world of knowledge geography

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NO
RTH
A TLAN TIC
OC EAN
I
. "
CAPE
VERD E
Is
Mount
Kilirnanjaro a
volcano?
Borders
Before the colonisation of Africa in th e 19th cent
ury
there
we
re
no

ri
gid
nati
on
al borders, as the
popul
ation
wa
s largely n
omad
ic, that is, they
mo
v
ed
from
plac
e to place in communities
rath
er
than
settling in
on
e
place. Bor
de
rs
we
re c
reated
to

se
p
ara
te the territories of
the
differ
ent
Euro
pe
an
gro
ups. Th
at'
s why
ther
e are so many straight lines. As the
nation
s gained in
depe
ndence
durin
g the 19505 and 60s
th
ese
bord
ers r
emained
and
have b
een

the
so
ur
ce of some
probl
ems as
they
do
not
necessarily m
atch
th
e n
atur
al et
hn
ic make
-up
of the
p
eopl
e who live wit
hin
them
.
frica is a continent
that
stretches from
the Mediterranean in the
north

to
the South Atlantic Ocean. The
human
race almost certainly
began
ill
East Africa
and
Africa was, for over
5,000 years,
home
to one of the greatest
civilisations - the Egyptians. First
the Arabs
and
then
the Europeans
colonised (settled)
parts
of Africa; the
French
ill
Algeria
and
the north-west,
the
Dutch
ill
South Africa,
and

the British
ill
the
west
and
ill
central Africa.
Mount
Kili
ma
njaro, the hi
gh
est p
oint
in Africa, is volcanic. Alt
ho
ugh it is
not cu
rre
ntly active, it does e
mit
gas
th
ou
gh
fumaroles (vents) on the
main s
um
mit of Kibo,
o

!
I
o
300 600 900 1200 miles
, I I I
i I I I
500 1000 1500 2000 kilorneaes
Where
is the Blue Nile?
The Blue Nile is a river that has its so urce in Lake T
an
a in Et
hio
pi
a.
The White Nile begins
mu
ch fur
ther
south
in
Ug
an
da. The two ri
vers
mee
t
near Kh
art
ou

m in
the
S
uda
n, and from there it is called
th
e
River
Nile
.
2
~
Th
e giraffeisan African mammal with a very long neck and legs. It is the tallest l
and
animal, often reaching a height of around5 m (17 It).
.,

The
Sahara
The Sahara desert's b
oun
daries are cons tantly shifting . As the climate
beco
mes
drier the
deser
t contin
ues
to expa nd sout

hwar
d, making it
imp
ossible for f
arm
ers to sustain a li
vin
g. Cons
eque
ntly there is a lot
of
pov
ert
y and starvation. The Sahara is the largest desert
in
the
worl
d.
Many
of its
inha
bi
tan
ts are nom adi c. Pe
opl
e have to move
freq uently so their animals can forage for food as
pa
stu
res bec

om
e
rapidly
dep
leted in the
dr
y desert climate.
Th
e g
rea
t Mosque of Djenne in Mali is the largest mudstructure in theworld. Every
year a fresh
coa
t of mud is applied alter the rainy s
eas
on.
, l
f
'-
'
.' -

1
Cairo"·
NEAN
' I
I
Sah
ara desert
The

Nile
Delta
The fertile Nile Delta (a delta is the area where a river flows into the
sea or a lake - often called the
mouth
of a river) is home to the dense
st
population in Africa, i.e. Cairo and Alexandria. Cairo has a population
of
over
7 milli
on
and al
mos
t 4 million people live
in
Alexandria.
The Tuaregs (a tribe
of the southern
Sahara)
wear
cloth
around their faces
to pro tect them from
the sand. This is
believed to
originate
from the belief that
such action wards off
evil spirits, but

mor
e
probably relates to
protection against the
har
sh
desert san ds.
Kenya
Two tectonic plates have separated and f
orm
ed
this great valley which extends from
Tanzania in the south, throu
gh
the whole
of Kenya and into
Eth
iop ia in the
Nor
th. Tectonic means that there is a
str
uctura
l deformation of the Eart
h's
crust, such as the area is on an
ear
thq
ua
ke
lin

e. This area is still
suscep tible to eart
hq
uakes.
IND IAN
OCEA N
:
MA
URITIUS

Reunio
n(
Fr)
SEYCHELLES '
.~

$ .
()
,
CO
Ar:tanananvo
,,
-
CJ
6
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~
COMOROS
Asmera
~

Ke
nya
is one of the most fertile countries
in Africa.
It
is the third largest
pro
ducer of tea in
the
wor
ld, and tea is a major source of the coun
try's
income. Tea is
grow
n mainly in the Kenyan Hi
ghl
and
s,
wes
t of the
Rift Valley, and
expor
ts raise around £190 million ($350 million) each yea r.
< -
ERITREA
~
. DJI,BOUT
j1
·Of,bOUli_
~,

.
~.
Addis " -
~
.
Ababa
ETH
IOPIA
<,
'-/
~
~
c 0 •.
-;;.>
Mogadishu
KENYA
Khartoum
,.
EGYPT
S U D A N
A
I D
Coffee
bu
sh
Ethiopia
Ethiopia is the b
irthpl
ace of coffee. More than 1,000 years ago , a goa therd
in

Ethiopia's hi
ghl
and
s plu cked a few red
berries from
the Kafa tree and tasted them.
He
liked the flav
our
, a
nd
the pleasant effect th at followed . To
day
the same
berries, dried, roasted and gro und, have become the world's second most
pop
ular non-alcoholic beverage after tea.
Coffee accoun ts for 63% of Ethiop ia's exports and abo ut 25% of the po pu lation depends on coffee for its livelihood.
3
Jak a
u s sR
@'cOlombO <
SRI Kual
fi
-u
LANKA
,
.'
INDIAN
OCEAN

300 600 900 600 miles
, , I I
I I I I
500 1000 1500 2000 kilometres
UNITED
ARA B
EMIRATES
9
I
o
:'
;~
~
~
~.O:'.
a:;{]:'
ARCTIC
OCEAN
Forestry
and
agriculture
Forestry is extensive
thr
ou
gh
ou
t northe
rn
an
d

eas
tern
Asia. Rice is
grown
in large qu
anti
ties, and
ano
ther ma in ag ricult
ura
l p rod uct
is w
hea
t.
Oil
and
gas
Asia 1S rich in
natura
l resources, with over 75% of the world's oil
and
gas reserves. Russia has plentiful supplies of oil a
nd
gas, b
ut
they are difficult to source as they are
un
der Siberia's
fr
ozen

~s
::.::o
~i
l
c: '

-f
:

;-
~
:__o
Arab ia has jus t 10% of the
world'
s needs.
If·
S
tretc
hin
g from the frozen
Arctic
Ocean
to the Equatorial
islands of Indonesia, Asia is
the
world's
largest continent.
It
contains the
world's

highest ""
mountain
-
Mount
Ev~rest,
on
the
r-
"
"'
">E
"
KAZAKHSTAN
border
of
Nepal
and
TIbet, 8,850 m
~
~
Alma
(29
035 ft) as well as the
world's
A{::Ck
';:a
G
~
T~
~~

u
iI
de~pest
l:ke
- Lake Baikal,
which
n
f!l
Y
e
ri
~
~
~
-
is located
in
Siberia, Russia,
north
of the Mongolian border,
1,637 m (5,369
ft)
deep
-
that
's
more
than
1.6
km

(one mile)
straight
down!
Are
all of the
islan
ds of
Ind
onesia
inhabited?
No. A
pprox
ima tely 7,000 of the islands are inha bited.
They
cov
er such an expa
nse
of wa ter
that t
hey
spread over
thr
ee time zones . Ap
prox
i
mate
ly 1
tOOO
(61(10) are
uninh

abited.
Wh
y do some women in Asia
wea
r
bra
ss
rings
around the ir necks?
These w
omen
(righ t) are from the P
ad
au
ng - par t of the Karen tribe. There are many reasons
given; some
say it
pr
events them from bein g
bitt
en by tigers;
other
s s
ug
ges
t it m
ak
es the w
om
en

unattract
ive
so t
hey
are
less like ly to be c
ap
tur
ed by slave tr
ader
s. But so
me
believe that a
long neck is ve
ry
attra
ctiv e.
4
Torii
Ga
te
•
Ver
k
hoya
nsk
"
, '
.".

