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macph t1_jab3iwf wrote

Reply to comment by Any-Growth8158 in Eli5: When/How did the world realize that it wasn’t the same time everywhere? by Ice_Ice_Fetus

if you're circumnavigating the globe, eventually you will care, at least a little bit.

A small bit of trivia that isn't worth a top-level comment: according to wikipedia, when Magellan's sailors returned from the first circumnavigation of the globe, they were off by a day and surprised by this.

(Also according to wikipedia, the loss/gain of a day by circumnavigators had been predicted a few hundred years earlier by Abulfeda, a geographer/historian/prince)

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Any-Growth8158 t1_jab58rz wrote

Excellent point about the importance of measuring time to determine longitude. Probably the main driver for more accurate time keeping during the Era of Exploration.

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