western hemisphere

western hemisphere. In July 1940 Roosevelt declared at the Havana conference that the USA would be responsible for the defence of the western hemisphere. This area was then defined by Admiral King by drawing a line between the two hemispheres so that the western one extended from about 26° West, which is the meridian that passes some 80 km. (50 mi.) west of Reykjavik in Iceland, to the International Date Line. In the Atlantic this included Greenland, the Azores, the Gulf of the St Lawrence, the Bahamas in the British West Indies, the Caribbean Sea, and the Gulf of Mexico. Entry into the western hemisphere by warships or aircraft of belligerent nations, other than those powers who had sovereignty over territory there, would be viewed as possibly having hostile intent. On 15 July 1941, a week after US troops took over from British forces in Iceland, King redefined the western hemisphere to include that country.