A
prime meridian, based at the
Royal Observatory, Greenwich, in London, was established by
Sir George Airy in 1851. By 1884, over two-thirds of all ships and
tonnage used it as the reference
meridian on their
charts and maps. In October of that year, at the behest of
U.S. President Chester A. Arthur, 41 delegates from 25 nations met in
Washington, D.C.,
USA, for the
International Meridian Conference. This conference selected the meridian passing through Greenwich as the official prime meridian due to its popularity. However, France abstained from the vote and French maps continued to use the
Paris meridian for several decades. In the 18th century, London lexicographer,
Malachy Postlethwayt published his African maps showing the 'Meridian of London' intersecting the
Equator a few degrees west of the later meridian and Accra, Ghana.