Geography_ A Visual Encyclopedia

HUNGRY SHOREBIRDS All the worms, clams, and other burrowing animals that live beneath beaches and mudflats attract flocks of hungry shorebirds. Many of these birds are specially adapted with long legs and long bills for wading in the shallows and probing into deep sand. Others forage on rocky shores, and use their shorter, stouter bills to flip over rocks and seize small animals as they try to escape. ▲ PROBING BILLS LIFE ON EARTH The long bills of these curlew sandpipers have sensitive tips that allow them to feel for worms and other animals buried in the sand. FAST FACTS MANGROVE SWAMPS ◾ On some Australian beaches, up to 10,000 sea turtles come ashore Sheltered tropical shores become overgrown by every night to lay their eggs during the breeding season. mangrove trees, which are able to grow in salt ◾ A sandy beach may conceal more than 2,000 buried shellfish such water and waterlogged, airless mud. They form as cockles in every square yard (or meter) of sand. swamp forests that flood with seawater at high ◾ On rocky shores, many sea creatures survive the hours of low tide tide. Many animals live among their roots, in pools of seawater among the rocks. including the mudskipper—an extraordinary fish that can survive out of water, and even BEACH SCAVENGERS climb the low branches of mangrove trees. Crabs are sea creatures that cannot breathe air, but some carry ▼ TIME OUT supplies of oxygen-rich water that allow them to survive on the A ghost crab pauses on a South African beach beach at low tide. They include the shore crab and the tropical before scuttling off in search of a meal. ghost crab, which feed mainly on dead animals washed up by the waves. Tropical fiddler crabs also live out of the water, and feed by extracting edible particles from beach sand. 199

THE HUMAN WORLD THE HUMAN WORLD

The first modern humans THE HUMAN WORLD were born just 200,000 years ago. In that tiny fraction of Earth’s history, we have changed the face of the planet.

THE HUMAN WORLD Population For thousands of years before the invention of farming, the total human population was probably 15 million at most. Once people began to grow food about 9,000 years ago, the population began to increase, and by 1800 ce there were almost a billion people on Earth. With better technology and health care, the population has reached a staggering seven billion today. LIVING OFF THE LAND Until about 9,000 years ago, everyone lived by hunting animals and gathering wild food. Some tribal peoples around the world still do. Wild food is often seasonal and limited, which restricts how many people can live on the same area of land. This is one reason why the prehistoric population remained so small. ▶ HUNTER-GATHERERS FARMING REVOLUTION The San or bushmen in Namibia, southwest Africa, search for wild game, Populations began to rise when roots, and berries using methods people figured out how to produce unchanged for thousands of years. more food by domesticating animals and planting crops. They also learned 202 how to dry and store crops that could be eaten in seasons when other foods were scarce. Storing extra food also meant that not everyone had to work on the land all year round—some people could do other work. By 3000 bce, farmers such as these in Egypt were supporting a large and complex society.

FIGHTING DISEASE Throughout history, plagues have killed millions of people. The Black Death of 1346–1353, for example, spread across Asia and Europe and killed up to 200 million people. Thanks to medical advances, people now survive diseases that were once fatal, and vaccines protect against infection—by 1979, vaccinations had eradicated the deadly disease smallpox. These advances have allowed populations to grow quickly. ENERGY AND POPULATION THE HUMAN WORLD In Europe before about 1800, many people lived on the land and in poverty. Soon, however, coal was fueling the new steam-powered technologies in factories. As industries grew, so did workforces and the cities they lived in. By 1900, technology for refining oil (in refineries such as this one, above) created a new source of energy that fueled modern economies and rapidly expanding populations. POPULATION GROWTH WORLD POPULATION (BILLIONS) ▲ KILLER VIRUS A magnified image shows the influenza virus. A worldwide flu In 1800, there were about 1 billion people living on the planet. This epidemic in 1918–1920 killed up to 50 million people. increased to roughly 2.5 billion by 1950, 3 billion by 1960, 6 billion by 2000, and 7 billion today. Experts believe that the global population IS THERE A LIMIT? will reach 8 billion by 2030, and could even grow to a colossal 9 billion by 2050. If the world’s population rises to nine billion by 2050, we will have to produce 70 percent more food to ensure 9 that everyone has enough to eat. Some scientists warn that our increasing use of natural resources threatens the 8 future of the world’s ecosystem—the global community of living things and their environments. As we rely on 7 this for our survival, we may be close to reaching the limit of human population. 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 1650 1700 1750 1800 1850 1900 1950 2000 2050 YEARS ▶ TEEMING CROWDS One of the busiest crosswalks in the world is in Tokyo, Japan. The city is home to about 8.9 million people. 203

THE HUMAN WORLD Farming Since prehistoric times, people have been turning forests, wild grasslands, and even some deserts into farmland. For most of that time, the cropland has been fertilized by grazing livestock. As the world’s population has grown, however, farmers have needed to produce more food by developing more intensive, mechanized methods that rely on chemical fertilizers and pesticides. HERDING AND RANCHING SLASH AND BURN The first farmers were probably animal herders. Instead The most primitive way of growing food is to clear of hunting animals, they caught them and kept them an area of forest, burn the tree stumps, and plant for their milk, meat, and skins. The earliest herders may crops on the soil fertilized by the ash. People in the have followed animals as they roamed. Ranchers still Amazon rainforest have always farmed like this, but herd animals today, driving them from pasture to it only works on a small scale. The soil soon loses its pasture on open ranges for grazing. nutrients and then more forest has to be cleared. ▼ OPEN RANGE This rancher herds cattle across a vast open range in Idaho. 204

MIXED FARMING THE HUMAN WORLD If cattle or sheep are kept on an enclosed field, they eat the grass and drop manure that fertilizes the ground. The farmer can then plow the field and use the fertilized soil to grow crops, while the animals graze another field. After the crops are harvested, the animals can be brought back while the second field is sown with crops. Organic farming is still based on this method, which does not use farm chemicals. INDUSTRIAL FARMING ▲ WHEAT PRAIRIE A huge combine harvester reaps a vast Many farmers use artificial fertilizers instead of grazing animals field of wheat in the American Midwest. on the land. This allows them to specialize in growing profitable crops, such as wheat, in large fields that can be harvested by SELECTIVE BREEDING large machines. But planting just a few crops can increase the risk of pests, diseases, and weeds, so these industrialized farms use Only the most basic farming uses species of a lot of chemical pesticides and weed killers. Over time, the soil animals and plants that are the same as those can also become less healthy, and in serious cases it may turn found in the wild. Most farm animals and crops to dust and blow away. are created by selecting the best examples and breeding them to ensure useful features such as ◀ GREENHOUSE better milk yield in cows, or size and flavor in If they are grown fruits and vegetables. Selective breeding is also under glass, crops used to make crops more resistant to frost or such as tomatoes can disease, and has hugely boosted productivity. be produced all year round, even in cool or dry climates. FARMING UNDER COVER ▲ BRED FOR BEEF The muscular Charolais cattle have been Some animals and many crops can be raised under cover. This allows selectively bred for their high-quality beef. more food to be produced in a smaller area, and also enables farmers to grow tender plants that would not survive outside. However, many people think that the intensive rearing of animals such as pigs and chickens is cruel. They also worry about the level of harmful pesticides that may be used on fruits and vegetables grown under glass. 205

THE HUMAN WORLD TRANSFORMED LANDSCAPE More and more of the natural wilderness is being turned into farmland each year. These rice terraces in Sapa, Vietnam, make use of steep hillsides to grow food. In other parts of the world, huge areas of prairie grassland have been turned into fields for growing wheat and corn, and tropical forest is being replaced by banana, soybean, and palm oil plantations. 206

THE HUMAN WORLD 207

THE HUMAN WORLD Mining People have been digging useful minerals from the ground for thousands of years. The earliest miners looked for pieces of flint to use as tools, and pure glittering metals such as silver and gold. Later miners extracted tin and copper from rock to make bronze, iron ore to make iron and steel, and other valuable materials such as building stone and precious gems. The coal, oil, and gas we use as fuel are also mined from the ground. ANCIENT TECHNIQUES QUARRYING Prehistoric miners dug shafts down into the ground to reach Building stone must be cut out in blocks. In the past, a seam (layer) of flint and then tunneled sideways along the quarrymen split the rock with wedges and hammers, seam to dig it out. Miners still use shafts and tunnels to dig or even explosives. But today many types of stone are sliced out with machine-operated saws studded with for coal today. Other ancient mining techniques extra-hard minerals such as industrial diamonds. were less dangerous. They included panning for gold—a heavy metal that can be separated from river sand by rinsing it with water (below).

OPEN-PIT MINES THE HUMAN WORLD Some of the largest mines are open holes in the ground, dug by colossal mechanical excavators. Huge trucks drive down access roads to the bottom of the mine to be loaded up. Open-pit mines are used for coal close to the surface, but the deepest pits are mines for metals such as copper and the radioactive uranium used as fuel in nuclear power plants. OPEN PIT ▶ A truck rolls up the terraces of an open-pit mine, carrying 250 tons of rock. When the mine is exhausted, it will become a waste landfill. DEEP SHAFTS DRILLING FOR OIL The most expensive and dangerous form of mining By drilling boreholes down involves tunneling deep below ground. Horizontal through rock, miners can reach galleries are linked to vertical shafts, which have reserves of liquid oil and natural lifts that carry miners down to seams. Deep-shaft gas. Deep beneath the ground, mines have to be constantly drained of water and these fluids are often under cooled, and miners such as these men in South pressure that squeezes them up Africa risk rockfalls and gas explosions. the borehole to the surface. Offshore drilling platforms tap FAST FACTS reserves beneath the seabed. This rig is drilling off the coast of ◾ The deepest mine is the TauTona California but some are towed gold mine in South Africa, which extends out to far deeper waters. 2.4 miles (3.9 km) below the surface. ◾ The deepest open-pit mine is the 209 Bingham Canyon copper mine in Utah—0.75 miles (1.2 km) deep, it is the biggest artificial hole on Earth. ◾ In 2009, an offshore oil well in the Gulf of Mexico was drilled to a depth of 6.6 miles (10.7 km).

