Talk:List of countries by westernmost point

Why does the table start with the United States? I would have thought the country with the westernmost point, Tonga, would be the appropriate one to start with.-gadfium 05:06, 9 December 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Also, why is a point in the East marked as the most westerly point in the US and in Kiribati? Beeswaxcandle (talk) 05:44, 9 December 2008 (UTC)[reply]

The order not always reflects the approximity of the country's territory to the 180th meridian (in such a case there would be only 3 both the very westernmost and the very easternmost countries/territories, Russia, Fiji and Antarctica, as 180th meridian passes through them on land). Instead for countries like Russia and Fiji, US and Kiribati, which have territory on both sides of 180th meridian, the westernmost point of the country is given in the direction of travel. Russia and Fiji have most of their territory west of the 180th meridian, in the eastern hemisphere, so they are considered to belong to the easternmost countries with their territory stretching as far to the east as beyond the 180th meridian into the western hemisphere. On the opposite side, US and Kiribati have most of their territory east of the 180th meridian, in the western hemisphere, so they are considered to belong to the westernmost countries with their territory stretching as far to the west as beyond the 180th meridian into the eastern hemisphere. Greyhood (talk) 11:07, 9 December 2008 (UTC)[reply]