Over
600 languages are
spoke
n in Indonesia, whilst
Ko
rea,
on the other hand, is home to
only one language.
A collection of over
8,000 life-
siz
e ter
racotta
warriors and horses(below) was dis
co
vered
in 1974 in the S
haanz
i
provin
ce
in China.
Th
ey hadbeen buried with the first E
mpero
r of
Qi
n Shi Huang around 210-209
ec,
To

daythey are known asthe
Te
rraco
tta Ar
my.
700,000
workmen took 38
yea
rs to
co
mplete the work.
Transport
The
longest railroad in the
wo
rld is the Trans-Siberian
Railway, which con
nec
ts Moscow with Vladivostok on the
Pacific coast. It is 9,244 km
(5,744 miles) long and the
jou rney,takes eight
days
. Shinkansen are the high s
peed
trains in Japan, and t
hey
are kno
wn
as bullet trams. The

fastest Sh
inkansen
train is the 500 series
'Nozo
rni' which
ope
rates at a maximum s
peed
of 300 k
m/
h (186 mph) .
NORTH
PACIFIC
OCEAN
Bullet train
I
sland
communities
The
Phi
l
ipp
ines is an archipelago of 7
)07
islands
with a total l
and
area of ap proximately 116,000 sq
miles (300,000 sq
km). An archipelago is a

gro
up
or cluster of isl
and
s. The islands are co
mmo
nly
divided into
thr
ee island groups: Luzon,
Visayas, and
Min
danao
. The busy
port
of
Manila, on L
uzo
n, is the national capital.
Howeve
r,
Ind
onesia has almos t 1S,000 islands!
About 7,000 of these are
inh
abited, scattered
aro
und
the
equato

r, giving the co
un
try a tropical
clima te. The
most
pop
ulated island is Java (one of
the most d
en
sely
po
pulated regions on Earth, whe re
about half of the p
opu
lation of Ind onesia lives).
Industry

The two most heavily
popu
lated co
unt
ries
In
the
wo
rld,
China an d India, are in Asia; they are also the
two
fastest
growing

economies. These countries
and
the
hu
ge area of
the Russian S
tep
pes
are losing their com munities as
peop
le
leave the l
and
to find
wor
k in the booming new
indu
strial
areas. There is an eno rmous contrast between the Jives of the
rich
and those of the poor in this co
nt
inent.
M
anuf
a
ctu
ring has tr
adit
i

on
ally been strongest in
eas
t and
southeast Asia, pa rticularly in China, Japa n, Singapore, and
South Korea. The
indu
stry va ries f
rom
m
anuf
acturing cheap
toys to high-tech products such as
comp
uters and cars .
Environment
On
A
ugus
t 6, 1945, towards
the
end of the Second World
War, a
nu
clear
bom
b was
droppe
d
on

Hi roshima, killing an
estimated 80,000 peo
pl
e
and
heavily
da
maging
SO%
of the
city. In the following
month
s, an estima
ted
60,000 more
peo
ple died from injuries or radiation poisoning. Since 1945,
several thousa
nd
have died of illnesses caused by the bomb.
The Torii (ga te) to the Shrine at Miyaj
ima
on lt
suku
sh
im
a
Island is
mu
ch

ph
otogra
ph
ed by visitors to Hiroshima.
It
suk
us
him
a Island is cons
idered
to be sacred.
The Che
mobv
l
nu
clear disaster in Uk
raine
in 1986 caused
widespread
devas
tation
ove
r a large area, and still the
neighb
ourin
g towns are
uninh
abitable.
5
So uth Au

I I
750 1000 kilo
Nor thern
.;
I •
I
,
i T R(
:
~
~
.
i Uluru
1 (Ayers Rock)
I
e -
I
I
I
I
300
,
I
500
u
150
I
I
250
A

o
o
I
Western Australia
N
t
\
I
\
After the Second World War the Australian gove
rnme
nt
promoted an
immi
gration pro gr
amm
e:ove r half of the
migrants were British; others were Greek, German, Dutch,
Italian
and
Yugoslav.Today over 90% of the population are of
E
uro
pea
n desc
ent
; o
the
rs are from Asia an d the Middle East.
Ove

r 150 nationalities are r
epr
es
ent
ed in the p
opu
lation.
These were Victoria, Queensland, No rthern Territory,
Western Australia a
nd
South A
us
tralia. The island to the
south of the ma
inland
is Ta
sm
ani a. On 1 J
anu
ary 1901, the
six colo
nies
bec
am
e a f
ed
er
ation
and the Co
mmo

nwea
lth
of
Au
stralia
wa
s f
ormed
.
ustralia is the largest island
on
the
continent of Australia Oceania.
Native Australians have inhabited it
for over 42,000 years. European explorers
and traders starting arriving in the 17th
century and in the 18th century the British
claimed part of the eastern half
of
the
continent as a penal (prison) colony.
This area became
known
as
New
South
Wales. The population grew and
eventually five more states were
successively established over the
course of the 19th century.

What
is a fl
yin
g
doc
tor?
, C
anb
err
a is Aus tralia's capital,
but
Syd
ney
is its largest city
; and commercial centre, as
we
ll as ha
vin
g the w orld f
am
ou
s
i
-r
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - , op
era
house and the 503 m (1,650 ft) long Sydney H
arbour
: Bri
dge

- whi ch has eight lanes of road way, two railway
tracks, a cycle track and a
wa
l
kwa
y.
Au
stralian
s livin g in th e
outb
ack can be far from the
n
ear
est t
own
. The Flyi
ng
Doctor service started in ,
1928 to
pro
vide e
me
rge
ncy
he
alth
care.
Was T
asmani
a

on
ce
joined
to
Aus
tralia?
Yes, it is believ
ed
tha t the island
was
joined to t
he
m
ainland
unt
il
the
end of the most rec
ent
ice age, about
10,000
years
ago.
, Sydney
Opera
Hou
se
6
SERViCE
Climate

While a large
pro
portio n of inland
Australia is desert, 40% of the co
untry
enjoys a tropical cli
ma
te. S
now
falls
in the Australian Alps at the south
end of the Great Di
vidin
g Range, or
Eastern Highl
and
s. This is
Australia's most substan tial range
of m
ount
ains, which stretc
hes
h
om
n
orth
-eastern Q
ueens
lan d
int

o the
central plain in
wes
tern Victoria.
,
Th
e regional he
adqu
arters of the flying doctor
se
rv
ice
in Queensland
Isolated
communities
, T
he
Alice Springs Sc
hoo
l of the
Air
provides an ed
uca
tional
service for chil
dre
n living in settle
men
ts and covers over
1 million sq km (386,000 sq mil es) of

cen
tral Aus tralia.
T
hese
children live in an isolated e
nvi
ro
nme
nt an d their
school classes
we
re co
nd
ucted
via
sho
rtwave
rad
io
un
til
very
recently.Today most schools use wireless
Int
ern
et
links to receive their lessons.
The Great
Barrier Reef
The

Grea
t B
arr
ier Reef, situated off the
coast of Q
uee
ns
lan
d, is
th
e wo
rld's
longest
reef, stretching 2,000 km (1,243 miles). It is a
.
br
e
edin
g
gro
un
d for green and loggerhe
ad
turtles an d
h
om
e to
humpb
ack whales
and

dol
phin
s.
Amo
ng
the many
fish that i
nhabi
t Australia's s urro unding
wa
ters are sha rks,
rays
and
lun
gfish. The
lun
gfish is unu
su
al becau se it has
l
un
gs as
we
ll as a gill-b
rea
t
hing
sys
tem.
, The Reef is

und
er threat f
rom
the
crow
n-of-tho rns starfish
, which eats the li
vin
g coral,
and
also from rising sea levels
and t
ouri
sm
, w hich damage the fragile coral ecosystem.
Although huntershave used throwing stic
ks
in many partsof the world, the most famous
of all such
wea
ponsisthe Aborigine's
boome
rang,whi
ch
may be the worl
d's
only
r
eturnin
g throwing stick.