Industry THE HUMAN WORLD People have always made and traded goods, but the late POWER 18th century marked the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, when small workshops were replaced by Early factories used waterwheels or large large, machine-filled factories. Heavy industries such as steam engines to provide the power for steelmaking and shipbuilding employed whole towns of their machinery. Electric power is more workers. Today, industry more often uses new technology convenient, because it can be used and a small but skilled workforce to offer goods and anywhere that can be connected to an services to customers near and far. electric cable. A constant, reliable supply of electricity is vital for modern industries, which depend more and more on computers and other electronic devices. COTTAGE INDUSTRY Despite the rise of modern manufacturing, many goods are still made by hand. Skilled workers like these potters make a living by producing things that local people need. They often make and sell their wares in areas of town that become known for certain types of products, such as leather bags and shoes on one street, and jewelry and metalwork on another. FACTORIES Large, mechanized factories were established from the 1750s onward, particularly in Britain, where the cotton industry used spinning machines and power looms. Later, industrialists such as American car manufacturer Henry Ford introduced assembly lines to speed up production. Today, these lines are often partly automated with robots controlled by computers. ▶ AUTOMATION These welding robots in a car factory are fast and precise, and do not tire of doing the same task over and over again. 210

HEAVY INDUSTRY THE HUMAN WORLD The wealth of many of today’s developed countries came originally from heavy industries such as steel production, oil refining, vehicle manufacturing, railroads, and shipbuilding (right). All of these enterprises require a huge investment in buildings and equipment, and use a lot of raw materials and fuel. They also need large, skilled workforces. LIGHT INDUSTRY With a reliable supply of electricity, small workshops can be set up almost anywhere. Many use traditional crafts such as woodworking or dressmaking, but others use new technology. Large or small, these companies are often at the cutting edge of research, making key breakthroughs in electronics, medicine, and new materials. ▲ SKILLED WORK SERVICE INDUSTRY Many light industries rely on the hands-on skills of their workers. These American technicians are Many modern industries do assembling the main circuit boards of computers. not produce any goods that you can touch. Instead, they provide services such as banking and finance, legal advice, or insurance. The London Stock Exchange (right) provides a service for investors worldwide, but your local hospital, restaurant, and movie theater provide services too. 211

THE HUMAN WORLD Transportation The products of industry are used worldwide, thanks to efficient transportation networks that allow international trade. These networks also enable people to travel anywhere on the globe. Along with communications networks, power supplies, and water and drainage systems, transportation is part of the infrastructure of modern civilization. SHIPPING ▲ OCEAN TRADER Stacked high with containers, Shipping routes are among the oldest of all trade routes. The first sea traders each as large as a truck, this stayed close to the coast so they knew where they were, but by 1000 bce ship can carry a huge cargo Phoenician traders were criss-crossing the Mediterranean Sea. Ships are still between continents. the best means of transporting heavy goods, and powerful engines and satellite navigation have greatly reduced the risks of long sea voyages. FACT! INLAND WATERWAYS Air travel has become so Canal networks link many major cities. They were vital to the growth of industry, popular that, at any time of carrying coal and raw materials. Barges such as this one in Germany still carry day or night, there are now heavy freights efficiently. They are slow, but this doesn’t matter if a fleet of half a million people flying barges can deliver a continuous stream of cargo to its destination. through the world’s skies. 212

▶ TIME MACHINES AIR TRAVEL THE HUMAN WORLD Jet aircraft have slashed the time it takes to travel vast distances, Air travel was once a luxury that few could making the world seem smaller. afford, but in the 1970s cheaper air fares and the introduction of wide-body aircraft ROAD NETWORKS made long-distance travel possible for millions of people. Airlines carry a lot of lightweight Before the internal combustion engine was cargo too, especially mail and perishable goods invented, road transportation moved at the speed of a horse. Now multilane highways such as fruit and flowers. Smaller aircraft also link major cities and are connected to local provide regional transportation, which can be roads that give access to even the smallest, most remote settlements. Road networks are vital in large, sparsely populated countries vital for local travel, but also for the delivery such as Australia and Canada. of food, fuel, and other supplies. URBAN TRANSPORTATION The major cities of the world could barely function without rapid transit systems that allow millions of people to move around quickly and efficiently—on buses, streetcars, local trains, and subway networks such as this one in Chengdu, China. HIGH-SPEED RAIL Railroads were the first high-speed transportation system. Today, modern electrified rail networks achieve speeds that cannot be matched on the road. Railroads are expensive to build, but once they are up and running they are more efficient than any other form of land transportation. ▶ BULLET TRAIN The Shinkansen train can streak through the Japanese landscape at 186 mph (300 km/h). 213

THE HUMAN WORLD Cities The first cities were built about 7,000 years ago, amid fertile farmlands. Over time, many cities became rich through trade. Their wealth attracted raiding armies, so high walls were built around the cities to protect them from attack. Some of these ancient settlements are still thriving cities today. Modern cities, however, look very different, with geometric street plans and high-rise buildings of steel and glass. THE FIRST CITIES About 7,000 years ago, farming in Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq) produced enough wealth to support the first cities. These are now ruined, but similar cities of narrow alleys and mud-brick houses survive in countries such as Morocco, North Africa (left). CITY-STATES The city ofTRADING WEALTH SamCities need food and other agoods, which are supplied rkaby traders. All the buying ndand selling in their busy ismarketplaces generates profits moand wealth, which encourages remore trade and more wealth. thaMany cities lying on major trade n 2,700 years old.routes grew rich in this way, and Cities often become centers of culture and civilization. This was the case in the city-states of Ancient Greece, which were ruled like small countries. Athens (above) was the greatest of these, but modern examples such as Monaco and Singapore also flourish. their wealth paid for spectacular buildings designed to impress.

CITY WALLS THE HUMAN WORLD In the past, wealthy cities were a target for bandits and armies. Many were defended by walls and towers, plus ditches and secondary walls. This image of Carcassonne in medieval France shows how the walls surrounded the entire city, including its castle, church, and all the houses. MASTER PLANS Most ancient cities grew over time without any real planning, and many of their winding streets were once country roads. But some cities were built according to an organized plan— this aerial view of Amsterdam in the Netherlands shows its 17th-century web of semicircular canals. Modern cities are usually laid out on a grid plan of rectangular blocks. HIGH-RISE Many old cities have been transformed by modern architecture, and some newer cities are almost entirely composed of high-rise towers. Supported by frames of steel girders and clad in glass, they allow huge numbers of people to live and work within a small area. ▲ HONG KONG SKYSCRAPERS Perched between hills and sea on China’s south coast, Hong Kong is home to 7 million people. ▼ GATEWAY TO THE EAST Wealthy Samarkand in Central Asia lay on the Silk Road—the medieval trade route between China and the Mediterranean. It is now the second largest city in Uzbekistan.

Modern cities THE HUMAN WORLD Today, more than half of the world’s population lives in Rio de Janeiro cities, drawn by the opportunities for work and wealth. As a result, many cities are now very large. Not all of Brazil this growth has been planned, however, and cities in developing countries are sometimes fringed by sprawling Area 462 sq miles (1,198 sq km) shantytowns with poor housing and no proper services. Population 6.3 million Founding date 1565 New York Rio is the second largest city in Brazil, United States of America and the most spectacular. It lies along the shores of Guanabara Bay on the Atlantic Area 303 sq miles (786 sq km) coast, famous for its dramatic granite Population 8.4 million landscapes and beautiful beaches. Rio Founding date 1609 Carnival is the largest festival of its kind in the world, and attracts millions of tourists every year. Originally a Dutch colony known as and most prosperous city in North New Amsterdam, New York’s name America, and is famous worldwide as a changed when it was surrendered to the financial, commercial, and cultural center. English in 1664. Its huge natural harbor on the Atlantic coast made it an important ▼ THE BIG APPLE trading port, and it became the main point The high-rise skyline of New York of entry for European immigrants to the City is an emblem of American United States. New York is now the largest wealth and aspiration.

Cairo THE HUMAN WORLD Egypt Area 175 sq miles (453 sq km) Population 7.2 million Founding date 969 CE Although it is near several ancient Egyptian sites, including the pyramids of Giza, Cairo itself was founded on the Nile River by the Islamic Fatimid dynasty in the 10th century. The “city of a thousand minarets” is famous for its Islamic architecture, but it is also a vibrant modern city—the political and cultural capital of Egypt. Rome Paris Moscow Italy France Russian Federation Area 505 sq miles (1,308 sq km) Area 41 sq miles (105 sq km) Area 969 sq miles (2,510 sq km) Population 2.8 million Population 2.2 million Population 11.5 million Founding date 753 BCE Founding date Before 52 BCE Founding date Before 1147 The capital of Italy, Rome was once the Famous as one of the most romantic cities Moscow lies farther north than any of the capital of the Roman Empire, which in the world, Paris is the capital and world’s other great cities, and is noted for its controlled Europe for more than 500 cultural center of France. The city lies at very long, cold winters. Despite this, it is years until 476 ce. Today, its rich heritage the heart of one of the largest urban areas Russia’s largest city and the sixth-largest in of ancient Roman, medieval, and in Europe, home to 12 million people, and the world. At its center lies the medieval Renaissance architecture attracts visitors the whole region is responsible for more fortress of the Kremlin, which is still the from all over the world. than a quarter of France’s national wealth. center of government today. Beijing London one of the world’s leading financial, cultural, and educational centers. The capital is home China United Kingdom to about 12 percent of the UK population, with more than 300 languages spoken there. Area 6,336 sq miles (16,410 sq km) Area 607 sq miles (1,570 sq km) Population 19.6 million Population 8.3 million Founding date 1045 BCE Founding date 43 CE Beijing has been the capital of China for most of its 3,000-year history. The Founded by the Romans soon after their imperial palace, known as the Forbidden invasion of Britain, London was sited near City, is a spectacular complex of 980 the mouth of the Thames River. It was a medieval buildings hidden behind huge major port for many centuries, and is still stone walls. The surrounding city is one of the largest in the world, and the political and cultural hub of the nation. 217

THE HUMAN WORLD CITY LIGHTS This image of the world at night shows cities and towns spread over Earth’s surface. Taken from satellite data, it shows the high population density of regions such as the United States and Europe. The bright concentrations of light are major urban areas, including some on the coasts of South America and Africa.

THE HUMAN WORLD

Pollution THE HUMAN WORLD The growing human population is producing more and GARBAGE more waste, ranging from sewage to spent radioactive fuel. Dealing with all this waste is a huge problem. Much of it is Until the mid-20th century, most just dumped, buried, pumped into the atmosphere, or of the waste we produced was poured into rivers and oceans. The resulting pollution is buried and slowly decayed. But inflicting terrible damage on nature—and on our health. most modern plastics are almost indestructible by any natural ▼ BLIGHTED BEACH process, so they pile up in great Goats, cats, and birds scavenge for edible scraps multicolored heaps of garbage. among the plastic garbage swept onto this North Much of it ends up in the oceans, African beach by the waves. where it kills wildlife. DEADLY FILTH Over much of the world, untreated sewage from badly drained towns pours into rivers and seas, causing water pollution that spreads disease. It also upsets the balance of nature by making the water too rich in plant nutrients. This can encourage the explosive growth of toxic algae that kill other organisms such as these fish. TOXIC WASTE Industries such as mining, papermaking, and chemical manufacturing produce poisonous wastes. These are often released into rivers, killing everything farther downstream. The wildlife may recover from one accidental spill, but industries that routinely release toxic waste can poison entire river systems. 220

SMOG AND ACID RAIN FACT! Factories, power plants, road vehicles, aircraft, and even cooking In December 1952, a fires release masses of soot and waste gas into the atmosphere every four-day smog in London day. The soot and gases can cause dangerous clouds of thick, choking smog, especially in cities. Some gases may also combine with water killed more than 4,000 vapor in the air to form acid rain, which kills trees and fish. people. The thick, dirty fog was caused by smoke from OIL SPILLS ▼ SMOG CITY THE HUMAN WORLD On a warm day, a thick coal fires, which are now Although shipwrecks are less common today layer of pollution from banned in the city. thanks to advances in navigation technology, traffic fumes and oil tankers still occasionally hit rocks and spill industrial emissions settles their cargoes into the sea. The oil is deadly to over Jakarta, Indonesia. marine wildlife, and if it comes ashore it causes terrible coastal pollution. ACIDIFIED OCEANS Vehicles and factories release vast amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere each day. Much of the gas is absorbed by the oceans and turns into carbonic acid, which is making the oceans less alkaline. This is disastrous for animals such as corals that cannot survive without alkaline minerals. This coral reef in the Philippines is dying.

