Subject: Re: Cape Agulhas<br/>
Date: Dec 30, 2001 @ 23:18<br/>
Author: granthutchison (&quot;granthutchison&quot; &lt;granthutchison@...&gt;)<br/>
<a href="5201.htm">Prev</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Post in Topic&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="5226.htm">Next</a>&emsp;[<a href="topic5199.htm">All</a> Posts]<br/>
<a href="5202.htm">Prev</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Post in Time&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="5204.htm">Next</a><br/>
<br/><br/>
<div id="ygrps-yiv-969816267">Jesper:<br/>
<blockquote><span title="ireply"> &gt; This is how I felt (and feel) about Cape Agulhas - the southern<br/>
 </span></blockquote>point of <br/>
<blockquote><span title="ireply"> &gt; Africa. The tripoint of Africa-Atlantic Ocean-Indian Ocean <br/>
&gt; <br/>
&gt; How can the tip be exactly on the E20 lattitude (or longitude?)<br/>
 </span></blockquote>And there&#39;s more. The name is Portuguese, meaning Cape of the Needles,<br/>
so I always presumed there must be some needle-shaped rocks in the<br/>
vicinity. But no - I learned recently that the name derives from the<br/>
fact that, when Portuguese navigators first sailed past, they noticed<br/>
that their compass needles pointed due north - ie there was no<br/>
magnetic variation in the area, so the lines of magnetic longitude<br/>
were aligned with the geographical lines of longitude. Unfortunately<br/>
at that time they wouldn&#39;t have been using the Greenwich meridian, so<br/>
they wouldn&#39;t have had an exact 20E longitude to go along with that<br/>
alignment, and of course the magnetic pole has moved since that time<br/>
and the magnetic alignment doesn&#39;t exist any more. But still, Agulhas<br/>
seems to be a place where a lot of things come together.<br/>
<br/>
G</div>