The worl
d's
fussiest eater is the
koa
la, which feeds exclusively on eu
ca
lyptusleaves. It eats
only sixof the 500speciesof e
uca
ly
ptus.
Th
e
Gr
eat
Bar
rier reef
provides a home to
many creatures
Wh
en
the E
uropeans
a
rrived
they b
rou
ght
disease with
them, a

nd
many of the native people died f
rom
illnesses
such as smallpox. Today, many have
abando
ned their
traditi
on
al trib
at
way of life a
nd
live in to
wn
s a
nd
cities,
making up 1.5% of the p
opul
ation.
Native
Australians
The native A
us
tra lians,
kn
own as Aborigi
nes
,

were
the first
inh
abit
ant
s ofAustralia. The t
erm
Abor
igine in
clud
es a
nu
mber of native peoples th
rou
gh
out
Aus
tra lia Oceania.
These native Aus tralians
we
re
hu
nter-g
ath
erers: this means
that t
hey
moved from place to place in search of food. T
hey
ha

d no
per
mane
n~
buil
dings.
Groote
EyflJrldt
7
pla
ce. T
hey
can
tell us
if there is likely to be a
thund
erst
orm
, a
hurric
an
e or flash fl
ood
s. All of these
factors make up what we think of as
wea
ther. We
ath
er is
wha t

is
happ
enin
g
now
or likely to happen tomor row or
the next day.
Meteorology
Me teorology is the study of
wea
t
her
and
wea
the r
conditions all around the wo rld. M
et
eorologists can tell us
abo ut the t
emp
eratur
e, r
ainf
all and wind at any given
hen
we
talk
about
climate
we

generally
mean
the
weather.
Will
it
rain?
Will it
be
hot
or
cold?
How
hot?
How
cold?
But
climate
and
weather
are
different.
Clim
atology is the stu
dy
of climates and climate ch
ange
.
Climatologists can tell us what cl
im

ate
conditions to expecr
aro
u
nd
the
wo
rld
. They are
mor
e interested in stati
st
ics -
did it rain more in March this yea r than it
did
in March last
yea r? A
nd
the year before that - and
eve
n in the last 50
; years!The w
orld
ha
s
nin
e clear climatic zones. Each of the
; areas has a n
am
e, so that

wh
en we talk about a temperate
cl
imat
e or
tundr
a, we kn
ow
w
ha
t to expect. For example,
. in the win
ter
, we ex
pect
it to be mild and we t in Athens,
: Greece and sn
owy
in
New
York, USA.
.
Forecasting
When we know a
l(
of these details we can
jud
ge
if
the

climate
aro
u
nd
the world is changing. Are there more hot,
dr
y days now than there were in 1950? Or does it rain more
, now
th
an in 1950?
If
we know that, f
arm
ers will kn
ow
whi
ch
Are
there
any
places that n
ever
have
rain?
There are places with very little rain or
eve
n no rain
at
a
1

1.
The d riest place re
cord
ed
is Calarna in the
Atacama Des
ert
in Chile, The average r
ain
fall is j
ust
3
mm
(0.1 in.) per yea r,
but
there was a period of
tim
e
when
no
r
ain
fell there for 40 yea rs.
Where
is
the
wettest
pla
ce
ever

recorded?
The
wettest place recorded is Cherrapunji.
Ind
ia, where
9,300
inrn
(360 in.) of rain fell in one m
onth
!
8
types of crops to grow on their land. Water companies will
know if they need to make provisi
on
for water shortages.
Seaside to
wn
s will expect more people to visit the beaches.
Will the f
arm
ers be able to harvest their crops? Will there be
more floods? Where will we go for our holidays?
Types of
clima
te
M
ount
ain
climate
W

ett
er than the lowl
and
s and 1°C (2°F) cooler for
every 150 m (490 ft) increase in altitude.
T
emp
erat
e g
rass
land climate
Cold winters and wa rm summers. Mainly dry.
T
emp
erate forest climate
Mild winters a
nd
cool summers.Abundant rain
falls all year.
Ho
t des
ert
climate
Very hot and dry all year.
Tr
ap
icaI rainforest cl
ima
te
Rainfall is heavy all year. The

annu
al rainfall is often
mor
e than 250 em
(1
00 in.).
It
is also hot and
humid
.
Conifero
us
forest climate
Very cold winters are common, with cool
and
mainly
dr
y su
mme
rs.
f
Ch
eetah
Tropical gr
ass
land
climat
e
Hot all yea r. T
wo'

seasons on.ly - one
dr
y and one we t.
The
highes
t
tempera
ture ever
recorded
was58
°(
(136°F)at
AI
Aziz
iyah in Libya. Libya is a hot
desert
area
.
The lowest temperature ever recorded was-89°(
(-128.56°F) at Vostok in Antarctica, whichis in the
southern polar region and so is very
cold,
M
edit
err
an
ean
climat
e
Hot dry summe rs and mild, wet winters.

Pola
r
bear
Polar and
tundra
climate
Polar: dry and frozen all year.
Tundr
a:
dr
y
and
frozen
part of the year.
9
I
,
J
,
"
"
.
rt
ife
desert is a region
that
receives
an
annual
rainfall of less

than
250
mm
(10 inches). The
people
and
animals
that
live in desert
areas
must
adapt
to the conditions to survive. People like the
Bedouins
usually
live
in
groups
and
move
from place to place
with
the
animals. Where there are
homes
in
the desert, the houses
usually
have
flat roofs

and
small
windows.
Whereas
most
animals
need
to
have
regular access to water, camels
can
survive
for a
week
without
water.
Des
ert
s are generally rocky and bare and only p artl y
covered in sand.
Wh
ere there are large
am
ount
s of sand,
the stro
ng
wind in sands torms blows it into
hug
e

pil
es
making
sand
dun
es, It
can
then be very diffi
cult
for pe
opl
e
to find
their
w
ay
as the l
and
scape is constantly ch
angin
g.
Desert
plants
Plant
s which are f
ound
in
des
ert
s need very long

root
s
to reach
wa
ter
und
erground
, or
thi
ck
stems
whi
ch soak
up
water. Cacti
can
store
water in
sid
e their
stems and the whole
pl
ant
swe
lls
up
when it
rain
s.
In

less
severe conditions
plant
s
with
l
eav
es
are
oft
en
pal
e grey to
reflect the
light
, and
ne
ed
very little water to
grow. S
eeds
lie
dormant
durin
g
dr
y
periods
and
C

actus
grow
and bloom and
produ
ce new seed very
qui
ckly when the
rain
s
come.
In
some
places there
are oases in deserts, whe re
there is
wat
er. Palm trees
often grow
around
an
oas
is.
Desert
animal
s
Many ani
ma
ls
live in deserts,
Sa

nd gro
use
altho
ug
h th ey
are rarely seen.As deserts
are n
orm
ally very
hot d ur
ing
the day a
nd
very
cold at ni
ght
,
most animals will only come
out
to
hunt
and
find fo
od
at the cooler
tim
es of
da
y, early in
the m

orn
ing
or in
th
e eveni
ng
. Most des
ert
ani
mals
are specially
adapted
to cope
with
des
ert
life. F
enn
ec faxes have
hu
ge over-si
zed
ears to
help
them
lose
body
heat
quickly and
eas

ily.
Sand
grou
se are
ver
y
pal
e in colour, so well
camouflag
ed
and
difficult to spot among
the
rocks.
Th
ere are
dese
rts on every
co
ntinent on Earth. They are the
driest p
lace
s in the world and
sometimes there is no rain for
many
yea
rs.
Llamas, which
come
from

