It’s often forgotten how far north Europe is compared to the rest of the world. Toronto has a similar latitude to Nice, Montreal to Milan, and New York to Madrid.
A YouTube Short titled “Why Europe Is WAY Further North Than You Think” by The Switzerland Vlog visually represents where major European cities lie compared to other locations across America and Asia.
The video, which has amassed over 2,200 comments and 60,000 likes so far, explains how the 49th parallel north runs from the US and Canada border to around 15km south of Paris, with the Charles De Gaulle Airport lying on the parallel. Meanwhile, the whole of the UK is north of Maine – the northeasternmost US state.
The video also points out that the southernmost point of Europe is RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus. The military base is on the same latitude of just north of Los Angeles and just south of Tokyo.
Some people took to the video’s comment section to point out a separate theory. They agreed that Europe is not further north than people think, but instead, North America is further south.
One person wrote: “As a person from Europe, Europe is exactly where I think it is, and it’s the USA that is more south than I thought years ago. When I found out I live more north than Ottawa, Toronto etc, I was surprised.”
A second added: “Translation for Europeans – the entire USA is way more south than you think.”
