The 17th parallel north is a circle of latitude that is 17 degrees north of the Earth's equatorial plane. It crosses Africa, Asia, the Indian Ocean, the Pacific Ocean, Central America, the Caribbean, and the Atlantic Ocean.

Line across the Earth
17°
17th parallel north

The parallel is particularly significant in the history of Vietnam (see below).

At this latitude the sun is visible for 13 hours, 9 minutes during the summer solstice and 11 hours, 7 minutes during the winter solstice.[1]

Around the world

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Starting at the Prime Meridian and heading eastwards, the parallel 17° north passes through:

Coordinates Country, territory or ocean Notes
17°0′N 0°0′E / 17.000°N 0.000°E / 17.000; 0.000 (Prime Meridian)   Mali
17°0′N 4°14′E / 17.000°N 4.233°E / 17.000; 4.233 (Niger)   Niger
17°0′N 15°30′E / 17.000°N 15.500°E / 17.000; 15.500 (Chad)   Chad
17°0′N 24°0′E / 17.000°N 24.000°E / 17.000; 24.000 (Sudan)   Sudan
17°0′N 37°0′E / 17.000°N 37.000°E / 17.000; 37.000 (Eritrea)   Eritrea
17°0′N 39°2′E / 17.000°N 39.033°E / 17.000; 39.033 (Red Sea) Indian Ocean Red Sea
17°0′N 41°47′E / 17.000°N 41.783°E / 17.000; 41.783 (Saudi Arabia)   Saudi Arabia Farasan Islands
17°0′N 41°53′E / 17.000°N 41.883°E / 17.000; 41.883 (Red Sea) Indian Ocean Red Sea
17°0′N 42°33′E / 17.000°N 42.550°E / 17.000; 42.550 (Saudi Arabia)   Saudi Arabia
17°0′N 43°10′E / 17.000°N 43.167°E / 17.000; 43.167 (Yemen)   Yemen
17°0′N 46°57′E / 17.000°N 46.950°E / 17.000; 46.950 (Saudi Arabia)   Saudi Arabia
17°0′N 47°23′E / 17.000°N 47.383°E / 17.000; 47.383 (Yemen)   Yemen
17°0′N 52°57′E / 17.000°N 52.950°E / 17.000; 52.950 (Oman)   Oman
17°0′N 54°7′E / 17.000°N 54.117°E / 17.000; 54.117 (Indian Ocean) Indian Ocean Arabian Sea
17°0′N 54°41′E / 17.000°N 54.683°E / 17.000; 54.683 (Oman)   Oman
17°0′N 54°59′E / 17.000°N 54.983°E / 17.000; 54.983 (Indian Ocean) Indian Ocean Arabian Sea
17°0′N 73°17′E / 17.000°N 73.283°E / 17.000; 73.283 (India)   India Maharashtra
Karnataka
Andhra Pradesh
Telangana
17°0′N 82°17′E / 17.000°N 82.283°E / 17.000; 82.283 (Indian Ocean) Indian Ocean Bay of Bengal
17°0′N 94°27′E / 17.000°N 94.450°E / 17.000; 94.450 (Myanmar)   Myanmar (Burma) Passing through Hlawga National Park north of Yangon
17°0′N 96°54′E / 17.000°N 96.900°E / 17.000; 96.900 (Indian Ocean) Indian Ocean Gulf of Martaban
17°0′N 97°12′E / 17.000°N 97.200°E / 17.000; 97.200 (Myanmar)   Myanmar (Burma)
17°0′N 98°37′E / 17.000°N 98.617°E / 17.000; 98.617 (Thailand)   Thailand
17°0′N 104°44′E / 17.000°N 104.733°E / 17.000; 104.733 (Laos)   Laos
17°0′N 106°26′E / 17.000°N 106.433°E / 17.000; 106.433 (Vietnam)   Vietnam
17°0′N 107°7′E / 17.000°N 107.117°E / 17.000; 107.117 (South China Sea) Pacific Ocean South China Sea, passing through the disputed Paracel Islands
17°0′N 120°27′E / 17.000°N 120.450°E / 17.000; 120.450 (Philippines)   Philippines Island of Luzon
17°0′N 122°29′E / 17.000°N 122.483°E / 17.000; 122.483 (Pacific Ocean) Pacific Ocean Philippine Sea
Passing between the islands of Guguan and Sarigan,   Northern Mariana Islands
into an unnamed part of the Ocean
17°0′N 100°17′W / 17.000°N 100.283°W / 17.000; -100.283 (Mexico)   Mexico
17°0′N 91°7′W / 17.000°N 91.117°W / 17.000; -91.117 (Guatemala)   Guatemala
17°0′N 89°9′W / 17.000°N 89.150°W / 17.000; -89.150 (Belize)   Belize
17°0′N 88°13′W / 17.000°N 88.217°W / 17.000; -88.217 (Caribbean Sea) Atlantic Ocean Caribbean Sea, passing just south of the island of Nevis,   Saint Kitts and Nevis
Passing just north of the island of Redonda,   Antigua and Barbuda
17°0′N 61°46′W / 17.000°N 61.767°W / 17.000; -61.767 (Antigua and Barbuda)   Antigua and Barbuda Island of Antigua
17°0′N 61°44′W / 17.000°N 61.733°W / 17.000; -61.733 (Atlantic Ocean) Atlantic Ocean
17°0′N 25°19′W / 17.000°N 25.317°W / 17.000; -25.317 (Cape Verde)   Cape Verde Santo Antão island
17°0′N 25°6′W / 17.000°N 25.100°W / 17.000; -25.100 (Atlantic Ocean) Atlantic Ocean
17°0′N 16°17′W / 17.000°N 16.283°W / 17.000; -16.283 (Mauritania)   Mauritania
17°0′N 5°39′W / 17.000°N 5.650°W / 17.000; -5.650 (Mali)   Mali

Vietnam

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The Seventeenth parallel (Vietnamese: vĩ tuyến 17) was the provisional military demarcation line between North and South Vietnam established by the Geneva Accords of 1954. The demarcation line did not exactly coincide with the 17th parallel but ran south of it, approximately along the Bến Hải River in Quảng Trị Province to the village of Bo Ho Su and from there due west to the Laos–Vietnam border.

In 1976 the demarcation line was made irrelevant as Vietnam was unified following the withdrawal of American forces and the surrender of the South Vietnamese government.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Duration of Daylight/Darkness Table for One Year". U.S. Naval Observatory. 2019-09-24. Archived from the original on 2019-10-12. Retrieved 2021-03-10.