THE HUMAN WORLD Climate change The world is warming up. Records show a steady increase in average global air temperature, which is melting polar ice and altering the pattern of the world’s weather. The temperature rise is caused by a change in the nature of the atmosphere that makes it retain more heat. This change has been brought about by more than 200 years of air pollution, caused by burning coal, oil, and other fossil fuels. WARMING WORLD Since the 1880s, the world has warmed by an average of almost 1.8°F (1°C). It doesn’t sound like much, but altogether the world has warmed by only 7°F (4°C) over the past 12,000 years, so the rate of warming is speeding up. The evidence is plain to see in the Arctic, where the area of ocean covered by ice in the late summer of 2012 was 18 percent smaller than any other September on record. GREENHOUSE EFFECT ▲ BLEAK FUTURE Polar bears live on the Arctic sea ice. As it melts away, Certain atmospheric gases such as carbon dioxide, methane, they have nowhere to hunt, and could become extinct. and water vapor act like the glass of a greenhouse. They let sunshine through to heat Earth’s surface but stop the heat from FAST FACTS escaping into space. This keeps us warm—indeed, without it the planet would be too cold for life to exist. But more “greenhouse ◾ In 2003, a heatwave in Europe killed up to 50,000 people. gases” in the atmosphere are boosting the greenhouse effect ◾ Rising ocean temperatures trigger more storms, which then and raising global temperatures. cause chaos on nearby continents. ◾ Since 1990, 163,000 sq miles (423,000 sq km) of forest—an Some heat escapes, but area the size of California—have been felled in Brazil. gases trap the rest ◾ If climate change melts the Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets, sea levels could rise by up to 82 ft (25 m). Sun’s rays penetrate the atmosphere 222

FOSSIL FUELS BURNING FORESTS THE HUMAN WORLD Atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide, the main In many parts of the world, greenhouse gas, have increased by 30 percent vast areas of forest are being since 1900. Scientists agree that this has been cut down and burned. Trees caused by burning coal, oil, and gas—the absorb carbon dioxide when remains of life that was fossilized millions of they are growing, and use the years ago. The carbon they contain is released as carbon to make their timber. carbon dioxide when the fuel is burned. But if a forest is felled and burned, all the carbon in the RISING SEA LEVELS timber is turned into carbon dioxide again, and released The fringes of continental ice sheets are breaking into the air to add to the up, dumping continental ice into the oceans as greenhouse effect. icebergs. This is steadily raising global sea levels, and is already causing flooding on low-lying coral NEW TECHNOLOGY islands in the south Pacific. Ultimately, rising sea levels could permanently flood coastal cities such These solar panels generate electricity by absorbing the energy of the as Shanghai and New York. Frozen ground in the Sun. They don’t use fossil fuels, so they don’t add to the greenhouse Arctic is also thawing out, releasing methane that effect that is causing climate change. If we could generate all our energy is an even more potent greenhouse gas than using this kind of technology, we could fix the problem. But meanwhile carbon dioxide. we can all help by using as little energy as possible. ▶ CRUMBLING ICE As more glacier ice tumbles into the sea, it adds to the volume of ocean water. 223

THE HUMAN WORLD Conservation The future of the world depends on maintaining a healthy biosphere—the web of life that produces our food and makes the air fit to breathe. We can help keep it healthy by protecting threatened species and the wild places where they live. In the process, we also help maintain the beauty of the natural world. PROTECTED SPECIES The simplest form of conservation is to protect certain species by making it illegal to kill them. Such bans have to be global in order to work, and international treaties have helped in the case of animals such as elephants and whales. As long as these laws are enforced, they can help endangered species recover from near extinction. ▲ THREATENED CAT Rare animals such as tigers are protected by laws that make hunting them a criminal offense. ILLEGAL TRADE There are laws banning the trade in endangered species and goods such as ivory, rhino horns, and tiger skins. But demand for illegal goods remains, encouraging poachers to break the laws. Wildlife rangers often have to cope with armed poachers and carry out raids to confiscate illegal materials. ◀ BLACK-MARKET IVORY Conservation officers inspect a huge haul of illegal elephant tusks recovered from a rogue trader. 224

UMBRELLA SPECIES FAST FACTS Many people are eager to protect certain rare animals such as the ◾ At least 23 percent of all mammals and 12 percent of all giant panda, but are not so concerned about the fate of less famous birds are threatened with extinction. species. However, pandas cannot survive unless the ecosystem that ◾ Tropical coral reefs are likely to become extinct over the supports them survives too. By working to protect panda habitats, we next 100 years. may also ensure the survival of other animals and plants. ◾ Protected areas such as wildlife reserves cover only 12.1 percent of Earth’s land surface. WILDLIFE RESERVES THE HUMAN WORLD Protecting endangered species often involves turning areas of land into wildlife reserves like this one on the African savanna. Other reserves protect wildernesses such as peat bogs, rainforests, or even coral reefs. Such places can pay for their cost of operation by earning money as tourist attractions. ▲ PROTECTING THE PANDA Giving the giant panda a future in the wild has helped conserve other species that share its forest habitat. CONSERVING HABITATS Wildlife reserves are important, but they cover only small areas of the world—often far too small to secure the future of the wildlife that lives in them. This means that conservation efforts need to be coordinated over much wider areas, such as all forests, all wild grasslands, and all the oceans. ◀ FRAGILE BEAUTY This woodland in northern England supports diverse wildlife, from tiny mosses and insects to lofty conifers. Such habitats are easily destroyed but almost impossible to replace. 225

MAPPING THE WORLD MAPPING THE WORLD

Thanks to the latest satellite MAPPING THE WORLD technology and powerful computers, maps can now show us the whole world with more accuracy and detail than ever before.

The physical world Just under 30 percent of Earth’s surface is land, mostly contained MAPPING THE WORLD in giant continental landmasses. Around the seven continents, Horizontal lines of tens of thousands of islands are scattered across the world’s seas latitude show how and oceans. People have been exploring and mapping the globe many degrees north for thousands of years, to chart its wealth of natural features or south places are from the equator. and mark their place in the world. 150°W 120°W 90°W 60°W ANDES MOUNTAINS Chukchi Sea Beaufort Sea Victoria Baffin Is Baffin Island Bay Arctic Circle Mount McKinley land Bering Strait (Denali) ser AntillesHudson 60°N 20,322 ft Bay lands R O C K Y M O U N T A I NSSierra Madre Labrador Al e u tian Is Gulf of NORTH Laurentian Sea Alaska Mountains Running through seven countries on Vancouver Island Great Lakes Newfoundland the west coast of South America, the Coast Ranges Andes form the longest mountain range ountains Grand Banks of in the world. More than 4,500 miles Gr Newfoundland (7,000 km) long and up to 199 miles Mississippi M A T L A N T I CA MERICA ains eat P l Appalachian 30°N (320 km) wide, the Andes are rich Tropic of Cancer IHslaanwdasi’ia Gulf of West O C E A N in metals and also contain most of Mexico Indies South America’s volcanoes. Antilles Hawai’i ns PYeunciantsaunlGar e a t e r Les PACIFIC Caribbean Sea o Line rinoco P Guiana Highlands A m a z o n ABmaazsoni n OCEAN O Equator Islands Galapagos Gran Chaco Islands Brazilian Highlands Phoenix y Islands l Marquesas D SOUTH e Islands N AMERICA nCook A Samoa SociTeutyaImsloatnudIsslan Peru Planalto de Basin Mato Grosso Tonga Trench Island i Pitcairn s ds Tropic of Capricorn Pampas a Islands Easter ES Island 30°S Juan Mount Fernandez Aconcagua Southwest 22,831 ft Islands P a c i fi c Patagonia Basin Argentine Basin Falkland Tierra del Islands Fuego Cape Horn s s a g e 60°S Dra ke P a Antarctic Circle 150°W 120°W 90°W 60°W VICTORIA FALLS Around 39.5 million gallons (180 million liters) of water flows over Victoria Falls every minute. Located on the Zambezi River in southern Africa, the waterfall is 5,500 ft (1.68 km) wide and 355 ft (108 m) high. 228

FRASER ISLAND KEY 13,125 ft 6,560 ft Sand carried by the ocean can form Elevation 3,280 ft mounds, which over time become islands. 1,640 ft Fraser Island, off the coast of Queensland, Sea level 820 ft Australia, is the world’s biggest sand island. 820 ft 328 ft It measures 76 miles (123 km) long and Below sea level 14 miles (22 km) across at its widest point. 6,560 ft Its surface is heavily forested and contains 13,125 ft MAPPING THE WORLD more than 100 freshwater lakes. Mountain Lowest point Sandy desert 30°W 0° 30°E 60°E 90°E 120°E 150°E Marsh Barents Laptev Sea East Siberian Sea Greenland A R C T I C O C E A N Sea Lena 30°N Scandinavia Arctic Circle Denmark Strait M West PACIFIC North Siberian Ob’ S i b e r i a Kamchatka Iceland Sea oUurnat 60°N Tropic of Cancer Plain r British River Sea of Amu Okhotsk A S I AIsles E U R O P E l a Nile Volgai dTuDKTieeHhAusnaeslthrrDIaStKiMheMuGacancnAnoalguueonPLnsnfltaaTAMtiM2ine9bYooa,s0ueuuBL2ntA9ntaaEkfitGtkveaSeaYiroleenlslsbtowainMgtzPaeCGlnPahcrlihaiennauinatorifa(nCESEJSahaeaseaiptasnaSotanfeKa)yuHsHhJouoaknkpsahiaudno Indus Hinn Eastern Ghats A L P S Danube Black SCeaaucasus s Y Mont Blanc Caspian Sea Aral 15,771 ft Sea Azores Me di t Elbrus Madeira MAotulnatsains 18,511 ft Canary e r r a n e an Sea M o uZnatgarionss -1,388 ft Dead Sea S a h a r aIslands PerGsiaunlf Ahaggar Red Sea Niger Arabian Western Ghats Taiwan Tibesti Peninsula Arabian Philippine riana Trench OCEAN Sea AFRICA Bay of Mekong Sea Mariana M Philippine Islands icron Cape S a h e l Ethiopian Bengal es Verde Islands Islands Highlands Horn of South Challenger China Deep Adamawa Africa Sri Malay S e a -36,745 ft Ma Highlands Lanka Maldive Peninsula Me Islands lan ia Congo Great Lake Sumatra Borneo e Equator Basin Victoria Celebes New s C Kilimanjaro Guinea E a s t Solomon Lake 19,341 ft n d i e Tanganyika Seychelles l Lake Nyasa Ascension Prime Meridian Rift Java Sea s Islands a Island i ongo Va l INDIAN Java I St. Helena sberg OCEAN Timor Se Arafura MMaozdaamgbiaqsuce aCrhannel Sea ey a OCEANIA Namib Desert Zambezi D Great Barrier Reef at Dividing Range Coral New Fiji Mauritius Great Sandy Sea Caledonia Kalahari Réunion Desert Tropic of Capricorn Desert Great Victoria Desert ORriDavnerrgaeken NullGarrbeaotr Plain arling 30°S Tristan Cape of Austalian Gre m a n Sea Compass da Cunha Good Hope Bight T shows which a s New way is north, Crozet Tasmania Zealand south, west, Islands and east. Aoraki (Mount Cook) Kerguelen 12,316 ft Bouvet South Indian Basin 60°S N Island WE OCEAN Antarctic Circle S O UT H E R N A NT AR C TI CA 150°E 30°W 0° 30°E 60°E 90°E 120°E ▲ PHYSICAL MAP S This map shows Earth’s physical geography at a glance. It uses different colors for different landscapes and their Vertical lines of longitude Scale 1:103,000,000 height above sea level, which you can check against the key. show how many degrees The scale bar shows you how distance on the map compares east or west places are Kilometers 2000 3000 to miles and kilometers on the ground. from the line called the 0 1000 prime meridian at 0°. 0 1000 2000 3000 Miles 229

