They’re simply unavoidable, whether you’re visiting virtually or travelling across the country and beyond. They’re time zones. Canada, for instance, has six, the United States has 11, India has one despite its large land mass and France wins the title of having the most with 12 (13 if you count their research station in Antarctica).1
On a practical level, most travellers have experienced the sinking realization you aren’t in sync with the departure time for your next destination. That’s what happened to Sir Sandford Fleming in 1876, when a schedule error prompted him to miss his train in Ireland.2 In those days, towns everywhere had their own local time, largely based on “high noon” and the sun’s path. Consider that in those days, North America alone had over 144 local times.3 The world ran on anything but a standardized approach.
While Fleming is perhaps most recognized as the top-hatted man in the last spike picture of November 7, 1885 (marking the completion of the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) line), his frustration with the time mishmash helped fuel the creation of standard zones around the world. The surveyor, engineer, inventor and director of the CPR could see how the world of transportation and communication was changing—communities around the globe were becoming increasingly interconnected. The existing quagmire of railway schedules, for example, wasn’t working for travellers or business.
Fleming first created “Cosmic Time,” putting the world on a 24-hour theoretical clock at the centre of the Earth. Setting this plan aside, he focused on establishing a system that divided the
world into 24 segments, each reflecting an hour of the day and each portion being 15 degrees longitude wide. Greenwich, England, was established as the zero-degree meridian off which all time zones would be set.4 Inventing the system was just the beginning. Working with other prominent scientists, meteorologists, politicians and business leaders, Fleming was instrumental in a global effort to gather governments around the table. In October 1884, the International Meridian Congress in Washington attracted 20 countries. An agreement was signed and Standard Time went into effect on January 1, 1885.5
Today, the world has 38 time zones complicated by added historical, cultural and political realities. Longitudinal lines only go so far. Nepal, for example, is 15 minutes off pace with the rest of the world. France’s numerous time zones align with the overseas territories it continues to rule, including French Polynesia, some Caribbean islands as well as islands in the Indian Ocean and Western Pacific. In Antarctica, where the Earth’s longitudes meet at the South Pole, logically all the world’s time zones could be applied. Instead, given the sparse population, the various research stations follow the time of their choosing, usually based on their home country or one that provides supplies. For instance, the US Palmer Station follows Chile’s time.6
Living and working across multiple time zones is so common that an accompanying etiquette has emerged. For instance, guidelines suggest: giving people a heads-up that you’re on the move, crossing time zones and when you’ll be where; appreciating the timing of deadlines and how they apply to someone working say six hours behind; and rotating meeting or visiting times so everyone has a chance of attending at a time that’s convenient to them.
Thankfully, in today’s world, there are also online tools to assist in navigating time zones (particularly useful when daylight savings changes come into play). Sites like Greenwich Mean Time, Time and Date and TMZNS (timezones for humans) are dedicated to helping keep things on track and you in the right place at the right time—exactly where it’s best to be.
NOTES:
The existing quagmire of railway schedules, for example, wasn’t working for travellers or business