World - Geography
Geographic overview:
The surface of the earth is approximately 70.9% water and 29.1% land. The
former portion is divi ded i nto large water bodies termed oceans. The World
Factbook recognizes and describes five oceans, which are in decreasing order of
size: the Pacific Ocean, Atlantic Ocean, Indian Ocean, Southern Ocean, and Arctic
Ocean.
The land portion is generally divided into several, large, di screte landmasses
termed continents. Dependi ng on the convention used, the number of continents
can vary from five to seven. The most common classification recogni zes seven,
which are (from largest to smallest): Asi a, Africa, North America, South America,
Antarctica, Europe, and Australia. Asia and Europe are sometimes lumped
together into a Eurasian continent resulting in six continents. Alternatively,
North and South America are sometimes grouped as simply the Americas,
resulti ng i n a continent total of six (or five, if the Eurasi a desi gnation is used).
North America is commonly understood to include the island of Greenland, the
isles of the Caribbean, and to extend south all the way to the Isthmus of Panama.
The easternmost extent of Europe is generally defined as bei ng the Ural
Mountains and the Ural River; on the southeast the Caspi an Sea; and on the
south the Caucasus Mountai ns, the Bl ack Sea, and the Mediterranean. Portions of
Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Russia, and Turkey fall withi n both Europe and
Asia, but in every instance the larger secti on is in Asia. These countries are
considered part of both continents. Armenia and Cyprus, which lie completely in
Western Asia, are geopolitically European countries.
Asia usual ly incorporates all the islands of the Phili ppi nes, Malaysia, and
Indonesi a. The i slands of the Pacific are often lumped with Austral ia into a "land
mass" termed Oceania or Australasia. Africa' s northeast extremity is frequentl y
delimited at the Isthmus of Suez, but for geopolitical purposes, the Egyptian Sinai
Peninsul a is often i ncluded as part of Africa.
Although the above groupi ngs are the most common, different continental
dispositions are recognized or taught i n certain parts of the world, with some
arrangements more heavily based on cultural spheres rather than physical
geographic consi derati ons.
Area:
total: 510.072 million sq km
land: 148.94 million sq km
water: 361.132 million sq km
note: 70.9% of the world's surface is water, 29.1% is land
Area - comparative:
land area about 16 times the size of the US
top fifteen World Factbook entities ranked by size: Pacific Ocean 155.557 million
sq km; Atlantic Ocean 76.762 million sq km; Indian Ocean 68.556 million sq km;
Southern Ocean 20.327 million sq km; Russi a 17,098,242 sq km; Arctic Ocean
14.056 million sq km; Antarctica 14 million sq km; Canada 9,984,670 sq km;
United States 9,826,675 sq km; China 9,596,961 sq km; Brazil 8,514,877 sq km;
Austral ia 7,741,220 sq km; European Union 4, 324,782 sq km; India 3,287,263 sq
km; Argentina 2,780,400 sq km
top ten largest islands: Greenland 2,166,086 sq km; New Guinea (Indonesia,
Papua New Guinea) 785,753 sq km; Borneo (Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia) 751,929
sq km; Madagascar 587,713 sq km; Baffin Island (Canada) 507,451 sq km; Sumatra
(Indonesi a) 472,784 sq km; Honshu (Japan) 227,963 sq km; Victoria Island
(Canada) 217,291 sq km; Great Britain (United Kingdom) 209,331 sq km;
Ellesmere Island (Canada) 196,236 sq km
Land boundaries:
the land boundaries in the world total 251,060 km (not counting shared
boundaries twice); two nations, China and Russia, each border 14 other countries
note: 46 nations and other areas are landl ocked, these include: Afghani stan,
Andorra, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bhutan, Bolivia, Botswana,
Burkina Faso, Burundi, Central African Republic, Chad, Czech Republic, Ethiopia,
Holy See (Vatican City), Hungary, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Lesotho,
Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Macedoni a, Malawi, Mali, Moldova, Mongolia, Nepal,
Niger, Paraguay, Rwanda, San Marino, Serbia, Slovakia, South Sudan, Swazi land,
Switzerland, Taj ikistan, Turkmenistan, Uganda, Uzbekistan, West Bank, Zambia,
Zimbabwe; two of these, Liechtenstein and Uzbekistan, are doubly landlocked
Coastline:
356,000 km
note: 95 nations and other entities are islands that border no other countries,
they include: American Samoa, Angui lla, Antigua and Barbuda, Aruba, Ashmore
and Cartier Islands, The Bahamas, Bahrain, Baker Island, Barbados, Bermuda,
Bouvet Island, British Indian Ocean Territory, British Virgi n Islands, Cape Verde,
Cayman Islands, Christmas Island, Cl ipperton Isl and, Cocos (Keeli ng) Islands,
