What Countries Lie on the Equator?
The Equator is an imaginary line that passes through the countries of Ecuador, the Republic of the Congo, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sao Tome and Principe, Gabon, Uganda, Kenya, Somalia, the Maldives, Indonesia, Kiribati, Colombia, and Brazil. Although the Equator passes through the territory of the Maldives, it does not cross any dry land in the island nation, and whether the equator touches land in Kiribati is uncertain.
The Equator is situated at a latitude of 0 degrees. It is used as a point of reference for dividing the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. The equator is the only line on Earth that is considered a great circle. Only about 20 percent of the Equator’s length crosses land. The Earth’s circumference is about 24,860 miles at the poles but is 24,900 miles at the equator at the Equator because of equatorial bulge.
Locations along the Equator have the same amount of day and night time, 12 hours each, throughout the year. Countries situated along the Equator also have a relatively consistent climate throughout the year, which is generally warm and humid year round due to the amount of solar radiation they receive, with occasional periods of heavy precipitation or aridity.
