Historical development of the date line (1522- 2012) : first comprehensive survey in 2022 ; 500 years date line /by H.-D. Woreschk.

"The book falls into two parts. In the first part, the historical framework conditions that led to the formation of the political-economic dateline are presented. The second part deals with the formation of this variant of the dateline itself - a process which, with the help of the latest chart material from the Hydrographic Department of the British Navy (Royal Navy), also takes into account recent developments in the southern and central Pacific. The question of changing the dateline is also pursued from a legal point of view, since it is precisely in this area that one encounters misconceptions in many places. Focal points: impact of imperialist colonialism on the ownership structure in the Pacific Ocean with Hawaii, Fiji, Tonga and Samoa; influence of the novel means of transport railway, Steamship and electric telegraph on the formation of the date line; Breakdown of the longitude unification (striving to reduce the zero meridians in the meridian-dependent sciences of nautics, cartography, geography, and astronomy) and its influence on the orbit of the date line (Conference of Venice (1881), Rome (1883), Washington (1884); World and Zone Time); Difficulties due to initial meridian diversity in the meridian-dependent sciences with the emphasis on navigation and railway timetable design; beginning of the exploration of Oceania (scientific expeditions of the 'Novara', 'Challenger', 'Gazelle', 'Tuscarora' and 'Egeria'; deep-sea sounding, laying of submarine, continental telegraph cables and a.); first coordinates of the hydrographic divisions of the 'Royal Navy' and the 'US Navy' to the date line that is being formed; Clarification of the question 'Who determines the path of the date line?' Clarification of the multi-layered term 'dateline'; Summary of the 500-year developmental period of today's dateline in the form of a collection of maps and sketches covering three centuries; Detailed representation of the most recent change of the line by Kiribati, Samoa and Tokelau Outlook at possible further changes in the course of the date line; excursions to clarify the developmental background of the emerging political-economic line of the date change; Original sources from 1790 to 2017 from various countries numerous sketches, illustrations and graphics"--Provided by the publisher.