So
uth
America, are
close
ly related to
ca
mels.
Th
ey are also traditionally
used
for c
arrying
goodsand for their
meat. Llamasare smaller than
ca
mels,
weighing about 150 kg and measuring just
overa metre in height.
Camels
Camel
How
can
ca
me
ls go so long wit
hou
t
water
when ot
her

anima ls ca
nno
t? Alth ough camels
don'
t have to dr ink very
often,
per
haps only once a
wee
k,
whe
n they do dr
ink
they
can co
ns
ume as much as 100 litres at a time. That
wou
ld be
the sa me
sort
of quantity as half a tank of p
etr
ol in yo ur
family car.
I
Camels are of
ten
called 'ships of the
desert'

as they are I
used for carrying people and heavy loads of supplies ,
across deserts. T
hey
are also used for the milk, meat and
skin which they prov ide. Came ls can grip
very
tho
rny
food
from plants wi th their
toug
h lips and large teeth . In a
sandstorm they protect th
em
selves by
pr
essing their ears
flat, closing their
eyes and seali
ng
their mo
uth
s and
nostrils almost
completely. In
. this
way
they
avo

id bre
athin
g II
in sand or j
i getti
ng
it in their
eyes, which are
p
rote
cted by
very
lon
g
eye
lashes.
Lizard
on
cactus
Ll
ama
TIle world's large
st
des
ert
is th e Sahara Des
ert
in
northern A
fr

ica. TIle Sahara covers nearly 10
million
square kilometres (4
million
square
mil
es).
Wh
ich is
th
e
wo
rld's larg
est
desert?
How
is
sand
made?
The ext
remes
of tem per
atur
e in
deserts mean that the rocks
are
continually expanding and
contracting in the heat of the day and cold of the
night.
This causes the

sur
face of rocks to break off
into tiny fragm
ent
s, which become sand. As the
sand is blo
wn
a
bou
t, new rock s
ur
faces are exposed
and
the
pr
ocess co
nti
nues
.
o
Euop
'.

: ' Faeroe Is
, (Dmk)
NORTH
ATLANTIC
OCEAN
=
.

$'O
~
.,
r-
-~
_
-
-
.
-
Which
is
the
largest
country
in
Europe?
What has the EU achieved?
Since it w as founded, the ED has:
• achieved over 50 years of peace
in Euro
pe
• help
ed
to raise standards of living
• built a single Europe-wide
mark
et so that pe
opl
e, goods a

nd
mon
ey
can
move aro
un
d as freely as if in one country
• l
aunch
ed the single ED currency, the Euro (€ )
• stre
ngt
hened E
uro
p
e's
position and voice in the
wo
rld.
By
area France is the largest country, and
Malta
is
the smallest.
Hotoeoer, Germany has the largest
population and again,
Malta
has the smallest. r
Does
the

European
Union
have
a
president?
Yes. She or he is called the President
of
the Commission
is selected by members
of
the European Council and is
then approved by the European Parliament. The
first
president
was
Walter Hallstein from
West
Gem/any.
he
European
Union
(EU) is a
group
of democratic
countries
which
have
joined
together. There are
now

27
member
states,
and
the
EU
has
its
own
currency-
the
Euro.
Not
all
of
the
countries
use
the
Euro,
preferring
to
keep
their
own
currency.
Why a European Union?
Old
frictions
and

rivalries b
etw
e
en
nations in the past
l
ed
to instability or
eve
n war. Following W
orld
War
I and World War II six
Europ
ean
nations agre
ed
to
set
up
a
gro
up of countries within
Eur
ope who
w
ould
wor
k for p
erman

ent
peace
and
also e
nco
urage
trade bet ween each
oth
er. T
hey
called themselves the
Europ
ean Economic Community (or the EEC or the
Com mon M
ark
et
). These first six countries were
Fran
ce, West Ger
ma
ny, Italy, Belgium,
th
e Netherlands
and Luxembo
urg
. The name E
uro
pean Uni on cam e
later because the
purp

ose of the EEC cha
nge
d from
being si
mp
ly a
tradin
g partner
ship
int
o
an economic and political partnership.
12
The cur rent 27 member
states:
Austria
Belg
ium
Bulgaria
Cyprus
Czech Republic
Denmark
Estonia
Finland
France
Germany
Greece
Hun
gary
Republic of

Ireland
Italy
Latvia
Lithuania
Luxemb
our
g
Malta
Pol
and
Portugal
Romania
Sl
ova
kia
Slovenia
Spain
Sweden
The Netherlands
United Kingdom
The European Parliament
A lot of people are needed to do all of the work that is
carried out by the ED. The European Parliament
r
epr
es
ent
s around 450 million citizens. lts members
are kn
own

as Members of the Europ
ean
Parliament
(MfPs)
. Since the last European elections in 2004
1
there have been 732 MEPs.
What
if
we
didn't have the EU?
Try imagining a world now
with
out
the EO: we
would
still need to get our
pa
ssports stamped when visiting
nearby co
un
tries. We
'd
have to change
our
currency
when we crossed from Fran ce to Spain. European
busi
ne
sses would be involved in constant negotiations

when
wor
king with one an
oth
er, witho ut being able to
look at agreed
guidan
ce
and
rules. Some of the poorer
countries in Europe mi
ght
not have benefited from
trade partner
ship
s
and
grants.And although co
untr
ies
mi
ght
argue, we still have peace.
Where is the European Parliament?
The parliam
ent
meets in two places - in Brussels and in
Strasbourg - and the Europ
ean
Co

ur
t of Justice is in
Luxemb
our
g. The European B
ank
is
in
Frankfurt.
For
thr
ee weeks of the
month
the parliam
ent
meets in
Belgi
um
's capital city Brussels, where most committee and
political group meetings take place, then for one week
everyone goes to Strasbourg in France. The Strasbourg
Parliament on t
he
border between Germany
and
France,
which fou
ght
two world wars
in

the last century, is also a
symbol of Europe's peaceful new order.
london, E
ngland
, h
as
the largest population of any city in the
Europ
ean
Uni
on, with over
7 million inhabitants. Berlin, in Germany,
com
essecond with 3.5 million.
Euro
notesare identi
cal
throughout the
Euro
a
rea,
while coins have a common designon
one face anddesigns representing
symbol
s
unique
to each country on the other face.
-" 1.;
-,
r .r

,"':'
\.A-C
~
>
L>
~


CZ.R. CZECH REPUBLIC
LUX. LUXEMBOURG
SLA SLOVAKIA
SL. SLOVENIA
ARcnc
OCEAN
'
'''-
' "
'-"
ntai
mountain
is a
landform
that
extends
above
the
surrounding
terrain
in
a

limited
area. This
usually
refers to
landforms
over
610 m (2,000 ft)
in
height.
Mountains
cover
20%
of
the
world's
land
surface
and
more
than
half
the
world's
fresh
water
originates
in
mountains.
There are
mountains

on
every
continent,
under
the
sea
and
even
on
Mars!
Mou
nt
ain
s are f
orm
ed
over
milli
on
s of years by volca
noes
,
erosion and di
sturb
an
ces in th e Eart
h's
crust. TI
le
Earth

's
cr
ust
is m
ad
e
up
of six massive plates.
Wh
en
two
of these
plates colli
de
, the l
and
can be
pu
shed upward f
ormin
g
m
ount
ain
s.
Kinds
of
mountain:
Dom
e mo untains are formed when a great amo

un
t of
melted rock
pu
shes its
way
up
und
er the Earth withou t
f
oldin
g or f
aultin
g; the re
sult
is a roun
de
d
dom
e. The d
om
e
is ero
de
d as it is raised above its s
urro
und ings, f
ormin
g
pe

ak
s
an
d valleys.
Fold
m
ountain
s f
orm
when tw o plates s
ma
ck into each
ot
her
and their e
dges
cr
um
ple. The
Him
alayas, Al
ps
and
And
es were crea ted
in
this way.
Fault-block
m
ount

ain
s are f
orm
ed when fa
ult
s in the
E
arth
's surface force
some
blocks of rock
up
a
nd
othe rs
do
wn
. Instead of f
oldin
g, the Earth fra
ctu
res and
th
e blocks
are
stacked. n us is how the m
ount
ain
s of the Sie
rra

