January 22, 2007
More on Runnymede Posted by Frederic D. Schwarz at 03:45 PM EST John Steele Gordon points out that Great Britain gave a small piece of Runnymede to the United States in 1965. Whether this makes it the “farthest east” American territory depends on where you choose to place the endpoint. Greenwich is as good a point as any, I suppose, though since it is defined as 0 degrees, it might make even more sense to say that it is the least far east one can go. Alaskans like to point out that the last couple of islands in the Aleutian chain are just west of the 180-degree line, so their state contains the farthest west, farthest east, and farthest north points of American territory. As for criminals and babies, you’d have to consult a lawyer to make sure, but according to this item (scroll down to “Land ceded to a foreign country”), the United States owns the land but does not exercise jurisdiction over it. The same is true of the American military cemetery at Normandy.
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