Why is the international date line in Oceania not straight line?

Answer 1

International Dateline is an imaginary line like all the other longitudes and is not a straight line just because of the reason to maintain the same date over a country.Another Answer: Politics.

Different governments control the date line in their territory, and change its location depending on local desires.

Example: There was a time when the Philippine Islands, WAYyyyyyy over to the west from California, and even further west than Japan, was considered as being in the same date/day as California - just because back then the USA had political control of those islands. (More than one hundred years ago.)

The date line is an agreed concept for political and business purposes and has NO standing in international law. Strange but true.

Answer 2

The International Date Line is nominally the line of 180 degrees longitude, both east and west ... exactly opposite the Prime Meridian and half-the-earth away from it. The Line was drawn with some jogs and zig-zags in it for political reasons, mainly to avoid having it split island nations or contiguous areas of national interest.

Answer 3

The international date line is the line which help us to mark the end of a day and the beginning of a new day. This lies in the middle of the Pacific Ocean and passes through some islands, if it was a straight line than a single state or country will be in different time zones. To avoid this confusion it is a crooked line.

Answer 4

It has been a delibrate attempt to make international date line zig zag as when we cross IDL we gain day or loose one depending on direction of movement.so if IDL is straight line it will pass through many countries and those countries will have 2 dates.so to avoid this problem or anomaly IDL is made zig zag to pass in oceans only..

Answer 5

The International Date Line is nominally the line of 180 degrees longitude, both

east and west ... exactly opposite the Prime Meridian. The Line was drawn with

some jogs and zig-zags in it for political reasons, mainly to avoid having it split

island nations or contiguous areas of national interest.

Think of it this way: Have you ever been late for a dental appointment, or had to

post-date a check so you could move some money into the account to cover it ?

Do you think these things would be any easier if opposite sides of your city had

two different calendar dates ?

Answer 6

The International Date Line is nominally the line of 180 degrees longitude, both east and west ... exactly opposite the Prime Meridian and half-the-earth away from it. The Line was drawn with some jogs and zig-zags in it for political reasons, mainly to avoid having it split island nations or contiguous areas of national interest.

Answer 7

For political reasons. It makes things more convenient if your whole country is in the same day.

Answer 8

So that it doesn't go through towns and cities. Imagine walking to school through a date line, it would be far too confusing. It's basically for convenience.