Neva
da
:
in
Nor
th A
mer
ica were for
me
d.
Volcanic
mount
ain
s fo
rm
when
molt
en
rock ('
mag
ma')
erupts f
rom
deep
in
sid
e the Earth and piles
up
on
the

su rface. M
ount
St Hel
en
s in North
Am
erica is
an
example of
a volcanic
mountain.
Plateau
mountain
s are
plat
e
au
x (w
her
e l
and
is flat)
that
hav
e b
een
wo
rn
down
by

eros
ion,
and
most have
lar
ge
ar eas of high-level fl
at
land
.
Mountain
ranges
It is
unusual
for a
mountain
to stand al
on
e - usually they
exist as p
art
of
mountain
rang
es. A
mount
ain
range
is
a

chain
or
grou
p of
mountains
that
are close
tog
eth
er. The l
on
gest
mount
ain
r
ang
e in the
How
are
glaciers
formed?
On the very coldest parts
of
some
mountains
,
snow
may
build up and turn into rivers
of

ice
that
move incrediblu
slowly
doumhill.
Whi
ch is
the
tallest
mountain
in
the
solar
system?
The tallest mountain in the solar
system
is
Olympu
s Mons - on Mars!
wo
rld is f
orm
ed by the
Andes
M
oun
tains, which are more
th
an
7,200 krn (4,474 miles) long. The hi ghest m

ount
ain
rang
e in the w
orld
is
th
e
Him
alayas (w
hose
n
am
e m
ean
s
'
Lan
d of S
now')
.
Mountain
climate
Mount
a
in
s t
end
to be
mu

ch wetter places th
an
l
owl
and
s.
They also t
end
to be col
de
r - the higher y
ou
climb up a
m
ountain
, the col
de
r it gets. This is w hy m
an
y
mount
ains
have snow
on
the top all year
round
, above
wh
at is called
the sn

ow
line.
Climat
e zones cha
nge
qu
ickly on m
ountain
s,
so
that
on
e c
an
cl
imb
from tropical jungle to the ice of a
glacier in-just a few kilometres (miles). The higher you
climb,
the
lighter
and
thinn
er
the
air bec
om
es.
Mounta
ins c

an
also aff
ect
local
clim
at
es - in some areas, for
example, they block rain, so
that
o
ne
si
de
of the
mount
ain may get pl
ent
y of rain
but
t
he
othe r
side is
dr
y desert.
Mountain
people
Ab
out
10% of the world's 6 billion people live on

m
ount
ains. Eleven million people live in the Alps,
making th
em
the most densely
popul
ated
m
ount
ain area. No t
only animals but
hu
mans as well have
a
dap
ted to living in
mountain
env
iro
nmen
ts - for
exam ple, the South
Ame
rican Uru tribe
have larger hearts and
lun
gs to help them
breathe
the thinner air

at high altitu
des
.
Mountain animals
Mountains are a bleak habitat for a
nima
ls; a
nd
the
hig
her
you get, the more bleak it becomes.
Mos t mo untain m
amm
als have
evo
lved thick
woolly fur (like the yak),
an
d m
ount
ain sheep
and
goa ts (like the ibex)
are
ver
y sure-
footed to help t
he
m on the rough t

err
ain
.
Some of the highest m
ount
ain ranges
are home to a variety of enda
nge
red
species. For example, musk deer,
B
eng
al tigers a
Ilfl.
sn
ow
leopards live
in the
Him
alayas.
Mountain plants
The lower slopes of m
ount
ain
s are often
cove red
with
forest, while the tops of
mount ains are usually treeless. The place
ab

ove
which trees will not
grow
is called the
treeline.
Neve
rtheless, there are some pl
ant
s
that survive at very hi
gh
altitud
es whe re
the terrain is mostly bare rock - mostly
alpi nes, mosses and liche ns.
Mountains
and tourism
Over
50 mill ion t
ouri
sts head for the
mou
nt
ains each year. T
hey
are attracted by
the clean air and be
au
tiful scenery, and
activities such as hiking, climbing, canoeing,

skiing and s
nowboa
rding. Altho ugh t
ourism
brings in money and cr
eat
es jobs for
mountai
n
popul
ations, there is also the risk
that
too
much
can do h
arm
to the environment
and
local econo
my
-
thr
ough
erosion,
pollu
tion
from traffic, leaving
litter, and raising
the price of land
and

fo
od.
I
•
The
world
's
highest
m
ountain
peakan landis
Mount
Evere
st at around
8,850 m (29,035
ft)
above
seottevel.
• Some islands arereally
the top of giant mountains
pokingaut af the-seat
15
ural disasters
hroughout
history
there
have
been
many
natural

disasters, the
most
deadly
recorded
as
being
droughts
and
famines. Floods are
the
next
most
deadly,
followed
by
earthquakes
and
wind
storms.
Other
deadly
natural
disasters
include
extreme
temperatures,
landslides, volcanoes
and
forest fires.
16

The point where the seismic activity occ
urs
is the epicentre,
,
wh
ere the earthquake is strongest. But it doesn
't
al
ways
end there because seismic waves trav el out from the
epic
entr
e, some ti
mes
creating wi
des
pre
ad destruction
as they pass.
Volcanoes
A volcano is f
orm
ed
whe n molten rock,
called m
agm
a,
explo
des
through

the E
arth
's crust.
Volcanoes v
ary
in
their stru
ctur
e - some
are splits in th e Earth's
crust, some are d
om
es,
shields, or craters. When
the ma
gm
a
bur
sts t
hro
ug
h the
· Earth's surface it is called lava.
: Sometimes
ash
a
nd
cinde rs
come f
rom

the volcano, and
also pumice, which is very light
rock that is full of air
bubbl
es
and
whi ch can float on
wat
er.
/
Earthquakes
An earthquake is a tremor (shaking) of the Eart
h's
surface.
It is usually caused by the release of
und
erg
round
stress
alo
ng
fault lines. Fault lines, or f
ault
s, are rock fra
ctu
res
· which show signs of mov
em
ent
. In spite of extensive

• res
ear
ch and sophisticated equipment, it is
imp
ossible to
, predict an earthquake, altho
ug
h experts can estimate the
likelihood of an earthquake oc
currin
g in a parti cular region.
-
'"'
. Heavy objects, such as cars or ev
en
cows, can be sucked
up
and
flun g aro
un
d like confetti.
Many
people have been
kill
ed
in cars while they we re trying to ou t
run
a t
orn
ado,

· and although it is some times possible to escape, it is
generally not a good idea.
Hurricanes
On
e of the most
dam
agin g
eve
nts is the
hurri
cane, a fierce
rotating storm with an int
en
se centre of low
pr
es
sur
e (the
eye of the storm) that only
happ
ens in the tropics.
Tornadoes
Tornadoes are caused by a collision of
warm
and
cool air
streams. A rotating area of l
ow-
pr
essure storm cl

oud
s f
orm
s,
and
air within a l
ow-pr
es
sur
e front rises, creati
ng
a strong
up
w
ard
dr
aught like a vacuum cleaner. Surro
un
ding w
arm
air is
dr
awn in from gr
ound
level, causing it to spin faster
and
faster. These strong air currents can create a spiralling
funnel of
wind
that can reach s

pee
ds of 483 km
/h
(300 m
ph
).
They are f
orm
ed
when large areas of the
ocean become hea ted, and the air
pres
sur
e dro ps. This causes
thund
erst
orm
s
and
strong
s
ur
face winds. As they travel
long di
stan
ces, gathering
energy from the ocean, they
are likely to be classified as
stro
ng

tr
opi
cal cyclones . A
tr
opi
cal storm can only be
classifi
ed
as a
hurri
can
e if it
sustains
wind
s
pee
ds a
bove
force 12 on the B
eauf
ort
Scale.
Is a
tsunami
alwa
ys
caused
by an
earthqua
ke?

