The trade winds are steady winds that blow toward the equator from the northeast in the Northern Hemisphere and from the southeast in the Southern Hemisphere. They arise because warm air rises near the equator and cooler air flows in to replace it, while the rotation of the Earth bends that flow to the west. Sailors gave them their name in the age of sail, when a ship could count on them to push it reliably across the Atlantic or the Pacific. Columbus rode them westward from the Canary Islands, and Spanish galleons used them for centuries on the route between Mexico and the Philippines.
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