The 41st parallel north is a circle of latitude that is 41 degrees north of the Earth's equatorial plane. It crosses Europe, the Mediterranean Sea, Asia, the Pacific Ocean, North America, and the Atlantic Ocean.
At this latitude the sun is visible for 15 hours, 8 minutes during the summer solstice and 9 hours, 13 minutes during the winter solstice.
Starting at the prime meridian and heading eastwards, the parallel 41° north passes through:
In the United States, the parallel defines the southernmost border of Wyoming (bordering Utah and Colorado), and part of the border between Nebraska and Colorado.
In 1606, King James I of England created the Colony of Virginia. He gave the London Company the right to "begin theire plantacions and habitacions in some fitt and conveniente place between fower and thirtie and one and fortie degrees of the said latitude all alongest the coaste of Virginia and coastes of America." The Jamestown Settlement was established roughly at the midpoint of that territory. The later Pilgrim (Plymouth Colony) settlers originally bound for the northern portion of the Virginia territory. Instead, they landed north of the 41st parallel on Cape Cod, where they had exclusive rights to the land under the charter for the Plymouth Colony.