A
tsunami
is
caused
by
ear
thquakes, landslides,
volcanoes
or
a
massive
impact,
suc
h as if a meteor
crashed i
nto
the sea. Sometimes t
sunami
s have
calmed
dow
n by the time they reach the
shor
e; on
other
occasions they can be devastating.
What was the
bigge
st
known

tornado
?
In May 2004 in Ne
braska
, USA, the Hallam tornad o
became the record
-holde
r for
widt
h, at nearly 4 km
(2.5 miles). This is
pro
bably close to the maximum
size for a t
orn
ado.
17
Hurricane Katrina (lateAugust 2005) wasthe
cos
tliestand oneof the
dea
dliesthu
rricanes
in the history of the United States. It was
the sixth-stro
nges
t Atlantic hurr
ican
e
ever re

cor
ded.
Often when an
unusually
destruc
tive
hurricane hits, that
hurric
ane's nameis
retired and
never
used
aga
in. Si
nce
1954,
40 names
have
been retired.
As a tsunami leaves the
dee
p
wat
er of the open ocean and
travels into the shallowe r water
near the coast, it is slowe d down
by the shallow
wat
er and its
hei

ght
grows. Tsunamis b
att
er
the coast with trem
end
ous
a
mo
unts of energy.
10% of the world's
population lives under th
rea
t from
active
volca
noes.
T
hey
are mo
st
co
mmo
n aro und
the e
dge
of the Pacific, where
more than half the wo
rld's
volcanoes are found.

Ove
r the
deep Pacific Ocean, a tsunami travels at about 800 km
/h
(500
mp
h).
If
an earthq uake ha
ppe
ned in Los
Ange
les, a
t
sun
ami could
hit
Tokyo quicker than you could fly
betw een the cities by jet.
Asian
Tsunami
On Boxing Day 2004 the w
orld
witn
essed the terrible power
of
one
of the deadliest disasters in mod
ern
history. An

und
ersea earthquake occurred ab
out
8 a.m. local time. This
triggered a series of lethal t
sun
amis
that
spread throu gh
out
j the Indian Ocean. Waves up to 30 m (90 ft) de
vast
ated the
shores of Ind onesia, Sri Lanka, South India, Thailand and
other countries.
Tsunami
A t
sun
ami is a chain of fast-moving waves caused by
sudden tr
aum
a in the ocean. They can be generated by
earthqua kes, or volcanic erup tions. T
sunami
s are also
incorrectly kno
wn
as tidal waves
but
,

unl
ike tidal waves,
they are not ca
use
d by changes in the tides.
acific
Oc
n
he
Pacific
Ocean
is
the
largest
ocean
in
the
world,
covering
65%
of the
Earth's
surface.
At
almost
70 million
sq
miles (180 million
sq
km), it is considerably larger

than
the
entire
land
area
of the
whole
world!
Does the
International
Date
Line
cha
ng
e
in
the
Pacific
Ocean?
The
ave
rage de pth of the Pacific Oc
ean
is 4,637.5 111
(15,215 ft) deep . At its deepest
part,
the Ma
rian
a
Trench, it is

11,034 m (36,200 ft) d
eep
.
Exploration
and
settlement
The
tir
st people
who
lived on the i
sland
s were from Asia.
They crossed the op en
seas
in ancient boats. Euro
pea
ns
explorers arrived in the 16th cent
ury
, peopLe such as Vasco
· Nu
nez
de Balboa f
rom
Sp
ain
.
During
the 1

7th
c
entur
y the
·
Dut
chm
an
Abel Janszoon Ta
sm
an discover
ed
Ta
sm
ania
Peaceful
sea?
Pacific is from the
Latin
words for 'Peace.' How
ever
the
Pacific is not a
lways
peaceful.
Man
y t
yph
oons p
ound

the
isl
and
s of
th
e Pacific. The area is full of volcanoes and often
affected by earthquakes. T
sunami
s. cau s
ed
by
und
erw
ater
: earthquakes, ha ve d
am
aged isl
and
s and destroy
ed
entire
to
wn
s and comm unities. Massive whirls, f
orm
ed by
ocean currents, are found in the area
north
and
south

of the equ
ato
r.
;
Fishing
· The
main
fi
shin
g areas in
the
Pacific are f
ound
in the more
i s
ha
llow waters of the c
ontin
ent
al shelf.
The
c
ontinental
shelf is the extended l
and
be
yond
each conti
ne
nt, which is

relatively shallow. Th
en
comes the continental slope, which
eve
ntually m
erg
es
int
o the deep ocean floor. S
almon
,
halibut,
h
err
ing, sardi
nes
and
tun
a are
the
chief c
atch
.
Not
all fishing comm unities have
larg
e c
omm
ercial fleets,
however. S

ma
ll isl
and
c
ommunitie
s fish n
earer
to horne.
How
deep
is the Pacific
Ocean?
Yes, it travels
rou
ghly along 180
0
lon
gitu
de, with
divers
ion
s to
pa
ss around som e
countr
ies or isl
and
s.
The
Internati

on
al
Date
Line is an
imaginar
y line
that
separates
two
co
nse
cutive
da
ys. The
dat
e in the
Easte
rn
H
emisph
ere is
alw
ays one da y ah
ead
of
the
date in
the
West
ern

Hemi
sph
ere.
The Pacific Ocean stretc
hes
from the Arctic Circle to
Ant
arctica,
and
f
rom
the
wes
tern coas ts of North
and
S
outh
Am
erica across
thou
sand
s of small i
sland
s to New
Zeal
and
,
Au
str
alia,

Japan
and
mainl
and
Asia.
18
~"
.
Ga
lapiJQ
(JS
IS.
cnpoonoot
.
.
l os Angeles :
San Ffancisco·
is
!
.
~
a
rqlRs
es
SOUTH
PACIFIC
OCEAN
CookIs. '" •.
r"hjtl
(<!;

.
Tuamoru
iSd9 ta
5oct6re
is.
Tu:>uai
Is.Gambje:
·Ptrcalrn
• N;rlQ
H.awaiian Islands
.
~
NORTH
PACIFIC
OCEAN
Xr/Welli - "
Tonga
snoomx
15
Wafhsli W",s!em
FC/tVfm
S
al'71O<!'
. - 'Am.,.ncal1
S,1moJ
Tuva
lu
Gilbettfs
~
~

l
tJ
m
O
tl
(
S
_

\
Ta s
man
S e a
• B-'sbar:e
<;>
-
o:o;.
? VanuatuIt:
o$l comt
Seij
~
-

$'-

"
BE
R
IN
G S EA

N 0 R T H
t
M E R I C A
0'
A
leurl?
n
I
$
\
~
/
"
.

V
a~
r
If you
placed
Mount
Everes
t in the
MarianasTrench there would still be
over 1.6 km (a mile) of
ocea
n above it.
19
90
0;

0of all volcanic activity
occurs
in the oceans.
The Pacific is rich in
mineral wealth, but the
ocean is so deep that mining
would be very difficult and
dangerous.
In
the shall
owe
r
waters of the conti
ne
ntal shelves off
the coas ts of Australia and
New
Zealand,
~
__
~
petroleum and n
atur
al gas are
extracted,
and
pearls are harvested
along the coasts of
Austra
lia,

Japan,
Pap
ua
New
Guinea and
the Philippines.
I he
publi
shed the book On the
I Origin ofSpecies. M
an
y of the
animals he studied can still
be seen in the Pacific, in
particular the turtles
and
tortoises of the Gala
pagos
Isl
and
s.
D
ur
ing the 1800s Charles
Darw
in's
research on his five-year
voyage
on the
HMS Beagle brou

ght
him fame as a
geologist and aut
ho
r. He studied the the
or
y
of
evo
lution and natural selection. You c
an
read m
ore
abo ut this in the c
ha
pter abo ut
C
ha
rles Da
rwi
n (see page 54-55).
In
1859

and
New
Zealan
d. Then the 18th cent
ury
saw

the Russians
l
and
in Alaska,
and
the f rench settle in Polynesia. The
British sailed wi th
Capt
ain James
Coo
k to Australia, the
South Pacific, Hawaii, and
Nor
th American.
Seashore
and
coastal erosion
e
usually
picture
sandy
beaches
when
we
think
of
the
coast,
but
actually a coast is

any
land
that
borders
the
sea.
The
place
where
land
and
sea
meet
is
usually
called
the
shoreline
or seashore.
Estua ry - An estua ry is
an
area
wh
ere the m
outh
of a river
wi
de
ns
out

and
meets the sea
corni
ng
in, caus
ing
fre
sh
and
salt water to mix.
H e
ad
l
and
- These are lon g
' ton
gues'
of l
and
sticki
ng
ou t
int
o the sea.
He
adl
and
s are crea ted
ove
r millions of

