Eli5 why there are more lines of Longitude then Latitude

Question

Eli5 why there are more lines of Longitude then Latitude

In: 35

Answer 1

Because the Equator goes all the way around the Earth and the Prime Meridian doesn’t.

We decided long ago that there would be 360 degrees in a circle for reasons mostly to do with how easy that number is to divide. When the planet was being mapped, we started from the equator and went a quarter-circle to each pole, and that was 90 degrees north and 90 degrees south, for a total of 180. Each of these lines was a circle that goes all the way around the Earth.

When we did longitude, however, We drew a line from pole to pole through England, then started measuring from there. Because the line was only a half-circle, it took 180 of them to get to the other side, and then another 180 back.