The political world Almost all of the world’s land is claimed by countries or nations. The largest nation by area is the Russian Federation, with almost twice the land area of the second-largest, Canada. Some countries Some territories belong have a single neighbor while others have many more. China shares to other countries (in this case, to France). MAPPING THE WORLD land borders with 16 different countries. A fifth of the CHILE ARGENTINAworld’s countries are landlocked, with no direct150°W120°W90°W60°W ARCTIC OCEAN Baffin outlet to Earth’s seas or oceans. Arctic Circle Bay Alaska (to US) 60°N CANADA Aleutian Islands (to US) Great Lakes St. Pierre & Miquelon PACIFIC UNITED STATES (to France) OCEAN OF AMERICA ATLANTIC Bermuda OCEAN (to UK) 30°N MEXICO Gulf of Midway Islands (to US) Mexico BAHAMAS Tropic of Cancer CUBA DOMINICAN HAITI REPUBLIC Hawaii BELIZE JAMAICA (to US) GUATEMALA HONDURAS Caribbean BARBADOS EL SALVADOR Sea NICARAGUA COSTA RICA TRINIDAD & TOBAGO PANAMA VENEZUELA GUYANA French Guiana (to France) COLOMBIA SURINAM Equator Galapagos Islands ECUADOR (to Ecuador) Wallis & Futuna PACIFIC PERU BRAZIL (to France) KIRIBATI VATICAN CITY Tokelau OCEAN (to NZ) Cook Surrounded by the Italian capital city of Rome, Vatican City is the Islands world’s smallest independent state. SAMOA (to NZ) The center of the Roman Catholic religion, the state has a total land area American French Polynesia BOLIVIA of just 0.17 square miles (0.44 sq km). Samoa PARAGUAY That’s two-thirds the size of the (to US) (to France) Disneyland theme park in California. TONGA Niue (to NZ) Tropic of Capricorn Pitcairn Islands (to UK) 30°S URUGUAY Falkland Islands (to UK) 60°S S O UT H E R N OCEAN Antarctic Circle 150°W 120°W 90°W 60°W NEW COUNTRIES In 2011, South Sudan became independent from Sudan to form the newest country in Africa. New nations can be formed by splitting one country or by joining together separate states. In 1990, East and West Germany reunified to form one country. 230

INTERNATIONAL BORDERS Borders are dividing boundaries between nations. The border between the United States and Mexico is 1,970 miles (3,169 km) long and one of the busiest in the world, with 20 million crossings each year. The U.S. also shares the world’s longest border with a single nation, Canada, stretching 5,525 miles (8,891 km). 0° Svalbard 30°E 60°E 90°E 120°E 150°E MAPPING THE WORLD▼ POLITICAL MAP This political map shows the borders Greenland A R C T I (to Norway) A N ETNAM between countries. By the end of LAOS 2012, there were 194 independent, (to Denmark) C OCE internationally recognized ICELAND NORWAY SWEDEN FINLAND Arctic Circle 60°N countries in the world. See inset map RUSSIAN FEDERATION for details IRELAND GERMANY BELARUS FRANCE UKRAINE KAZ AKHSTAN MONGOLIA ROMANIA MeditTIeTUrrANaLInSYeIaGAnRSEeEaBCUELLGETIABSRARUINAAEROGLNAEKROSMERYEGRYNIIIRAAIAAQAZETRIUBRRAKIUJMAAZENBNANEFISKGTIAHSNTAANNITSTAAJIKNKYISRTGAYNZSTAN SPAIN N A NORTH JAPAN PACIFIC PORTUGAL KOREA OCEAN SOUTH C H ICCO KOREA ITANIA MORO JORDAN AKISTAN 30°N CONGO CAMENRIOGOENRIA Canary KUWAIT NEPAL Islands BHUTAN (to Spain) A L G E R I A L I B Y A EGYPT BAHRAIN P Tropic of Cancer QATAR BANGLADESH UAE TAIWAN SAUDI OMAN I N D I A BURMA CAPE MAUR ARABIA Arabian (MYANMAR) VI Northern VERDE Sea Mariana MALI NIGER SUDAN Islands SENEGAL CHAD ERITREA YEMEN THAILAND (to US) PHILIPPINES Guam GAMBIA BURKINA DJIBOUTI Socotra (to US) CAMBODIA GUINEA- GUINEA MARSHALL BISSAU BENIN ETHIOPIA (to Yemen) IVORY CENTRAL SOUTH ISLANDS SIERRA LEONE COAST AFRICAN OMALIA SRI LANKA BRUNEI MICRONESIA PALAU LIBERIA REPUBLIC SUDAN GHANA TOGO UGANDA S MALDIVES MALAYSIA Equator EQUATORIAL GUINEA NAURU KENYA INDIAN SINGAPORE SAO TOME GABON OCEAN KIRIBATI DEMOCRATIC RWANDA I N D O N E S I A PAPUA & PRINCIPE REPUBLIC TUVALU BURUNDI SEYCHELLES NEW SOLOMON Cabinda GUINEA (to Angola) OF CONGO TANZANIA EAST TIMOR ISLANDS COMOROS ATLANTIC ANGOLA MALAWI Mayotte (to France) St. Helena ZAMBIA MOZAMBIQUE VANUATU F I J I (to UK) MADAGASCAR New ZIMBABWE MAURITIUS Caledonia OCEAN NAMIBIA (to France) BOTSWANA Réunion (to France) Tropic of Capricorn SWAZILAND AU S T R A L I A LESOTHO 30°S SOUTH AFRICA NEW ZEALAND Faeroe Islands NORWAY SWEDE N FINLAND (to Denmark) RUSSIAN North ESTONIA FEDERATION N WE UNITED S e a DENMARK LATVIA KINGDOM S RUSS. LITHUANIA 60°S FED. 231 Antarctic Circle IRELAND NETHERLANDS POLAND BELARUS GERMANY BELGIUM Channel CZECH REPUBLIC UKRAINE A N TA R C T I C A Islands LUXEMBOURG (to UK) SWITZERLAND AUSLSOTBVROEINSACNIRAIOASHAL&TUOISNVAEAGRRKAOBIRIAMAYANIA MOLDOVA 120°E 150°E FRANCE LIECHTENSTEIN SAN MARINO HERZEGOVINA BULGARIA Caspian Sea ANDORRAPORTUGAL Corsica VAMCTIIOTCYNAINTTEANLEGYROALKBOMASANOCVIEAOD(OdiNspIuAtTed)U RKE Scale 1:103,000,000 SPAIN M Sardinia Y Kilometers 0 1000 Gibraltar edite rranean GREECE 2000 3000 (to UK) Sea MOROCCO ALGERIA 0 1000 2000 3000 TUNISIA MALTA CYPRUS Miles

Population density In 2011, the human population passed seven billion for the first time. Sixty percent of the world’s peoples are found in Asia, with China (1.35 billion) and India (1.21 billion) far and away the MAPPING THE WORLD world’s most populous nations. However, people are not spread evenly around the planet, so similar-sized countries can have very different numbers of inhabitants. 150°W 120°W 90°W Arctic Circle 60°N Toronto 5.7m New York 8.4m 30°N Tropic of Cancer Mexico 20.1m LOW DENSITY Equator Lima 8.5m Tropic of Capricorn São Paolo 11.2m The large Asian nation of Mongolia has a population of just 2.67 million, yet it Buenes Aires 13m is more than four times the size of the United Kingdom, which has more than 60 million inhabitants. Mongolia’s population density is just 4.4 people per sq mile (1.7 people per sq km), with most people living in urban areas. 30°S 60°S Antarctic Circle POPULATION BOOM 150°W 120°W 90°W Between 1990 and 2010, India’s population grew by 40 percent and it now has a sixth of the world’s population. There are 200 million more people in India than in the whole of Africa, and experts predict that India may overtake China as the world’s most populous country by 2030. 232

HIGH DENSITY KEY MAPPING THE WORLD The tiny European principality Population density of Monaco is just 0.76 sq miles (1.98 sq km). Although only around (people per square mile) 35,000 people live there, Monaco has the highest population density more than 520 of any country in Europe at more 260 to 520 than 43,250 people per sq mile 130 to 260 (17,000 people per sq km). 26 to 130 2.6 to 26 less than 2.6 cities and their populations (in millions) 30°W 0° 30°E 60°E 90°E 120°E 150°E Arctic Circle 60°N Moscow 11.5m London 8.3m Berlin 3.5m Rome 2.8m Beijing 19.6m Alexandria 4.4m 30°N Cairo 7.2m Tropic of Cancer Mumbai 16.4m Kolkata 13.2m Equator Nairobi 3.1m Tropic of Capricorn Brisbane 2m 30°S Sydney 4.6m Melbourne 4.1m 60°S N WE Antarctic Circle 30°W 0° 30°E 60°E 90°E 120°E 150°E ▲ POPULATION DENSITY Scale 1:103,000,000 S This map shows the most populous cities on each continent. 233 Some also include sprawling urban areas that spread out Kilometers 2000 3000 around the cities themselves. Beijing, China, tops the list 0 1000 with just under 20 million. 0 1000 2000 3000 Miles

