<p>The Pacific Ocean is the closest thing to "no man's... land, sea and air" that still remains in the globe today, while also crossing it "vertically", from pole to pole.<br>
Also, it is <em>vast</em>: Countries "to the left" and "to the right" of the Atlantic Ocean are much closer than countries "to the left" and "to the right" of the Pacific Ocean. So the latter is more suitable to mimic changing days (and so also dates), compared to the former. It appears therefore a natural "neutral place" to have the International Date Line.  </p>

<p>The case of Samoa, and other countries close to the Line is special (as is always the case when close to any boundary). To copy from <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Date_Line#Samoan_Islands_and_Tokelau" rel="nofollow">Wikipedia's article on the International Date Line</a>:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p><em>"The Samoan Islands, now divided into Samoa and American Samoa, were west of the IDL until 1892, when King Malietoa Laupepa was persuaded
  by American traders to adopt the American date, three hours behind
  California, to replace the former Asian date, four hours ahead of
  Japan. The change was made by repeating Monday 4 July 1892, American
  Independence Day.</em></p>
  
  <p><em>In 2011, more than 119 years later, Samoa shifted back to west of the IDL by skipping Friday 30 December 2011. This changed the timezone
  from UTC−11 to UTC+13. The IDL now passes between Samoa and American
  Samoa, with American Samoa remaining aligned with the American date.</em></p>
  
  <p><em>Samoa made the change because Australia and New Zealand have become its biggest trading partners, and also have large communities of
  expatriates. <strong>Being 21 hours behind made business difficult because
  having weekends on backward days meant only four days of the week were
  shared workdays.</strong>"</em></p>
</blockquote>

<p>The economy, always the economy... -which should drive home the point that the economy is not about "making money" but still mostly about transforming the environment ("producing") in order to survive (by "consuming").</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-12-29T15:52:14.370Z
2014-12-29T15:57:19.793Z
2014-12-29T15:57:19.793Z
Alecos Papadopoulos
<p>The consequence would be confusion, if someone is further east of you it's natural to think they're <em>ahead</em> of time (relative to you).  Especially if you're used to the ubiquitous maps of the globe (with Europe/Africa in the middle, the Americas to the left and Japan/Oceania on the right).  Confusion then might arise in some economical contexts that are highly standardised.</p>

<p>For example, spot transactions on the forex markets are delivered (cleared) in 2 days.  If someone behind the date line trades on your behalf you might have to wait 3 days, or just one day for the funds to clear, depending on what side you're on.  Also in your example, think of recurring events (like quarterly reports, dividends, etc.), you might still be on the day before they're due but time-wise (just the hours on the clock) you're ahead.  Or if you're west of the date-line and waiting for events from someone east thereof you have to wait another day.</p>

<p>If the explanations above are confusing then that's <em>exactly</em> the point I'm making.  So, my opinion, if you wanted to pull off something like that without confusing people you'd also have to establish a new prevalent mapping of the globe, with Europe/Africa far to the "west" and the Americas on the far "east" side.  Of course, established terms, like far-east, western society, etc. have to be recoined as well.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-12-29T06:46:23.100Z
2014-12-29T06:46:23.100Z
hroptatyr
<p>What if international date line being shifted to Atlas Ocean? Most of trade partners will have different date, States and all America continents will enter day first etc. So what can be coincidence of this? I am asking this because I have read that samoa was shifted to have better trade partnership with Australia.</p>

<international-trade>
International date line
slender
# International date line

(Asked by: username_0 on 2014-12-25)

What if international date line being shifted to Atlas Ocean? Most of trade partners will have different date, States and all America continents will enter day first etc. So what can be coincidence of this? I am asking this because I have read that samoa was shifted to have better trade partnership with Australia.

**Tags:** international-trade

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## 2 answers

### Answer by username_2 on 2014-12-29. Score: 4 | Accepted answer

The consequence would be confusion, if someone is further east of you it's natural to think they're *ahead* of time (relative to you). Especially if you're used to the ubiquitous maps of the globe (with Europe/Africa in the middle, the Americas to the left and Japan/Oceania on the right). Confusion then might arise in some economical contexts that are highly standardised.

For example, spot transactions on the forex markets are delivered (cleared) in 2 days. If someone behind the date line trades on your behalf you might have to wait 3 days, or just one day for the funds to clear, depending on what side you're on. Also in your example, think of recurring events (like quarterly reports, dividends, etc.), you might still be on the day before they're due but time-wise (just the hours on the clock) you're ahead. Or if you're west of the date-line and waiting for events from someone east thereof you have to wait another day.

If the explanations above are confusing then that's *exactly* the point I'm making. So, my opinion, if you wanted to pull off something like that without confusing people you'd also have to establish a new prevalent mapping of the globe, with Europe/Africa far to the "west" and the Americas on the far "east" side. Of course, established terms, like far-east, western society, etc. have to be recoined as well.


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### Answer by username_1 on 2014-12-29. Score: 2

The Pacific Ocean is the closest thing to "no man's... land, sea and air" that still remains in the globe today, while also crossing it "vertically", from pole to pole.  
Also, it is *vast*: Countries "to the left" and "to the right" of the Atlantic Ocean are much closer than countries "to the left" and "to the right" of the Pacific Ocean. So the latter is more suitable to mimic changing days (and so also dates), compared to the former. It appears therefore a natural "neutral place" to have the International Date Line.

The case of Samoa, and other countries close to the Line is special (as is always the case when close to any boundary). To copy from [Wikipedia's article on the International Date Line](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Date_Line#Samoan_Islands_and_Tokelau):

> *"The Samoan Islands, now divided into Samoa and American Samoa, were west of the IDL until 1892, when King Malietoa Laupepa was persuaded
> by American traders to adopt the American date, three hours behind
> California, to replace the former Asian date, four hours ahead of
> Japan. The change was made by repeating Monday 4 July 1892, American
> Independence Day.*
>
> *In 2011, more than 119 years later, Samoa shifted back to west of the IDL by skipping Friday 30 December 2011. This changed the timezone
> from UTC−11 to UTC+13. The IDL now passes between Samoa and American
> Samoa, with American Samoa remaining aligned with the American date.*
>
> *Samoa made the change because Australia and New Zealand have become its biggest trading partners, and also have large communities of
> expatriates. **Being 21 hours behind made business difficult because
> having weekends on backward days meant only four days of the week were
> shared workdays.**"*

The economy, always the economy... -which should drive home the point that the economy is not about "making money" but still mostly about transforming the environment ("producing") in order to survive (by "consuming").


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