horse latitudes
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Tweet pl.n. Either of two belts of latitudes located over the oceans at about 30° to 35° north and south, having high barometric pressure, calms, and light, changeable winds. [Possibly from Spanish Golfo de las Yeguas (literally, “Gulf of the Mares”), the expanse of the Atlantic between Spain and the Canary Islands (through which run the horse latitudes of the northern hemisphere), perhaps so called because brood mares and cows being shipped from Spain to populate the Americas in the early 1500s often died and were thrown overboard during the difficult passage in these waters, but if they reached the Canaries alive, they usually survived to reach the Americas.] |
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