234 North America MAPPING THE WORLD The third-largest of the seven continents, North America lies CANADIAN PRAIRIES entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and has a population of more than 528 million people. Dominated by Canada and the These vast swaths of grassland possess United States, its land area of more than 9.3 million sq miles fertile soil suitable for farming. They are (24 million sq km) stretches from frozen tundra in the Arctic part of the Great Plains that stretch for down through spectacular mountain ranges, prairies, and desert 1.2 million sq miles (3 million sq km) scrub to the tropical rainforests of Central America. from the Mississippi River to southern Canada, and they make up four-fifths of Canada’s farmland. Canada is a leading exporter of wheat, rapeseed, and soybeans, among other products. 30˚ 80˚ 80˚ O C E A N150˚ 120˚ 90˚ 60˚ 70˚ 20˚ 70˚ B r o o k ASIA ARCTIC Ellesmere Greenland Island Bering Strait (to Denmark) ◀ GREENLAND 30˚ Greenland is the world’s largest island. Although physically part Bering 60˚ P A C I F I C s Beaufort Baffin of the North American continent, S TAT E S Sea it is officially part of the Kingdom A l Se a UNITED Range Bay D a v of Denmark, in Europe. I s Victoria Island in Is e u t ia n OF AMERICA B a f f n i s NE l a n ds 170˚ Mount McKinley St 40˚ 60˚ WS 20,322 ft Mackenzie l a rait NUUK 50˚ 160˚ A l e u t i a n R a n g e Anchorage Mackenzie d Foxe Iqaluit L a b r a d o r 150˚ G u l f o f Great Bear Basin (Frobisher Bay) A l a s k a 140˚ Lake Whitehorse Mountains Hudson Strait S e a 50˚ Yellowknife Juneau R ocky Great Slave Hudson Labrador Queen Lake Bay Lake Athabasca Charlotte Reindeer Lake Alb Islands St. Lawrence OCEAN 50˚ C A N A D A Laurentian St. John’s Mountains Newfoundland Edmonton any St. Pierre & Miquelon (to France) Vancouver Vancouver o Calgary Saskatoon Lake Winnipeg 130˚ Island Seattle M Regina Halifax Winnipeg Québec

Missouri Lake Superior Montréal 60˚ O T TAWA untains OCEAN Mount Rainier 14,409 ft Thunder Bay Portland Coast Ranges Lake Huron Lake Ontario Columbia Mississippi Boston KEY Boise Saint Paul alachian MountainsLake Michigan TorontoAlbanyHartford 40˚ The scale shows that this Colo map is 38 million times Elevation U N I T E D S T A T E S40˚ ATLANTICDetroit Lake ErieNew York smaller than the continent. Sea level Reno Great Salt Plains Des Moines Chicago Cleveland Philadelphia Scale 1:38,000,000 820 ft Lincoln 13,125 ft Lake rado Indianapolis Baltimore Kilometers 6,560 ft 6,560 ft Kansas City Columbus 0 300 600 900 13,125 ft 3,280 ft Oakland Sacramento Salt Lake WASHINGTON, D.C. 1,640 ft San Francisco City Ohio 820 ft Denver 70˚ 328 ft San Jose Richmond Below sea level O FDeath Valley -282 ft Las Vegas Saint Louis Nashville Raleigh AMERICA Los Angeles G Arkansas Oklahoma Memphis App Atlanta Columbia reat City 0 300 600 900 San Diego Phoenix Albuquerque Little Rock Montgomery Miles Tijuana Mexicali El Paso Jackson 30˚ Lower Dallas 30˚ Mountain 120˚ S Ciudad Juárez Baton Rouge Jacksonville Lowest point i Settlements Hermosillo er Austin New Orleans Capital city San Tampa over 1 million ra Mad ChihuahuaSie Houston Mississippi Turks & Caicos British Virgin 500,000 to 1 million Gulf Antonio Islands (to UK) Islands 20˚ 100,000 to 500,000 Cal Rio (to UK) 60˚ below 100,000 Delta Grande Miami NASSAU Virgin Islands (to US) Anguilla (to UK) re rra Madre of if M E X I C O GMuelxfi coof W e s t I n d i e s20˚ CalifC a r i b b e a n110˚Occiden orn Monterrey aJUAMtPBOABeIRACATGAr-HuAaUnA(tKta-oMPnIUaNRAmASIG)oNSSBHnCTaDyEAOOItNRTMEIiDPINUOSl(ItABMoCNALlNAIIrTNeNuCPtOeGhbu(.aeO)tSSrosTtAoU.NMKRSIoJ)iTcUnTotLAASseNe&nrrsSaNtTstEi.e(LVltroUlISUCe AIKsAN) TGIDGuTGOaMURdRMAIaePENTSrl&IoNOTtNHIi.BuDAnBRIEVpACDiAATIqeGRANDR-AuOBR(BCte&AoEFUE1(DNF-0tNTDSo˚rOAOaTPAFDnSABr&caIIeAnNN)GcEeO)S tal o Oriental i rn HAVANA C a ia Guadalajara León Mérida Gre Querétaro Yucatan Cayman Islands MEXICO CITY Volcán Pico Peninsula (to UK) de Orìzaba 18,701 ft BELIZE Puebla BELMOPAN Acapulco G UAT E M A L A HONDURAS Sea Curaçao Bonaire GUATEMALA CITY TEGUCIGALPA (to Neth.) (to Neth.) 100˚ SAN SALVADOR SOUTH 60˚ NICARAGUA EL SALVADOR Lake Nicaragua PANAMA CITY AMERICA MANAGUA SAN JOSÉ 70˚ 90˚ 10˚ COSTA RICA PANAMA 80˚ MONUMENT VALLEY LAS VEGAS A famous landmark on the Colorado Plateau in In 1910, a year before it officially the southwestern United States, Monument Valley became a city, Las Vegas, Nevada, contains a number of distinctive steep-sided, had a population of just 800 isolated hills called buttes. These sandstone people and was surrounded by monuments reach up to 1,000 ft (300 m) and were desert. Today, its population of formed when the surrounding terrain was eroded. more than 580,000 residents is continuously swelled by millions of visitors to its famous casinos, hotels, and entertainment. 235 MAPPING THE WORLD

PACIFICSouth America MAPPING THE WORLD 236 South America is the fourth-largest continent, with a land area SÃO PAULO, BRAZIL of just over 6.9 million sq miles (17.8 million sq km). Running almost the entire western length of the continent, the Andes The largest country in South America, Brazil mountain range contains the highest peak in the Americas, has a population of more than 197 million. Mount Aconcagua. East of the Andes lies the giant Amazon It is the fifth-largest nation in the world, by River basin, with an area of 2.7 million sq miles (7 million sq km) population and area. The largest city in mostly covered in tropical rainforest. Brazil and the Southern Hemisphere is São Paulo, which is home to 11.2 million people. C a70˚ r i b b e a n S e a60˚ AT 80˚ Barranquilla VGenuelfzuoef la Valencia CARACAS L10˚ Cartagena Maracay A Maracaibo Cumaná 10˚ Gulf of Lake Barquisimeto Venezuelan N Darien Maracaibo Ciudad Guayana territorial T NORTH AMERICA Gulf of Montería n o sSan Cristóbal Orinoco claim Cúcuta I CGUYANA 50˚ V E N E Z U E L APanamaCauca GEORGETOWN Magdalena Medellín Bucaramanga l a PARAMARIBO Pereira L Guiana SURINAM CAYENNE O N C W BOGOTÁ Boa Vista French E Guiana A S Surinamese N territorial (to France) Fortaleza Cali Río Negro H i g claims h E COLOMBIA l a n ds Esmeraldas Pasto Branco Macapá 0˚ Equator QUITO Caqueta Represa Amazon Belém Equator 0˚ 40˚ Cotopaxi 19,347 ft Balbina Santarém E C UA D O R A m a z o nGuayaquil Represa São Luís B a s i nMachala Putumayo Amazon Manaus Tocantins Sobradinho Chimborazo ruá 20,702 ft Amazon pajós Iquitos Ma deira Ta Marañón Ju Purus Xingu Teresina Piura bo Ucayali Serra do Cachim Planalto da Natal Borborema A RA Trujillo P E R U Porto Velho Araguaia Recife Tocantins Nevado Huascarán n Rio Branco B Palmas 22,205 ft ZI Juazeiro Maceió 10˚ Represa de Aracaju 10˚ dCallao LIMA L Sobradinho

ParaguayeCusco Planalto de H iBgrhalzainlFridansaciscno Salvador omayo Mato Grosso Arequipa Lake AltiplanoTiticaca do Caiapó Arica A E Iquique C O Tropic of Capricorn BOLIVIA Cuiabá BRASÍLIA São Antofagasta Goiânia s LA PAZ N Coquimbo Cochabamba P KEY 80˚ 30˚ Lago Santa Cruz Serra Elevation Poopó Mount Aconcagua 20˚ 22,831 ft SUCRE Sea level 20˚ SANTIAGO A t a c a m a D e s e r tE Pilc P A R A G U A Y Campo Grande Belo Horizonte 820 ft 13,125 ft Ribeirão Preto 6,560 ft es Vitória 6,560 ft 3,280 ft 13,125 ft 1,640 ft an Chaco araná Campinas Nova Iguaçu 820 ft Londrina Osasco 328 ft Rio de Janeiro Below sea level Salta ASUNCIÓN Serra do Ma r São Paulo Tropic of Capricorn Santos 40˚ Gr Ciudad del Este Curitiba PACIFIC OCEAN Mount Ojos del Salado Resistencia 22,572 ft A Posadas Mountain Paraná Florianópolis Lowest point La Rioja amia Santa Maria Settlements Mendoza t Porto Alegre Capital city over 1 million L o 30˚ 500,000 to 1 million 100,000 to 500,000 d p below 100,000 IN o Córdoba s e Paraná M Tacuarembó CEAN Rosario Uruguay URUGUAY HI SaladoN T BUENOS AIRES Río MONTEVIDEO An Pampas La Plata de la Plata O Concepción Colorado Bahía Blanca Mar del Plata IC ◀ TWELVE NATIONS Valdivia Río Negro ANGEL FALLS E 40˚ T 50˚ 40˚ Found on the Churún River, N South America includes just 12 nations, plus the in the Guiana Highlands of Golfo de French overseas region of French Guiana, and Venezuela, Angel Falls is the Penas a number of islands, including the windswept tallest waterfall in the world. Falklands in the far south. At its highest point, it plunges 50˚ 3,212 ft (979 m). Angel Falls C Puerto Montt Rawson A THE AMAZON was largely unknown outside 600 P a t Aa g oRChicon iG aPunta Arenas Lago T the region until 1933, when Colhué Huapí L The Amazon River flows east U.S. aviator Jimmie Angel A through Brazil on its way to noticed the falls as he flew past. Gulf of the Atlantic Ocean. More DesSeaadno Jorge than 3,728 miles (6,000 km) long, the river drains a vast Laguna del Carbón 50˚ area of the South American -344 ft continent. As much as STANLEY one-fifth of the freshwater Bahía Falkland that runs off Earth’s surface is Grande Islands carried by the Amazon. Río Gallegos (to UK) of Magellan Scale 1:24,000,000 Strait Kilometers Ushuaia 60˚ 0 200 400 600 0 200 400 Beagle Channel Miles 70˚ Cape Horn 237 MAPPING THE WORLD

