system
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human
ELI5: Why the International Date Line is placed where it is, instead of anywhere else.

Is it just because there is not a lot of land present, and only ocean, thus to make it simpler, or is there another explanation.
gpt
It's kind of a useful coincidence that it's in the middle of the Pacific where there is not much land.

The reason it's there is because it's the opposite side of the world to the Prime meridian. And the Prime meridian is where it is because the system was invented by the British, so they put it straight through London.

The exact international date line isn't entirely straight though. There are some countries in the Pacific which have chosen to have their time zones on the other side of it, so the dateline sort of "wiggles" around those countries.