Actually, latitude is defined as the angular distance between the equatorial line and a specific point on the Earth. Dividing the planet in the northern hemisphere and the southern hemisphere, depending on the location of the geographical point with respect to the equator.
Now, imaginary horizontal lines that never touch (that is why they are parallel) that travel across the Earth globe from East to West, forming circles that become smaller and smaller as they get closer to the poles, are called parallels. Where the equator line is known as parallel [tex]0\°[/tex], and the degrees of latitude reach up to [tex]90\°[/tex]North or [tex]90\°[/tex]South.
So, the parallels allow us to determine the latitude of a point, in other words, they help to know if the position of a point is North or South of the Equator's parallel.