Europe 20˚ The sixth-largest continent, Europe is Den ark Strait home to more than 740 million people. m It is located on the single landmass that MAPPING THE WORLD also includes Asia, and the combined REYKJAVÍK C E L A N DArctic Circle 70˚ 10˚ I area is known as Eurasia. Europe has 20˚ 10˚ Norwegian W three coastal borders, with the Arctic Sea Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean Faeroe Islands (to Denmark) 0˚ to the west, and the Mediterranean Sea O 60˚ WR C E Trondheim A E to the south. To the east, it is separated N O D Shetland Islands from Asia by the Ural and Caucasus Outer Orkney Islands Bergen N Hebrides mountains. These mountain ranges are SCOTLAND Stavanger OSLO located in Russia, a vast country that is part of both Europe and Asia. Aberdeen Örebro Glasgow ATLANTIC NORTHERN Vänern Edinburgh IRELAND Gothenburg Vättern Belfast North S I R E L A N D Isle Sea of Man DUBLIN (to UK) U N I T E D DENMARK Manchester COPENHAGEN Malmö G E R M A N Y P O LKINGDOM50˚ altic 10˚ Poznan WA L E S Birmingham Groningen Hamburg B Cardiff ENGLAND AMSTERDAM NETH. HanoveErlbe HAGUE BERLIN LONDON Oder UM Seine Channel English THE Düsseldorf Islands ChannBeRl USSELBSELGI (to UK) Le Havre Dresden LUXEMBOURG Frankfurt Wroclaw PARIS F R A N C EMDAuDerVoRaIllDadolBBiZdaSairasayinEcgBbtoia-loNzbBAyaafoaNozradDiPeraOeuyRxrTReoAnuloeueLsALseCoANMirDeVeLnaEMOMimLstRoLasorRnArigatOAsfeBelsrillLalénlayecno1sn5L,7UNS7BWiXS1cEteEfrItRaTMlsMNbZBoOEpuONRrTgUALsuCMARrOGiNGBinPlZeoDainuslnMoaorgiaacnuShmLatnLPFuIiolEJtMcoUtChrgVeBHaaneirLncTSntCeiJAAEcDAeNRNaUNnSOuATbBSSeAVELRITTIORNEAIVTENRCAEIPNPZNSIUR&IALEZAAAABACBGVHGLHHAOUIRECESERU.BZN. 10˚ Rhône A Coruña A Porto Rhine 40˚ 10˚ LISBON PORTUGAL ro Adriatic S I S P A I N TBarcelona MARINO SARAJEVO ea Mostar Corsica EUROPEAN LANDSCAPES ASeville MONTENEGRO Valencia Majorca VATICAN PODGORICA Europe has a wide range of dramatic CITY geographical features, from glacial L YMálaga landscapes to mountain ranges, and Ibiza Minorca ROME from rolling plains to dry, warm islands Palma Sardinia Ty r r h in the Mediterranean. About 270 Gibraltar Murcia Bale nds Naples Bari mammal species are found on the (to UK) a r i c Isla continent, including this red deer in enian Messina the Scottish Highlands. Ceuta M e d Palermo Mount Etna 10,705 ft (to Spain) 0˚ i t e Cagliari Ionian Sea Melilla r Sea (to Spain) r a n 10˚ ea Sicily n MALTA VALLETTA Scale 1:19,000,000 Sea Kilometers 0 200 400 600 0 200 400 600 Miles 238

N 50˚ 60˚ 70˚ NORWEGIAN FJORD W E Novaya This long, narrow inlet surrounded by steep S Zemlya land on three sides is called a fjord. Formed 40˚ through the erosion of land by glaciers, 30˚ Kara fjords form much of the western coast of Barents Sea Norway. The longest fjord in Norway, Sea Sognefjord, runs for 126 miles (203 km). Vorkuta Arctic Circle 20˚ Ural MAPPING THE WORLD Y D Murmansk RUSSIAN Mountains A Kola Archangel N Peninsula N White 60˚ Sea E North F E D Eern Dvina R A T I O N a A thni L o of B N I Lake Perm’ Onega f Gul F Lake Turku HELSINKI Ladoga Kirov Vologda STOCKHOLM TALLINN St. Petersburg ESTONIA Yaroslavl’ Kazan’ Ufa Gotland Nizhniy Novgorod Ul’yanovsk ea L AT V I A Tol’yatti Orenburg 50˚ KEY Samara S RIGA Wester n MOSCOW Elevation L I THUA N IA Dvina Vitsyebsk Central Sea level 820 ft RUSS. FED. Tula 60˚ 13,125 ft 6,560 ft 6,560 ft (Kaliningrad) VILNIUS Russian ◀ RUSSIA 13,125 ft 3,280 ft MINSK Russia is the largest 1,640 ft Kaliningrad Saratov country in the world. 820 ft Its area of more than 328 ft BELARUS Voronezh Upland 6.5 million sq miles Below sea level (17 million sq km) Vistula WARSAW Homyel’ is more than one-eighth 50˚ of Earth’s inhabited A N D Brest Volgograd land area. KIEV Kharkiv Volga Krakow UKRAINE Carpathian L’viv Dnipropetrovs’k Astrakhan’ S Mountain SLOVAKIA Chernivtsi Dniester Donets’k Caspian Lowest point Rostov-na-Donu -92 ft Settlements MOLDO BUDAPEST VA nieper Capital city over 1 million Cluj-NapocaMountains D Sea of Stavropol’ 500,000 to 1 million CHISINAU Azov GARY Odesa Groznyy ROMANIA Simferopol’ CNovorossiysk a u u s ea Brasov cas BELGRADE BUCHAREST Elbrus 18,511 ft 100,000 to 500,000 40˚ below 100,000 S E R B I A Danube Constanta c k Sea GROWING GRAPES Ruse B l a Wine has been produced in Europe for KOSOVO BUL G A R I A 30˚ (disputed) SOFIA Burgas PRISHTINË SKOPJE MACEDONIA Istanbul TIRANA Tu r k ey 40˚ ALBANIA Salonica Larisa Aegean many thousands of years. Grapevines flourish in the warm and relatively dry GREECE Sea ATHENS Mediterranean climate of southern Europe. Together, Spain, France, and Italy produced 20˚ 2.8 million gallons (12.5 billion liters) of wine in 2011, which was more than Irákleio Crete 40 percent of the world’s total. 239

240 Africa MAPPING THE WORLD The second-largest continent, Africa is home to more than a billion THE NILE people, with more than 3,000 different ethnic groups scattered across 54 countries. The north of the continent is dominated by About 4,132 miles (6,650 km) the world’s largest hot desert, the Sahara, with large belts of grassy long, the Nile is the longest river highlands and rich rainforest farther south. A number of large in the world. It provides a vital river systems drain the continent, including the Nile, Niger, water source for nearby farmlands Congo, and Zambezi. and settlements. Fed by several sources, the Nile flows northward through 10 countries, including Sudan and Egypt, before flowing into the Mediterranean Sea. EUROPE 10˚ 0˚ 10˚ Medit e r ALGIERS Annaba Kairouanr a n Tanger Oran TUNIS 20˚ Batna ea 30˚ 20˚ Madeira RABAT Fès Oujda (to Portugal)Casablanca a i n s Chott n Sea 40˚ sM ount 30˚ M O R O C C O TUNISIA30˚ el Jerid Gabès TRIPOLI ASIA Canary Islands iental Gulf of (to Spain) Sirte Tropic of Cancer Marrakech l a Misrátah Benghazi Alexandria Port Said Jbel Toubkal A t Grand Erg Or Qattara CAIRO 13,671 ft Suez Canal Depression Giza Great WDeess Sand Sea te r n Red Sea N A L G E R I A L I B Y AWestern SaharaLAÂYOUNE er t W E G Y P TTropic of Cancer (Occupied by Morocco) E a s t e r nNiDle e s e r t Libyan Des Luxor E Erg Chech Aswan S a h20˚ A h a g g a r r e r t Lake Nasser S a Tibesti a Nubian MAURITANIA D Desert (Hala’ib 20˚ 50˚ R Triangle) CHA Gulf of Aden CAPE Taou d enni Nile Port Sudan VERDE Basin Lake Chad MNOUAKCHOTT A L I S U D A N ERITREA NI GE Senegal Zinder SENEGAL Niger T O G O Omdurman Kassala ASMARA KHARTOUM Ras Dashen PRAIA DAKAR Kaolack fur GAMBIA BANJUL BAMAKO Niger NIAMEY Niger El Obeid Blue Nile 14,928 ft White Nile BURKINA Dar Lake Assal DJIBOUTI GUINEA- BISSAU OUAGADOUGOU Sokoto Kano NDJAMENA Lake Tana -509 ft DJIBOUTI BISSAU GUINEA FASO Maiduguri 10˚ BENIN Kaduna 10˚ Bobo-Dioulasso Ethiopian SIFERCREOERNTAAOMKWLORENYNORONKVLEoIIAidBu1E0Y˚RAMIC(AOIÔVUTOSSEROYDUAKC’bIRViOdOOjAanISRGTE)HAVLoNalAtkaeCACRLAOMOPÉyOoRLTNaOgOo-NsMgIbOAoVGLmOAoBsOEhAoBURDAJdAHoauiICmgahlaAalAwaYMnaAdOEsURGNOaDroOuÉa Hargeysa Sarh dMe saBs soinf g ADDIS ABABA OMALIA o Dire Dawa ENTRA L AFRICAN Sudd Hi g h l a n d s Horn of Africa REP UBLIC BANGUI Ubangi E T H I O P I A S20˚ C N SOUTH SUDAN Shebe li Elemi Triangle Lake Turkana JUBA (Lake Rudolf)

