km
 Aragon
 Valencian Community
|}

## United States

The parallel 40° north forms the boundary between the states of Kansas and Nebraska.  On 30 May 1854, the Kansas–Nebraska Act created the Territory of Kansas and the Territory of Nebraska divided by the parallel 40° north.