yea
rs,
as waves strike rocky
sho res, w e
aring
a
way
the softer kinds of
rock and lea
vin
g the
h
ard
er
on
es.
Spit - Also called
sa
ndba rs, spits occu r
when sand and d
ebr
is
ar
e
was
hed
out
ac
ross
bays by waves, cre

atin
g
'tongue
s'
of sand that
run
out
int
o the sea.
Features created
by
coastal erosion
The coastli
ne
is always cha
ngi
ng, very slowly,
du
e to n
atur
al proccsses like the rise of sea
levels, the p
oundin
g of the
wa
ves
, a
nd
we
ath

er. In most cases, th e re
sult
is that
th
e
coa
st
is grad
ua
lly b
eing
w
orn
aw
ay. We call
this weari
ng
aw
ay er
osio
n.
Coas
tal e
ros
ion
can cr
eat
e m
an
y spectac ular fe

atur
es in
pl
aces
wh
ere the
coast
is m
ad
e
up
of
different types of rock.
Sea
caves
are f
orm
ed
wh
en
wa
ves
was
h
away an area of softer rock at
th
e base of a
cliff, making a hollow in
sid
e

harder
rock.
Sea arc
hes
like the one top
right
are
pro
d uced
wh
en
two
sea
caves are w
orn
aw
ay from differ
ent
dir
ection s and then
meet
wh
en the rock separating th
em
is
wor
n away.
Seaweed needs to be on or ne
ar
the

sea's
surfa
ce
becau se
furth
er down in t
he
wa ter t
her
e is not eno
ugh
light for it to
thri
ve. Sea
we
ed uses tr
ap
ped
air
in
'
po
ds' to
mak
e it floa t.
Beaches
A beach is a slopi
ng
area of sand,
pebbles or sh

in
gle alo
ng
the very
edge of the sea . Mo
st
bea
che
s
are m
ad
e of sand, thou
gh
some
arc rocky. So
me
ar
e
eve
n
m
ad
e
from
brok
en
seas
he
lls!
Rock pools are pools of sea

wa
ter
that
are tra
pp
ed
in
rocks on the beach w
he
n
the tide
goes
out, and
ar
e
h
orne
to a
wid
e
va
riety of
tiny wildlife.
Sand is p
rodu
ced as
waves
gri
nd
dow

n rocks a
nd
cliffs
into
small
er
an d
smalle
r pieces .
How
is sand
pro
duced?
20
Coastline
features:
Bay - A bay is a
wid
e in
de
n t in
the coast, between two
h
eadland
s. Bays
ar
e u
su
ally
s

he
lte
red spots. A s
mall
bay is called a
cove. A
hu
ge bay is called a bi
ght
, and a
gu lf is a lon g,
narr
ow
bight.
Cliff
- Cliffs are
form
ed ove r m illions of
yea
rs by
waves we
arin
g a
way
the e
dgc
of the l
and
.
Sea

anemonescan live for up to
100 years!
The UKand Ireland together have
13,870km (8,618 miles) of
coas
tline.
21
Co
ral is built from skeletons of tiny
animals
ca
lled polyps. Polyps use their
tentacles to
ca
pture food by special stinging cells
in their tentacles that numb their prey. Then the
tentacles
pass
it to the polyp'smouth.
Cra
bs like the one op
posite
have five sets of limbs a
nd
can
move
in a
ny
dir
ection . A crab keeps its skele ton on the

outside of its body, which is called a cara
pac
e. H ermit
c
rabs
canno
t
grow
their
ow
n carapaces and so move
int
o
e
mp
ty seashells.
Li
mpe
ts are she llfish with flattened, cone-s
hape
d shells.
T
hey
have
a mu scular 'foot' which allows them to seal
themse lves to the rocks a
nd
cli
ng
on to

avo
id bein g
was
hed
away
by the tide.
S
he
llf ish such as mussels, clams and winkles live
inside
shells a
nd
att
ach themselves to rocks w ith the
'foot'
unde rneath
th
e shell. Ma ny shellfish are e
dib
le.
Sea
stacks
like the
one below are form ed
from sea arches, when
erosion finally causes
the top of t
he
arch to
collapse.

nus
leaves only a p /
pillar of rock
stan
d
~
n
g
alone
ff'
in the
se<1
.
What
lives
on
the seashore?
Sea ane
mones
like these
above
are brightly co
loured
crea tures that look like flowers when the many tentacles
that
surrou
nd
their m
outh
s are exte

nde
d. These t
ent
acles
are us
ed
to
cap
ture
prey a
nd
to sti
ng
a
ny
thi
ng
that
attacks
the ane
mone
. T
hey
have no ske
leto
n and
can
only move
very s
low

ly.
S
tarfis
h have no bones. Mos t have five
arms
- if an arm is
c
ut
off, the starfish will g
row
anothe r! Their m
outh
s are
und
ern
e
ath
th
eir bodi es - a star fish
that
wan
ts to ea t especially
large prey can actually
pus
h
its stomach o
ut
of its
mou
th to catch a

nd
digest the prey.
Sea
urc
hins are spiny,
hard-shelled crea tu res
which are often
fou
nd
was
hed
up
on
beaches. T
hey
have
spi
nes all
over
their
shell for
pro
tection,
and
some urchins
have
veno
mo
us
spi

nes
.
d I<I gdom
he
United
Kingdom
comprises Great Britain and Northern
Ireland. Great Britain is Europe's largest island and for the last
500 years has
been
one of the world's
most
influential and richest
countries.
At
its height the British Empire stretched over 25% of the
Earth's surface, ruling countries
such
as Canada, South Africa, India
and
Australia,
which
is
why
so
many
nations in the world speak
English. The Empire is
no
more, and Scotland, Wales and Northern

Ireland
now
have
their
own
parliaments.
The UK
was
a
wo
rld leader in shipbuilding, steel m
akin
g,
car m
anuf
a
cturin
g and coal
minin
g,
but
these have
declined, with mos t people now employe d in finance,
health care, educa tion, retail and t
ouri
sm
.
Languages
The lan
gu

age of the UK is
pr
ed
omin
antl
y English,
although Welsh is
sp
oken by
25°!<,
of the Welsh p
eopl
e
and
Gae
lic is s
poke
n to a lesser extent in Western Scotland and
the H
ebrid
es. Cornish is s
po
ken in sma ll areas of Co
rnwa
ll. :
The UK is a multi-
cultural
society
and
many lan

gu
ages are
s
poke
n, m ainly from
th
e
Indi
an subco
nti
nent and Africa.
monarchy
and
the
he
adqu
art
ers of many
nati
onal
in
stitution
s and
co
mpa
nies. This
combina tion of royalty and
national m
onum
ent

s
attracts t
ouri
sts from
ar
ound
the
wo
rld. The
most visited sights are
Westminster Ab
bey
,
Do
wnin
g Street and
St P
aul'
s Ca thedral.
Northern Ireland
: Northe rn Irel
and
cons ists of the six counties of Ulster and is
, situated in the north-east of Irel
and
.
It
covers 14,139 sq km - 52
i (5,459 sq miles), a
bo

ut a sixth of the total area of the isl
and
.
.
It
is mostly
rur
al with in
du
str
y centred arou
nd
the capital
Belfast.
England
Engla
nd
is the largest of the British nations and has, in
London, one of the most cos
mo
politan capital cities in the
wo
rld.
It
is h
om
e to b
oth
the govern
me

nt
and
the
Was
the
Titanic built in
the
UK?
The
Titani
c was
bu
ilt at the H
arlan
d
an
d Wolff
shipyard in Belfast, Northe
rn
Ireland. She was the
l
ar
gest passe
nge
r ship in the
wo
rld . On April 14, 1912,
she broke into
tw
o p ieces, a

nd
sank two h
our
s
and
forty minutes later a t 2:20 a.m. M
ond
ay morni
ng
.
Wh
y
do
esn't
the
Qu
e
en
rul
e England?
Engl
and
(
and
the rest of the UK) has been
rul
ed by a
parli
am
ent

of elected officials since
th
e m
id-
13th
c
entur
y.
22
, Northern Ireland's most spectacular feature is the Giant's
Cause
way
(a ca
useway
is a p
ath
). The
un
iqu
e rock
fo
rm
ations have withstood Atlantic sto
rms
for millions of
years. This fe
atu
re is the re
sult
of volcanic activ ity. The