A SÃO TOMÉ & EQUATORIAL CONGO Congo Lake Albert UGANDA MOGADISHU T0˚ Equator PRINCIPE GUINEA SÃO TOMÉ LIBREVILLE C o n g o Kisangani Va l l e y KAMPALA KENYA Equator 0˚ THE EQUATOR ▶ ANTICPort-Gentil G A B O N Mbandaka B a s i n Lake Va l l e y Kirinyaga Kismaayo 0˚ The equator passes through seven L 17,060 ft countries in Africa. Temperatures D E M . R E P. RWANDA Victoria VICTORIA KIGALI NAIROBI are generally very high all year round near the equator, but snow CONGO Bukavu and ice are found at the summit of Africa’s highest mountain, Mount BRAZZAVILLE KINSHASA Ilebo L Rift BUJUMBURA Kilimanjaro 19,341 ft Mombasa Kilimanjaro in Tanzania. ANGOLA ualaba BURUNDI (Cabinda) Rift DODOMA Zanzibar Lake LUANDA Kalemie Tanganyika Mbuji-Mayi Great TA N Z A N I A Dar es Salaam Great SEYCHELLES OCEAN 10˚ A N G O L A MALAWILubumbashi COMOROS OCEAN 10˚ Bié ZLake Nyasa IQUE MORONI Plateau Zambez Kitwe CONGO BASIN ZAMBIA Mayotte R Stretching across parts of Namibe Lubango LILONGWE Nacala (to France) six countries, the Congo Basin is rich in dense LUSAKA Blantyre nel A rainforest and swamps Mahajanga that provide homes for ambezi a n C more than 400 species Bi of mammals, including HARARE Ch S chimpanzees (left) and gorillas. Around a third M10˚ Mozambique A Toamasina of the basin’s 10,000 plant species are found N A M I B I A Okavango ZIMBABWE MOZA Beira G ANTANANARIVO MAURITIUS only in this region. Delta 20˚ Bulawayo A Namib Desert Walvis WINDHOEK BKOa lTa hSaWr iANMAahalapyeLimpopo D Fianarantsoa 20˚ PORT Tropic of Capricorn Bay LOUIS A Réunion (to France) Desert Tropic of Capricorn M GABORONE PRETORIA/TSHWANE N Luderitz Johannesburg MAPUTO 30˚ Ora n g e River Kimberley MBABANE SWAZILAND A Welkom BLOEMFONTEIN MASERU I LESOTHO Pietermaritzburg D 50˚ SOUTH Drakensberg I N 30˚ AFRICA East London KEY CAPE TOWN Port Elizabeth Cape of 40˚ Elevation Good Hope 20˚ 30˚ 13,125 ft 6,560 ft 3,280 ft 1,640 ft MAASAI MARA Scale 1:33,000,000 820 ft 328 ft Located in Kenya, the Maasai Mara nature reserve is home to more than Kilometers Sea level Below sea level 90 species of mammals, including 0 300 600 900 820 ft lions and cheetahs, as well as more than 500 bird species. Each year, 0 300 600 900 6,560 ft more than two million wildebeests, Miles 13,125 ft zebras, and gazelles migrate to the area in search of suitable grazing. Mountain Lowest point 241 Settlements Capital city over 1 million 500,000 to 1 million 100,000 to 500,000 below 100,000 MAPPING THE WORLD

Asia 80˚ 50˚ 60˚ 70˚ 80˚ 90˚ MAPPING THE WORLD The largest continent, Asia is also home to the world’s largest ARCTIC city: Beijing, China. It is a continent of physical extremes, containing both the lowest point on Earth (the Dead Sea, in 50˚ Jordan) and the highest point on Earth (Mount Everest, in the Himalayas) as well as vast deserts, Arctic tundra, tropical Kara rainforests, and large river deltas. Sea 70˚ n sArctic Circle Noril’sk P Ob’ E Mountai O S Yenisey R 50˚ 60˚ R U S S I A N Ural’sk We s t 30˚ E U50˚ Ural Yekaterinburg Si b e r i a n m 40˚ ChelyabinskIrtysh P l a i n Chuly 40˚ Istanbul B l a c k Omsk Rudnyy Novosibirsk TURKEY Sea Ural ASTANA I N D I A3300˚D˚-1T2er0,Jao3˚pEdN8iIcCR8SSoILefUYCRGfJCatEeBPSaOAadnBEARzcESdeaAILSUDrILRaNAEySUAeMOAJrSTsOdNiRePaARaAArAnDnenSYMtaARDUAaArnEMINASAtNaBY(ioYMMAArDAEAnblRNNADmRIiEIiaKsSKIuHApACauAUINbtUyRRY‘WnlMBMSAEAaQaAAaRRQAAloIsuENZTMQArKsBaViEauTAghArrEARGliAMtaGNNBDKeRElA.rHiIOUTO)QABDaHWRSbAoAAAGUBhrmHOAiTDIiMAAIzTrRIZBAAlKaEfMUAIBzEURLISURIANCSBITPDANIArAElHGTaTaIHuNnAJMtUlfARseiBRoaaaNAIfAKsunSONkhutMmharauDaEndAHNasoeArIrKgSSASSaaAuTetHraKKUzebaaAFrQaGaZaliNGnABcaAuPdhHBaenZAihtAAtAaaTKrhSANymrIKPIDFaTSSHeadaArsTHTiyahTSySsbKhaaAAudHaawlySre(aNrKzldNaKriabyDntDTaErlAeaobUeNodBBrAsafdNeSTUITdcraKHSaotDNALrnHYAmDtJNENIrRLBIKNoaSLLKaealEaGdL)EBHkllagaWIkhAYKeEhpSaIKiLZMoTushauSHArBABrKAr(ecTcaTalNh2ABklmAlagko2JinAgamieTNa8paKnnroDisee,ataha2gdwdcuyki5lNnsabDanl1hyamE(bClfKaeCnIyuthdPnMsShAIimMnednnAoTÜrihaaPdiak(oTnMtL,H)iVaCukuarailcass)anürlaoaMtK2aauietutirnmm9rnlme2oeEAaGcn,d0a4lvenluHNqta2dk,euab4natir9eDyiae0tgsnosftae6iUattfssa)ftTCaspian Seaa Euphrates EKAImSuTADNarya TRANS-SIBERIAN RAILWAY Red Sea Zagros Spanning 5,717 miles (9,200 km), AFRICA s the Trans-Siberian Railway is one of the longest in the world. It runs Mountain eastward from Moscow, in western Russia (see page 239), through Gu Siberia, and on to Vladivostok, close Persian to Russia’s border with China and North Korea. The line carries more Indus than 200,000 cargo containers a year. Easte Dec 40˚ Aden Mumbai Pune Goda Gha (Bombay) tsHyderabad Gulf of Aden Socotra K vari Bay of (to Yemen) 60˚ I N D I A N We s t e r n rishna r n 50˚ OCEAN BangaloreGhats Chennai 10˚ Mysore (Madras) Kochi Jaffna GREAT WALL OF CHINA 70˚ SRI LANKA COLOMBO Begun in the third century bce, the Great Wall is a series of fortified walls, MALDIVES SRI JAYEWARDENAPURA KO 80˚ MALÉ towers, and ditches built and rebuilt over many centuries. Stretching about 13,000 miles (21,000 km) from North Korea to northwestern China, it was designed to repel foreign invaders from the north. 242

70˚ 80˚ 140˚150˚160˚17108˚0˚ Bering 170˚ ◀ EURASIA Sea 60˚ Asia makes up four-fifths of the landmass known as Eurasia, Anadyr’ with Europe occupying the remaining fifth. 120˚130˚ East Arctic Circle 180˚ Siberian N Sea C EA Kolyma Range I O Laptev Kolyma 170˚ P ndigirka Sea A Yan Lena Kamchatka C Olenëk a I KChetae n t r a l a Magadan 160˚ F MAPPING THE WORLD Siberian i Aldan Plateau r Yakutsk Petropavlovsk- I Kamchatskiy ib e L C Sea of Okhotsk Kurile Islands Amur ena 50˚ OCEAN FEDERATION 150˚S Vitim akhalin Angara Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk Amur Krasnoyarsk Lake Argun Khabarovsk Hokkaido Baikal Sapporo 40˚ Irkutsk Qiqihar Harbin Vladivostok Erdenet ULAN BATOR Jilin Sea of Japan Sendai BURJ KHALIFA, DUBAI M M O N G O L I Ao ongolia (East Sea) J A PA N Located in the Middle Eastern emirate (city-state) of Dubai, the Burj Khalifa is Yellow Riverultai NORTH Honshu TOKYO 2,722 ft (829.8 m) high. The skyscraper was nt a i PYONGYANG KOREA Osaka Yokohama built in 2010 as the world’s tallest building A and it houses an observation deck on the M n s Gobi I n n e r BEIJING Dalian SEOUL SOUTH 140˚ 124th floor. Dubai is one of seven emirates KOREA Hiroshima Datong Tianjin SEJONG CITY Busan Fukuoka 30˚ Jinan Qingdao Ye l l o w Kagoshima Zhengzhou Xuzhou S e a Lanzhou Taiwan Strait in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Nanjing Ryukyu IslandsShanghai E a s t Xi’an Hefei China CHINA Yangtze Wuhan Hangzhou S e a Tropic of Cancer Tibet 20˚ Scale 1:36,500,000 Chengdu Chongqing Nanchang (Much of Arunachal Pradesh Kilometers 0 300 600 900 is claimed by China) Leshan Changsha Fuzhou TAIPEI N E Brahmaputra Guiyang Shantou yas TAIWAN 0 300 600 900 THIMPHU Gaoxiong Miles BHUTAN Kunming Guangzhou BANGLADESH Nanning Hong Kong Philippine W KEY HANOI Hai Phong (Xianggang) S DHAKA B U R M A Elevation (MYANMAR) Luzon Sea Chittagong NAY PYI TAW LAOS Hainan Baguio TN A M Dao MANILA E MekongV Legazpi City Irrawaddy I 13,125 ft 6,560 ft Chiang VIENTIANE Da Nang S o u t h PHILIPPINES 10˚ 3,280 ft Mai China 1,640 ft Rangoon Sea Cebu Bengal THAILAND BANGKOK CAMBODIA Palawan S u l u Mindanao 140E˚quator 0˚ 820 ft Sea Davao 328 ft Andaman PHNOM PENH Ho Chi Sea level Below sea level Islands Minh City Zamboanga General Santos 820 ft (to India) Andaman Jayapura 6,560 ft Gulf of BANDAR SERI Celebes Halmahera 13,125 ft Sea Sea New Guinea Thailand BEGAWAN Manado Papua Nicobar MALAYS BRUNEI (Irian Jaya) Islands (to India) KUALA LUMPUR IA Moluccas Mountain Lowest point OTTE 90˚ Borneo Settlements Medan Balikpapan Ambon Pontianak DILI Capital city PUTRAJAYA SINGAPORE Celebes over 1 million Su EAST TIMOR 500,000 to 1 million SINGAPORE 100,000 to 500,000 below 100,000 t r a Jambi I N D O N E S I A0˚ m Equator a Padang Banjarmasin Makassar Sea 140˚ Palembang Java Sea Flores Semarang Surabaya Flores Timor OCEANIA JAKARTA Timor Sea 100˚ Bandung Java Malang 120˚ 130˚ 110˚ 243

