42nd parallel north

All you want to know about 42nd parallel north

This article is about the circle of latitude. For the USA trilogy, see U.S.A. trilogy.

The 42nd parallel north is a circle of latitude that is 42 degrees north of the Earth's equatorial plane.

Starting at the Prime Meridian and heading eastwards, the parallel 42° north passes through:

Country, territory or sea	Notes
Spain
Mediterranean Sea
France	Island of Corsica
Mediterranean Sea	Tyrrhenian Sea
Italy
Adriatic Sea
Montenegro
Albania
Kosovo	Claimed by Serbia
Macedonia
Bulgaria
Turkey
Bulgaria
Black Sea
Turkey
Black Sea
Georgia
Russia	Dagestan
Caspian Sea
Kazakhstan
Turkmenistan
Kazakhstan
Uzbekistan
Turkmenistan
Uzbekistan
Kazakhstan
Uzbekistan
Kyrgyzstan
China
Mongolia
China
North Korea
Sea of Japan
Japan	Island of Hokkaidō
Pacific Ocean
United States	Oregon / California border Oregon / Nevada border Idaho / Nevada border Idaho / Utah border Wyoming Nebraska Iowa Illinois
Lake Michigan
United States	Michigan
Lake Erie
Canada	Ontario
Lake Erie
United States	Pennsylvania New York / Pennsylvania border New York Connecticut Rhode Island Massachusetts
Atlantic Ocean
Spain
Portugal
Spain

United States

The parallel 42° north forms most of the New York-Pennsylvania border, although due to imperfect surveying in 1785-1786, this boundary wanders around on both sides of the true parallel. The area around the parallel in this region is known as the Twin Tiers.

The Adams-Onís Treaty of 1819 established the parallel 42° north as the border between the Viceroyality of New Spain of the Kingdom of Spain and the western territory of the United States of America from the meridian of the headwaters of the Arkansas River west to the Pacific Ocean. The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo of 1848 then ceded much of what was then northern Mexico to the United States; as a result, the northernmost U.S. states which were created from Mexican territory (California, Nevada, and Utah) have the parallel 42° north as their northern border, and the adjoining U.S. states of Oregon and Idaho have the parallel 42° north as their southern border.

The parallel 42° north passes through the southern end of Lake Michigan and Lake Erie. Part of the water boundary between the United States and Canada passes south of the 42nd parallel, and the southern tip of the Canadian province of Ontario just barely goes south of it - this is located at Point Pelee and Pelee Island.

The parallel passes through the states of Wyoming, Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, Michigan, Pennsylvania, New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island and Massachusetts, and passes through (or near - within one-half degree of latitude) the following cities in the United States: Medford, Oregon, Yreka, California, Des Moines, Iowa, Chicago, Illinois, Detroit, Michigan, Cleveland, Ohio, Erie, Pennsylvania, Binghamton, New York, Hartford, Connecticut, Providence, Rhode Island, and Boston, Massachusetts.