Comoros, Cook Islands, Coral Sea Islands, Cuba, Curacao, Cyprus, Dominica,
Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas), Faroe Islands, Fij i, French Polynesia, French
Southern and Antarctic Lands, Greenland, Grenada, Guam, Guernsey, Heard
Island and McDonald Islands, Howland Island, Iceland, Isle of Man, Jamaica, Jan
Mayen, Japan, Jarvis Island, Jersey, Johnston Atoll, Kingman Reef, Kiribati,
Madagascar, Maldives, Malta, Marshal l Islands, Mauritius, Mayotte, Federated
States of Micronesia, Midway Islands, Montserrat, Nauru, Navassa Island, New
Caledonia, New Zealand, Ni ue, Norfolk Island, Northern Mariana Isl ands, Palau,
Palmyra Atoll, Paracel Islands, Phil ippines, Pitcairn Islands, Puerto Rico, Saint
Barthelemy, Sai nt Hel ena, Sai nt Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Pierre and
Miquelon, Sai nt Vincent and the Grenadi nes, Samoa, Sao Tome and Princi pe,
Seychelles, Si ngapore, Sint Maarten, Solomon Islands, South Georgia and the
South Sandwich Islands, Spratly Islands, Sri Lanka, Svalbard, Tokelau, Tonga,
Trini dad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos Isl ands, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, Virgi n Islands,
Wake Island, Walli s and Futuna, Taiwan
Maritime claims:
a variety of situations exist, but i n general, most countries make the following
claims measured from the mean low-tide baseline as described in the 1982 UN
Convention on the Law of the Sea: territorial sea - 12 nm, contiguous zone - 24
nm, and exclusive economic zone - 200 nm; additional zones provide for
exploitation of conti nental shelf resources and an excl usive fishi ng zone;
boundary situations with nei ghboring states prevent many countries from
extending their fishing or economic zones to a full 200 nm
Climate:
a wide equatori al band of hot and humid tropical climates - bordered north and
south by subtropical temperate zones - that separate two large areas of cold and
dry polar cl imates
Terrain:
the greatest ocean depth is the Mariana Trench at 10,924 m in the Pacific Ocean
Elevation extremes:
lowest point: Bentley Subglacial Trench (Antarctica) -2,555 m
note: in the oceanic realm, Chal lenger Deep i n the Mari ana Trench i s the lowest
point, lyi ng -10,924 m below the surface of the Pacific Ocean
highest point: Mount Everest 8,850 m
top ten highest mountains (measured from sea level): Mount Everest (China-
Nepal) 8,850 m; K2 (Pakistan) 8,611 m; Kanchenj unga (India-Nepal) 8,598 m;
Lhotse (Nepal) 8,516 m; Makalu (China-Nepal) 8,463 m; Cho Oyu (China-Nepal)
8,201 m; Dhaulagi ri (Nepal) 8,167 m; Manaslu (Nepal) 8,163 m; Nanga Parbat
(Pakistan) 8,125 m; Anapurna (Nepal) 8,091 m
Natural resources:
the rapid depletion of nonrenewable mineral resources, the depleti on of forest
areas and wetlands, the extinction of ani mal and plant species, and the
deterioration in air and water qual ity (especially in some countries of Eastern
Europe, the former USSR, and China) pose serious long-term problems that
governments and peopl es are only begi nni ng to address
Land use:
arable l and: 10.57%
permanent crops: 1.04%
other: 88.39% (2005)
Irrigated land:
3,245,566 sq km (2008 est.)
Natural hazards:
large areas subject to severe weather (tropical cyclones); natural disasters
(earthquakes, landsl ides, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions)
volcanism: the world i s home to more than 1,500 potentially active volcanoes,
with over 500 of these having erupted i n historical times; an estimated 500
million people l ive near these volcanoes; associated dangers include lava flows,
lahars (mudflows), pyroclastic flows, ash clouds, ash fall, ball istic projectiles, gas
emissions, landslides, earthquakes, and tsunamis; in the 1990s, the International
Association of Volcanol ogy and Chemistry of the Earth' s Interior, created a list of
16 volcanoes worthy of special study because of thei r great potential for
destruction: Avachinsky-Koryaksky (Russia), Colima (Mexico), Etna (Italy), Galeras
(Colombia), Mauna Loa (United States), Merapi (Indonesia), Nyiragongo
(Democratic Republic of the Congo), Rainier (United States), Sakuraj ima (Japan),
Santa Maria (Guatemala), Santori ni (Greece), Taal (Phil ippines), Teide (Spai n),
Ulawun (Papua New Guinea), Unzen (Japan), Vesuvius (Italy)
Environment - current issues:
large areas subject to overpopulation, i ndustrial di sasters, poll ution (air, water,
acid rain, toxic substances), loss of vegetation (overgrazi ng, deforestation,
desertification), loss of wildlife, soil degradation, soil depletion, erosion; global
warming becoming a greater concern
Geography - note:
the world is now thought to be about 4.55 bill ion years old, just about one-third
of the 13.75-billion-year age estimated for the universe
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