Oceania 140˚ 150˚ 160˚ 20˚ Mariana Islands The smallest continent by land area, Northern Mariana Islands Oceania is also the least populated. Philippine (to US) There are fewer than 40 million people living in its sprawling range of islands 130˚ S e a Guam Saipan dotted across 19.3 million sq miles (50 million sq km) of the Pacific (to US) M i c rHAGÅTÑA Ocean. Australia, Papua New Guinea, o MAPPING THE WORLD n 10˚ Yap C a r o Chuuk MELEKEOK e Is Babeldaob l i n Pohnpei PALIKIR PAL AU l ands Kosrae MICRONESIA and New Zealand are the biggest Melan landmasses in the region, which mostly e consists of coral atolls and volcanic 0˚ Equator PAPUA NEW GUINEA s Bismarck New Ireland islands. Sometimes called the world’s Ne w G u i n e aWewak Sea New Rabaul Solo mon Isl largest island and smallest continent, Britain Australia dominates the region in size, Bougainville HONIARA Mount Wilhelm 14,793 ft Island Mount Hagen Lae Solomon New a n Sea Georgia Islands d s PORT MORESBY Guadalcanal population, and economic strength, A r a f u r a S e a Torres Strait SOLOMON partly due to its rich natural resources. ISLANDS 10˚ Cape C o r a l Arnhem York R Timor Darwin Land Great Barrier Sea Joseph Gulf of Peninsula S e a Bonaparte Katherine Coral Sea Islands Carpentaria Cairns (to Australia) Gulf New Caledonia 120˚INDIAN Normanton e OCEAN t (to France) Wyndham TownsvilleG ef Darlin P onKimberleyMount Isare Barcaldine SYDNEY HARBOUR Plateau a Mackay Situated on Australia’s eastern Derby Tennant Creek D Rockhampton i Broome Tanami Desert viding Range coast, Sydney is the largest city 110˚ Great Sandy in Oceania. The city is home to Desert Alice Springs Simpson Charleville Miles Brisbane Desert Toowoomba about 4.6 million people. Sydney Port Hedland AUST LIA Grafton RA Harbour is the deepest natural Hamersley Range Barw harbor in the world. 20˚ Gibson Lake Eyre -52 ft g Bourke Lord Howe Tropic of Capricorn Desert North Island Carnavon Great Victoria Lake Torrens Newcastle (to Australia) Lake Gairdner Port Augusta Wollongong Sydney Desert Mount Magnet Nullarbor Plain Ceduna Whyalla Murray Wagga Wagga CANBERRA Geraldton DarlinKalgoorlie Mount Kosciuszko 7,310 ft Great Adelaide Bendigo Australian Ta s m a n Kangaroo Melbourne g Range Bight Island Geelong ait Sea Mount Gambier ass St Launceston Perth r Esperance 30˚ Albany B Tasmania Hobart 110˚ 130˚ 140˚ 150˚ Scale 1:40,000,000 40˚ 120˚ ▲ AUSTRALASIA 900 Australia and New Zealand are often Kilometers jointly known as Australasia. Papua 0 300 600 900 New Guinea is also sometimes included in this grouping. 0 300 600 Miles 244

170˚ BORA BORA Wake 20˚ Part of the Society Islands in French Polynesia, Island 180˚ Bora Bora has a land area of 15.6 sq miles (40.3 sq km). Its resident population of 8,800 (to US) is increased by tourists eager to see the marine life that thrives in the tropical coral reefs surrounding the island. Bikini Atoll M A R S H A L L 170˚ MAPPING THE WORLD 160˚ ISLANDS 10˚ e P A C I F I CRalik Chain Ratak Chain OCEAN MAJURO Kingman Reef Palmyra Atoll ngaruBAIRIKI (to US) (to US) 150˚ N Tu Teraina Equator 0˚ a Tabuarean i s KIRIBATI Kiritimati Jarvis Island (to US) NAURU Baker & Howland ine Islands L E YAREN (to US) KIRIBATI W Phoenix Islands Islands 140˚ i Malden Island S a Starbuck Island T U VA L U FONGAFALE Tokelau (to NZ) Northern Cook Islands Penrhyn Santa Cruz Southern Al Manihiki Islands eWallis andSAMOAAmerican Cook Millennium Island 10˚ KEY sFutunaAPIA Samoa Islands Flint Island Banks ia(to France)(to US) Elevation Islands (to NZ) PAGO PAGO Sea level Vanua 820 ft T u 13,125 ft VANUATU Levu Labasa la a m o t 6,560 ft 6,560 ft Society u 13,125 ft 3,280 ft TONGA PAPEETE Islands 1,640 ft PORT-VILA Lautoka SUVA Is 820 ft Erromango Lau Group Niue 328 ft Viti (to NZ) Southern Cook nds Below sea level Îles Loyauté Levu NUKU'ALOFA AVARUA FIJI Islands Tahiti French Rarotonga P o l y n e s i a 20˚ NOUMÉA Îles A u s t r (to France) es ACIFIC OCEAN a l Tropic n of Capricorn Norfolk Island Kermadec Islands y Mountain (to Australia) (to NZ) Lowest point o l Settlements PNorth 160˚ 150˚ 30˚ Capital city 140˚ over 1 million Island 500,000 to 1 million Bay of 100,000 to 500,000 Auckland Plenty below 100,000 Hamilton Rotorua 170˚ New Plymouth Hastings 40˚ NEIGHBORS Coo Palmerston North WELLINGTON Strait Australia is the most populous k country in Oceania, with more South ps than 22 million inhabitants. Neighboring New Zealand is Island Aoraki Christchurch Chatham Islands the second most populous, (Mount Cook) 3754m (to NZ) InvercargillN E WFovSetaeuwxarSttrait Dunedin ZEALANDIsland 160˚ 170˚ 180˚ with more than four million. Around 31 percent of New Auckland Islands (to NZ) Zealand is covered in forest. 245

Antarctica With an area of 5.4 million sq miles Orcadas 60° 10° (14 million sq km), Antarctica is (Argentina) the fifth-largest continent, and the South Orkney S O U T H E R N20° coldest. Almost all of its land is Islands Georg von Neumayer (Germany) MAPPING THE WORLD Signy (UK) Limit of summer pack ice 30° 50° S e a Passage ia Bransfield StrSaitc o t covered in an ice sheet that is 65° 15,400 ft (4,700 m) thick in 60° General Bernardo O’Higgins (Chile) 40° Esperanza (Argentina) Capitán Drake Marambio (Argentina) Arturo Prat Gr places. It is the southernmost (Chile) James Ross Island South ah Halley continent, with the South Shetland a (UK) Pole at its center. With rainfall of only 8 in (20 cm) per year, 60° Islands mL Coats Antarctica is also classified as a desert. A WPalmer (US) e d d e l l S e aVernadsky an Larsen Land Ice Shelf n d t Limit of winter pack ice (Ukraine) a rct Belgrano II MTohuenrtoanins (Argentina) ic Pe Adelaide n i n Limit of ice shelf Filchner San Martín 70° Island s ula Ice Shelf Berkner Recovery Glacier Rothera (Argentina) P a l m e r Land Island (UK) Fossil Bluff (UK) Ronne IceAlexander 65° Island Shelf Orville Coast Antarctic Circle English Coast SupporGt la Charcot Island Sky-Blu (UK) Henry Ice Pensacola cierForce Rise Latady Island Korff Ice 80° Smyley Island Rise T rMountains Bellingshausen A75° Na nT Limit of summer pack iceSea Vinson Massif Mou ntains 85° s a 16,066 ft 70° 80° Ellsworth Thurston Walgree n Co a s t 90° Island Ellsworth 100° Eights Coast Land RESEARCH BASES Mount Seelig W h i t m o r e 9,915 ft M o u n t a i n s Antarctica belongs to no single nation and has no permanent human residents. But up We s t to 4,000 people (mostly scientists) live there A n t a r c t i c aMoHunortlaiicnks at research bases during the summer months, when there is sunlight for 24 Amundsen Marie Byrd Land C oSa si p let hours a day and ships can get through the sea ice. 110° Sea Mount Sidley Shirase Coast 13,717 ft SURVIVING THE COLD Carney Island Hobbs Co Rockefeller Various species of penguins and seals live on Antarctica, feeding LimS120° ast Plateau Roosevelt on fish and other marine life from Island the surrounding ocean. These 70° Saunders Coast creatures are thickly insulated O Mount Siple with a layer of fat in order to 10,171 ft survive in the icy waters. U T H E R N R o s sit of 130° Sulzberger Bay summer pack ice 140° 150° OC 170° ▲ ANTARCTIC ICE SHEET 160° Antarctica’s gigantic ice sheet shrinks in 170° summer but expands in winter (marked by a small dotted line above) as temperatures fall. The parts of an ice sheet that stretch out over the sea are known as ice shelves. 246

SOU T 0° 10° 65° 30° H 20° Antarctic Circle E OCEAN R40° 70° Maitri (India) Sanae Africa) (South Prinsesse Novolazarevskaya (Russian Federation) Limit of summer pack ice CEAN O Astrid Kyst Prins Harald N Mawson Coast MAPPING THE WORLD Prinsesse Ragnhild Fimbulheimen 50° Asuka (Japan) D r o nning M a u d Kyst Syowa Molodezhnaya MELTING ICE (Japan) (Russian Warmer temperatures in Land Th o Belgi cafjella Ky s t Kr o nKpFyresidtnersation) summer cause chunks of ice Dronning Ola v at the edge of the ice sheet to 75° r s 8,491 ft calve, or break off, into the h a v ane Fabiolafjella n h e Enderby Mount Elkins i Dismal 7,546 ft 60° Land Mountains Kemp sea. In 2000, a giant piece of Land Mawson ice calved from the Ross Ice (Australia) 80° Mac. Robertson 70° Shelf had a vast surface area of about 4,247 sq miles Land LaPmrbienrEtc1MPGe1lolri,aC0uzic0nniahe7trcbaMfetreseltIsenhnszigAeMrsmidoeuCrnyhrtIiacsteiennSsshenelZCfhMongashBcDakanave(yinCs (zhAiinueast)ralia) (11,000 sq km), which is larger than the Caribbean island of Jamaica. 85° 80° Land oast West Ice Shelf ARCT ICA East This line marks how far sea ice retreats in summer, breaking up 85° 80° 75° 70° 65° when the temperature rises. In the winter the ice extends much further. South Amundsen-Scott (US) Wilhelm II 90° Land n t Pole Mirny Davis (Russian ar Antarctica Federation) Sea c t Vostok x Coast (Russian Federation) Shackleton Ice Shelf Queen M i c South Geomagnetic Pole M o uaudDMuofuekn85tCa°BioneGaassltradcmi4KeMo5rirr2oek8upmnattrick n 100° KEY Ross Ice tai n s Wilkes Kno Elevation Ice cap Shelf Land Vincennes Bay Vi Sea level Casey 820 ft ShacCkoleatsotn (Australia) 6,560 ft 110° 13,125 ft 80° rina Coast c Mount Lister t 13,209 ft o Sab Scott Base (NZ) McMurdo Base (US) ria L Te r r e Coastkes B an zar Mountain Ross Island Adélie e Coast Research station Mount Erebus Scott Coast Porpoise Limit of summer pack ice Limit of summer pack ice 120° Limit of winter pack ice 12,448 ft Bay Ice shelf Limit of ice shelf Sea Glacier 75° a B o rCcohagsrte v i n k n George V Wil d Land EAN Oates Land George V Coast Adélie Coast i l l e Sea 130° Cape Adare 70° Mount Minto Dum Dumont d’Urville Scale 1:22,000,000 13,658 ft (France) Leningradskaya ont d'Urv (Russian Federation) Antarctic Circle 140° Kilometers 0 150 300 450 Balleny Islands 150° 160° 170° 0 150 300 450 180° Miles 247

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