, Cau se
wa
y itself is m
ad
e
up
of
. hexagonal colum
ns
of diff
erin
g
: hei
ght
s. There are
over
40,000
: of these columns. The story
: is that the giant stepped
: fr
om
Irel
and
and
ove
r to
j Scotland, u
sin
g the
, columns on Staffa (near

Mull in the Scottish
,
Hi
ghland
s) as a
step ping stone .
Giant's
c
au
seway

w
Wa
les
Successive English Kings tried to integrate
Wales into Eng
lan
d, King Edwa rd I
ordered a ring of castles to be built to
circle the land
but
it
was
not
until the
reign of H
enr
y VIII that Wales
was
fully

intergrated. The castles today remain as
magnific
ent
t
our
ist attractions . Wales is a
rugged co
un
try; in the
north
are the
magnificent m
ount
ains of Sno
wd
onia.
Mid Wales has a more rolling
countryside
bu
t is very sparsely
populated,
willie in the south are the
Black Mountains and the coal-rich
Welsh Valleys. It is in this region that
the capital, Cardiff,
is si
tuat
ed
and
where most of the people live.

re
pr
esentatives who have total control
over
issues such as education, health,
agriculture and justice. The parli
am
ent is
in the capital
city
of Edinburgh, w hich
has many fine
bu
ildings such as
Edinb
urg
h Cas tle and Holyrood House.
52"
. 54"
_ _
'
-
-
i~
0'
e \
h a n n
l i s h C - .

- so-

_ £ D_9 .
Jersey
8 '
Guernsey
.

. ' Sark
Land's r-
L ,
- End - · Penzance"-
6'
ATLA NTI C
OCE AN
60
100 150
I
I
L .
Scotland
The Celts of Scotla nd have alw
ays
fiercely def
end
ed
their homel
and
. The Romans could not def
eat
th
em

and bu ilt two wa lls, the Antonine Wall between the
River Clyde and the
firth
of F
orth
a
nd
H
adri
an
's
Wall b
etw
een the River Solway and River T
yne
, to
try and keep th
em
out of England. The tw o
countries became unified in 1707. The Scots
achieved their
own
parliament in 1998 and elected
Stonehenge is a megalithic monument
located in the
En
glish
co
unty of Wiltshire. It
is

compose
d of earthworks surrounding a
ci
rcula
r setting of large standing stones
and isone of the most famousprehistoric
sites in the world. Archaeologists think
thestanding stones were erected between
2500 and 2000
Be.
Britain is the home to the world'smost
poi
sonous
fungu
s, the yellowisholive Death
Cap.
23
T

Southern Calif
ornia
,
Ne
vada and Arizona are
desert, the dri est place
b
eing
in De
ath
Valley.

Water from the River
\
\
1
n
ear
Aspen in Colorado and L
ike
Tahoe in
· California. As the traditi
onal
coal, steel and
aut
omob
ile
indu
stries of the Eas tern
USA declin
ed,
many people moved to
the West Coast
wh
ere n
ew
ind ustries
·
we
re growing. Aircraft
and
sof

tw
are
deve
lop me
nt
in Seattle, computer
co
mpo
nent devel
opment
and
m
anufa
cture in 'Silicon Valley' San
· Francisco,
and
the
mu
sic, m ovie and
entertain me nt
indu
stries of Los Angeles
have
built
one of the richest regions in the
wo
rld . Television and film d
omin
ate A
me

rican
cult
ure
and s
prea
d it through
out
the
wo
rld . Hollyw
ood
movies are vie
we
d
wo
rldwi
de,
as are such
lon
g-running
television
programs as 'The
Sim
pso
ns'.
What do the
stars
and
stripes
mean

on
the
United
States flag?
Did
the Ma
yflowe
r take
the
first s
ett
lers
to America?
No. The first settlers are thought to have been a
group
of English traders who landed in Virginia in 1607. But
the
Mayflower, which sailed in 1620, is probab ly the
most fam ou s of the early s
hip
s to go to America.
Tho
se on board included 102
passengers
from Holland
and
Britain. A replica of the Mayflower can be seen at
P
lym
outh, Massachusetts.

The flag of the United States has 13
horizon
tal red
stripes, which represent the 13 original colonies. In
the top left corner of the flag is a blue rectangle
wit
h
50 sma ll, white sta rs. These repr
esent
the
50
states
in
the United States of America.
The
flag is kno
wn
as
'the Stars
and Stripes'.
Western USA
Here the
nati
on's
mo
st
dr
amati
c
land

scapes can be found.
The Rocky M
oun
tains f
orm
s
eve
ral large m
oun
tain ranges.
Vast
quantities of p
ow
der s
now
make this one of the
worl
d'
s biggest
wi
nter skii
ng
areas, the m ain centres being
T
he USA stretches from
the
Arctic
Ocean
to tropical
Hawaii

and
includes the massive Rocky
Mountains
as well as fertile
lowlands. Vast
natural
resources
and
a culture of enterprise
make
the USA
one
of the
world's
richest nations, the
home
of
many
global
businesses
such
as Ford, McDonald's, Microsoft
and
Disney.
The
people
The United States has
one
of the worl
d's

most diverse
p
opul
ations, with
immi
gra nts f
rom
all ove r the
wo
rld .
Tho
usa
nds of years ago, Asians crossed the Bering Strait
f
rom
Asia and po p ulated b
oth
No rth and S
out
h America.
Their desc
end
ants are the Na tive A
me
ricans. Spanish,
French and E
ng
lish settlers colonized in the 1600s,
and
slaves from Africa

we
re
brou
ght
to the co untry later. The
Indu
strial Revolution
attr
act
ed
millions of Euro
pea
n
immi
gr
ant
s f
rom
Irel
and
, Britain and Italy,
and
the last
50 yeurs have
brou
ght
immi
gr
ant
s from Mexico.

24
\
\
~.
\
".
"
-~
-
'
+
-t-
Douglas
__
_ _ I
,
I -

~
'r
r"=
~
'%
~
~
o
Q
"'
.
Laredo

500 miles .
860
kilometres I
i
4
60
660
,
I
I
" " " I
I
o
/
1
·,t
I

~
~
~
",
'f
'"

,
~
-i-
-+-
-

I

\
N
.

t
- t - -
Colora
do
has
cut
the deep gorges of the Grand Canyon
and Bryce Ca
nyo
n, and provid es
much
need ed wa ter for
the farme rs and cities of California.
Eastern
USA
E
uro
peans have settled the eastern half of the USA si
nce
1613, and man y to
wn
s are n
am
ed after t

he
places from
wh ich these coloni
st
s ca
me
. People who migrated to settle
permanently in colonies controlled by their country of
origin we re called colonists or settlers. S
om
etimes the
settlers for
med
the colo
ny
themselves if they settled in an
unp
opul
at
ed
etrea. A colony is the territory where
th
e
peop le se ttle,
New
Orleans
1
New
Orleans, called the Big Easy due to its relax
ed

life
style, is the
wo
rld's
jazz capital, and the Ma rdi Gras
festival attracts millions of visitors. In Aug ust 2005,
Hurr
icane K
atrin
a, the largest
hurri
cane ever rec
or
ded
over
the USA, flood
ed
over 80% of
New
Orleans.
Washington, D.C.
Washing ton
,D
.C., n
am
ed
after the first Presid
ent
, George
Washi

ng
ton, is the c
apit
al city
an
d hom e to
th
e Pre
sid
ent
of the
Unit
ed
States and to the US
Capi
tol.
It
was
desig
ned
in 1791 by a French architect an d
was
the
wo
rl
d's
first
p
lann
ed capital. Washing ton, D.C., is one

of A
mer
i
ca's
most visit
ed
sites.
The world's largest silver nugget,
weighing 835 kg (1,840 Ibs) was found
in 1894 near A
spen
,
Co
lorado.
Disney World, near Orlando, Florida is the'
world'slargest tourist attraction,
cove
ring an
area of 12,140 hectares (30,000 a
cres
).
25