The New York Public Library Amazing World Geography: A Book of Answers for Kids

179 Pages·2002·8.08 MB·English

by  The New York Public Library

T N Y
HE EW ORK
P L
UBLIC IBRARY
A
MAZING
W G
ORLD EOGRAPHY
A Book of Answers for Kids
Andrea Sutcliffe
A Stonesong Press Book
John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

T N Y
HE EW ORK
P L
UBLIC IBRARY
A
MAZING
W G
ORLD EOGRAPHY
A Book of Answers for Kids
Andrea Sutcliffe
A Stonesong Press Book
John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
This book is printed on acid-free paper.
Copyright ©2002 by The New York Public Library and The Stonesong Press, Inc. All
rights reserved
Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey
Published simultaneously in Canada
All maps prepared by Netmaps, S.A.
Photo p. 66, Charles & Josette Lenars, CORBIS; p. 78, General Research Division,
Humanities and Social Sciences Library, The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and
Tilden Foundations; p. 92, Photography Collection, Humanities and Social Sciences
Library, The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations; p. 102, Asian
and Middle Eastern Division, Humanities and Social Sciences Library, The New York
Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations; p. 114, General Research Division,
Humanities and Social Sciences Library, The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and
Tilden Foundations
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ISBN 0-471-39296-0
Printed in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
C
ONTENTS
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Introduction
1 THE WORLD AS A WHOLE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
2 NORTH AND CENTRAL AMERICA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
3 SOUTH AMERICA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
4 EUROPE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
5 ASIA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
6 AFRICA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
7 OCEANIA AND ANTARCTICA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
. . . . . . . . . 134
World Countries and Territories Listed Alphabetically
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
Glossary
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
Selected Bibliography
. . . . . . . 163
The New York Public Library’s Recommended Reading List
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
Internet Resources
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
Index

I
NTRODUCTION
Why is geography important? For one thing, geography helps us to better
understand the world we live in. It takes us out of our own neighborhoods and
shows us where and how the world’s other people live. Geography shows us
the connections between people and places. Geography also describes how
places on the earth change over time and how humans contribute to those
changes. With this knowledge, geography lets us peer into the earth’s future.
This book begins by giving you a geographic snapshot of the world as a
whole, often using the United States as a point of comparison. It then takes you
on a tour of the earth’s seven continents and 191 countries. You’ll learn about
places and people, landscapes and languages. You’ll learn about the largest
and smallest, the highest and lowest, and the hottest and coldest. You’ll learn
which countries are growing, and which are shrinking, and why. You’ll see
how we depend on other parts of the world for so many of the products we
use in our part of the world.
The questions here are just a start—the earth is way too big and interest-
ing to be covered in one small book. We hope you’ll soon be asking questions
of your own. For answers, and to learn more about geography in general, we
encourage you to visit the New York Public Library or your local library, and
perhaps check out the geography resources listed at the back of this book.

Does the earth have six or seven continents? ◆ What is a
tectonic plate? ◆ HaCveh thae pcotnetinren t1s always looked the
they do today? ◆ Where is zero degrees latitude and zero
T
degrees longitude? ◆Why dho maeps always show the North
Pole at the top? ◆ How old is the earth? ◆ How far is it to
W
the center of the earth? ◆ Who owns the oceans? ◆ Which
orld
is the largest ocean in the world? ◆ What is the world’s
largest islaAnd? ◆ Is the pulWl of gravity the same all over the
earth? ◆ How msuc ha of t he earth his covoeredl weith water? ◆
How much of all the water on the earth is in the oceans? ◆
Where is most of the earth’s freshwater found? ◆ Where is
the world’s wettest place? ◆ Where do most earthquakes h
Does the earth have six or seven continents?
Traditionally, there are seven continents: North
America, South America, Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia,
and Antarctica. But there are just six distinct land masses
because Europe and Asia lie on top of a single tectonic
plate, called Eurasia.
The dividing line between the continents of Europe
and Asia is usually the Ural Mountains in western Russia.
What is a tectonic plate?
The earth’s crust is not one continuous shell, but
instead is broken up into many pieces, which scientists
call tectonic plates. No one is sure how many plates there
are, but the number is probably between 20 and 40. The
continents rest on top of these plates, and over millions of
years the plates bearing the continents have been moving
relative to one another.
When these plates bump into each other, earthquakes
and volcanoes can occur and mountains may form. When
the plates pull apart from each other, continents may
break apart and oceans may form.