The Significance Of The 33rd Parallel

The area where the Tigris and Euphrates rivers come closest together -- allegedly the place of the earliest human "civilization" -- lies virtually at the 33°30'N latitude, in what is now modern Iraq. The ancient pre-India city, Harappa, once lay along this latitude, as well as did Babylon.

Baghdad, Iraq is at 33°33'N latitude.

"The longest continually inhabited city in the world" is Damascus, Syria, at 33°30'N latitude.

The narrow Khyber Pass, which separates Pakistan from Afghanistan and which was traversed by various invaders of India, is 33 miles long.

The 33°30'N parallel runs through the disputed Kashmir region along with the capital of Pakistan, Islamabad; also, the Northern Himalayas, and Lungdo, Tibet.

The Republic of Kiribati (1995 est. pop. 79,000), consists of 33 islands scattered across 2,400 mi (3,860 km) of the Pacific Ocean near the equator.

Rainbow Bridge National Monument, the largest natural bridge in the world, is a symmetrical, pink sandstone arch measuring 309 ft (94 m) high, 33 ft (10 m) wide, with a 278-ft (85-m) span.

The place where 33°30'N, meets 33°30'E, is near the Southern end of the island of Cyprus, in the Mediterranean Sea, believed to host vast, unexplored archeological resources from nearby ancient cultures, allegedly even the lost city of Atlantis. Recent sonar imagery of the region reveals underwater structures resembling canals measuring 330 ft. wide with 33 ft. high walls.

Roswell, New Mexico is at 33°37'N latitude. This geo-latitudinal line also passes through what is known as the "Bermuda Triangle" in the Atlantic Ocean.

Hiroshima, Japan, is very nearly situated at the intersection of 133°30'E longitude and 33°30'N latitude. Nagasaki is near the 33°30'N, as well as is the White Sands Testing Range (New Mexico), where the atom bomb was first detonated.

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