NavList:

One of my favorite examples of time zones set for business or governmental purposes rather than longitudinal accuracy is Spain.   It keeps European time (one hour ahead of Greenwich time) despite the fact that most of the country is in fact west of the Greenwich meridian (for example, Madrid is west of London).   This results in the sun rising pretty late in the morning and staying up until nearly midnight much of the year.

(I remember driving across northern Spain a few years back and not too far west of Barcelona seeing a sign on the freeway "0 degrees longitude")

A nice map of European times at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_in_Spain

Quintana Roo, the easternmost state of Yucatan in Mexico has switched its time zone to match US Eastern Time, effective this past weekend. This continues the trend from the earliest period of time zones in the late 19th century by which governments have shifted themselves east. Within the US, places like Detroit, Cleveland and Atlanta were originally on Central Time, but synchronizing with New York and Washington was better for business so the western limit of Eastern Time steadily moved toward the center of the country. Daylight Time adds an hour to this progression and leaves places as far west as Indiana and (even further west) the Upper Peninsula of Michigan as much as two hours ahead of mean solar time for most of the year. Cancún is joining the party. By the logic of longitude, Quintana Roo should observe "Central Time" since it is close to 90° west of Greenwich. But it's better to set your clocks to your business partners' time, and Quintana Roo's primary business is tourism, tied predominantly to the US east coast and competing with Caribbean destinations (which are also mostly on Eastern Time).

And thus the ancient Maya prophecy has been fulfilled...

Frank Reed
Conanicut Island  USA
 

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