"What time is it?" used to be a surprisingly tricky question to answer in North America. Before Nov. 18, 1883, every city and town kept its own local time, set by the position of the sun. That meant ...

In early January the sun does not rise in Kashgar, in China’s far west, until after 10am. Across the border, in eastern Afghanistan, it rises before 7am. That difference is the greatest jump in time ...

With us chafing at time zones and daylight saving time (DST) these days, it can be easy to forget how much more confusing things were in the late 19th century. Back then few areas had synchronized ...