Andrew Smith, who has lately succeeded in passing the Tropic of Capricorn, informs me that, taking into consideration the whole of the southern part of Africa, there can be no doubt of its being a sterile country.
The winter solstice marks the shortest day and longest night of the year. In the Northern Hemisphere, it occurs when the sun is directly over the Tropic of Capricorn, which is located at 23.5° south of the equator and runs through Australia, Chile, southern Brazil, and northern South Africa.
The Tropic of Cancer is an imaginary latitude line above the equator that runs across the globe at about 23 degrees north, while the Tropic of Capricorn is an imaginary latitude line below the equator whose latitude line circles the globe at about 23 degrees south.
Geography lovers may note that apart from Oman, the Tropic of Cancer passes through the Bahamas, Mexico, Mauritania, Mali, Western Sahara, Algeria, Niger, Libya, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, India, China, UAE, Bangladesh, Burma and Taiwan. It passes through the United States in the Hawaiian region.
Monument marking the Tropic of Capricorn just north of Alice Springs, Australia.
The Tropic of Capricorn's position is not fixed, but constantly changes because of a slight wobble in the Earth's longitudinal alignment relative to its orbit around the Sun. Therefore distance between Arctic Circle and Tropic of Capricorn is essentially constant moving in tandem.
The line passes through Chile, Argentina, Paraguay, Brazil, Namibia, Botswana, South Africa, Mozambique, Madagascar, Australia and French Polynesia, clipping New Caledonia, Fiji, Tonga and the Cook Islands before landfall at Pitcairn.
The South American countries that lie within the Tropic of Capricorn are Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Paraguay.
Out of the 10 countries located on Tropic of Capricorn, five are African countries. They are Namibia, Botswana, South Africa, Mozambique, and Madagascar.
The Greek word “tropikos”, which means “belonging to a turn of the sun at the solstice,” is the origin of the word “tropic.” Cancer, meaning “crab” in Latin, is the name of a constellation beneath which the Tropic of Cancer once was directly located.
Origin of the word cancerIn Greek, these words refer to a crab, most likely applied to the disease because the finger-like spreading projections from a cancer called to mind the shape of a crab. The Roman physician, Celsus (28-50 BC), later translated the Greek term into cancer, the Latin word for crab.
At the winter solstice in the Northern Hemisphere, around December 21, the Sun is directly over the Tropic of Capricorn and lies within the boundaries of the constellation Sagittarius, having reached its southernmost declination in the ecliptic.
This warm air unloads almost all of its moisture in the clouds above equatorial regions, but still continues to move higher up. Therefore, air temperature in the tropics (42 degrees Celsius) is greater than that of the Equator (30 degrees Celsius). This is why tropical regions are hotter than the Equator.
Near June 21st, the summer solstice, the Earth is tilted such that the Sun is positioned directly over the Tropic of Cancer at 23.5 degrees north latitude. This situates the northern hemisphere in a more direct path of the Sun's energy. Advancing 90 days, the Earth is at the autumnal equinox on or about September 21st.
Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn: Located at 23.5 degrees North and 23.5 degrees South of the Equator, this area of Planet Earth (between those two lines) is known as the "Tropics," and is indicated with a lighter blue color on the above globe.
The Earth showing the Tropic of Capricorn at 23.5 degrees south of the equator. The Tropic of Capricorn is a parallel of latitude on the Earth, 23.5 degrees south of the equator.
