Circles of latitude between the 40th parallel north and the 45th parallel north

In the United States, the parallel defines the southernmost border of Wyoming (bordering Utah and Colorado), and part of the border between Nebraska and Colorado.

In 1606, King James I of England created the Colony of Virginia. In the First Virginia Charter, he gave the London Company the right to "begin their Plantation and Habitation in some fit and convenient place between four and thirty and one and forty degrees of the said latitude all alongst the coast of Virginia and coasts of America." The Jamestown Settlement was established roughly at the midpoint of that territory. The later Pilgrim (Plymouth Colony) settlers were originally bound for the northern portion of the Virginia territory. Instead, they landed north of the 41st parallel on Cape Cod, where they had exclusive rights to the land under the charter for the Plymouth Colony.^[2]

As originally set by King Charles II of England in 1664, the point at which the 41st parallel crosses the Hudson River marks the northeastern border between New Jersey and New York. This border then proceeds northwest to the Tri-States Monument at the confluence of the Delaware and Neversink rivers.^[3]

El paralelo 41 fue también una de las principales líneas base utilizadas para el levantamiento topográfico de una porción de tierras en Ohio . Este marcaba el límite sur de la Reserva Occidental de Connecticut y las Tierras de Fuego , utilizando el límite occidental con Pensilvania como meridiano principal. También sirvió como línea base para un levantamiento topográfico posterior de tierras de Ohio al norte de la línea del Tratado de Greenville hasta la línea Fulton, que era el límite original entre Michigan y Ohio según la Ordenanza del Noroeste (véase la Franja de Toledo ). El levantamiento posterior utilizó el límite con Indiana como meridiano.

El ferrocarril Union Pacific construyó a lo largo del paralelo 41 durante gran parte de su recorrido cuando construyó el primer ferrocarril transcontinental . ^{[ 4 ]}

Partiendo del meridiano de Greenwich y dirigiéndose hacia el este, el paralelo 41° norte pasa por:

The parallel 42° north forms most of the New York–Pennsylvania border, although due to imperfect surveying in 1785–1786, this boundary wanders around on both sides of the true parallel. The area around the parallel in this region is known as the Twin Tiers.

The 42nd parallel became agreed upon as the northward limit of the Spanish Empire by the Adams–Onís Treaty of 1819 with the United States, which established the parallel as the border between the Viceroyalty of New Spain of the Kingdom of Spain and the western territory of the United States of America from the meridian of the headwaters of the Arkansas River west to the Pacific Ocean.^[6] The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo of 1848 then ceded much of what was then northern Mexico to the United States; as a result, the northernmost U.S. states which were created from Mexican territory (California, Nevada, and Utah) have the parallel 42° north as their northern border, and the adjoining U.S. states of Oregon and Idaho have the parallel as their southern border.

Starting at the Prime Meridian and heading eastwards, the parallel 42° north passes through:

Starting at the Prime Meridian and heading eastwards, the parallel 43° north passes through:

Partiendo del meridiano de Greenwich y dirigiéndose hacia el este, el paralelo 44° norte pasa por:

Partiendo del meridiano de Greenwich y dirigiéndose hacia el este, el paralelo 45° norte pasa por: