National Geographic Kids Ultimate Globetrotting World Atlas
HOW TO USE MAPS Maps tell visual stories about the world but you have to learn how to read them to understand what they are illustrating The maps in this book show the shape size landscape and position of continents regions and countries They also show some of the places and features humans have made on Earth for example cities canals and national parks All maps in this book are shown with North at the top 160 ooz PROJECTIONS To make flat maps a round image of Earth is cut into sections and spread out These sections and the gaps that exist between them can be different shapes and sizes The exact way sections are cut and laid flat is known as the map projection Projections are usually very close to the actual shape of countries or regions but are not 100 percent accurate EUROPE ASIA NORTH AMERICA AFRICA CONTINENTS Earth's land area is mainly made up of seven giant landmasses known as continents People have divided the continents into smaller political units called countries Australia is a continent and also a single country Antarctica is a continent with no countries The five other continents include almost 200 independent countries SOUTH AMERICA AUSTRALIA ANTARCTICA
Equator LINE Chad's country boundary appears as a POINT A point symbol a black dot indicates a SCALE AND DIRECTION The scale on a map may be shown as a fraction or comparison in words A bar scale is a line or bar with measurements that compare distances on the map with those in the real world Maps may include an arrow on compass rose to indicate North If North is to the top then East is to the right West to the left and South is to the bottom GRID LINES AND SYMBOLS The grid lines you see on maps are imaginary They are lines of longitude and latitude that help locate places Other lines are used to show boundaries roads or rivers and can vary in thickness and color Points or circles represent the location of places or things Area symbols use patterns or color to show regions city such as Representative Fraction Verbal Scale SCALE 14 280 000 1 CENTIMETER 12 8 KILOMETERS OR 1 INCH 676 MILES dotted line symbol AREA Sandy places such as part of the Sahara are shown by a tam speckled area Map Projection North Arrow KANO 90°N North Pole LATITUDE AND LONGITUDE The Equator marks the middle of the world Lines of latitude indicate distances north or south of the Equator Lines of longitude indicate distances east or west They start at the Prime Meridian which is oº longitude Equator Latitude M SL 0 0 Longitude
BRAZIL WORLD MAP NORTH AMERIC UNITED STATES SOUTH CAMERICA COUNTRIES OF THE WORLD This is a political map of the world It shows country boundaries country names and major cities It also shows the world's oceans
KAZAKHSTAN INDIA INDONESIA CHINA RUSSIA AFRICA AUSTRALIA
