Samoa has moved through the International Date Line twice by changing its time zone to align with the other side. The IDL was established in 1884, but countries can rearrange it to suit their needs. China only has one official time zone despite spanning five internationally accepted ones.
Countries cannot physically travel across the International Date Line (IDL), in part because there is no physical line; it’s just an agreed dividing line for two calendar days. However, Samoa has “moved” through the IDL twice by changing its time zone to align with the other side of the IDL. It did so first in 1892 in hopes of boosting trade with the United States and a second time in 2011 to improve its trade relations with Australia and New Zealand.
More IDL Facts:
The IDL dates back to the International Meridian Conference in 1884 which divided the world into time zones.
Although the IDL was designed to pass through Greenwich, England at a longitude of 0°, the actual route the line takes was never specified, so countries have “rearranged” its route to suit their countries. For example, the island state of Kiribati was bisected by the IDL, but in 1995, Kiribati “moved” the line to curve around all of its islands.
Countries are not obliged to use the IDL or even the time zones established in the 1884 conference. In fact, China has only one official time zone even though the country spans five internationally accepted time zones.
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