Continents• Land makes up 30% of the Earth's surface.

•7 continents are: North America, South America, Africa,

Europe, Asia, Australia, and Antarctica.

• The largest continent is Asia and the smallest Australia.

• Australia is the only continent which is also a country

• Antarctica is the only continent which is uninhabited

• Asia and Africa are joined by narrow strips of land, and

so are North and South America.

• Europe and Asia are actually one continuous land mass

as there is no water body which separates them.

Asia• largest continent which makes up 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area, and 29.5% of its land area. Largest of these are Russia, China& India.•The Arctic Ocean and a handful of seas front the northern border, while the Bering Sea separates Asia from North America.

• In the southwest the Red Sea separate the continent from Africa.

• The Indian Ocean fronts most of Asia's southern borders, along with a series of bays, gulfs and seas, as well as extensive chains of both inhabited and uninhabited islands.

•In the west, Asia is bordered by Europe, the eastern coastline of the Mediterranean Sea, as well by the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea • In the east, Asia is bordered by the Pacific Ocean, and an almost endless stretch of bays and seas.

Africa

• 2nd largest continent and the second most-populous continent • includes (54) individual countries, and Western Sahara, a member state of the African Union whose statehood is disputed by Morocco. South Sudan is the continent's newest country.

• With just over a billion people (a 2010 estimate) it accounts for just over 14% of the world's human population.

• It also contains the Nile River system, the world's longest, and the massive Sahara Desert, the world's largest.

• surrounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, both the Suez Canal and the Red Sea the Indian Ocean to the east and southeast, and the Atlantic Ocean to the west.

North America

• 3rd largest continent, includes (23) countries and dozens of possessions and territories.

• Positioned in the planet's northern and western hemispheres, it's bordered in the north by the Arctic Ocean, in the east by the Atlantic Ocean, in the southeast by the Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico, and in the west by the Pacific Ocean.

• It contains all Caribbean and Central America countries, Canada, Mexico, the United States of America, as well as Greenland - the world’s largest island.

South America

• 4th largest continent, includes (12) independent countries.

• The continent contains the world's highest waterfall - Angel Falls in Venezuela; the largest river (by volume)-the Amazon River; the longest mountain range-the Andes, and the driest place on earth-the Atacama Desert in Chile.

• It includes the largest rainforest, the Amazon Rainforest.

Europe• 6th largest continent

• includes 48 countries and islands and territories. 

• Europe's recognized surface area covers about 9,938,000 sq km or 2% of the Earth's surface, and about 6.8% of its land area. 

• In exacting geographic definitions, Europe is really not a continent, but part of the peninsula of Euroasia which includes all of Europe and Asia. However, it's still widely referred to as an individual continent. 

• Europe is bordered by numerous bodies of water, is separated from Asia by Russia's Ural Mountains and by the Caspian and Black Seas. It is separated from Africa by the Mediterranean Sea. 

Oceania/Australia• smallest continent

• A large percentage of geography experts now consider the long-established continent of Australia to be more accurately defined as Australia/Oceania.

• Collectively it then combines all of Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, thousands of coral atolls and volcanic islands of the South Pacific Ocean, including the Melanesia and Polynesia groups as well as Micronesia-a widely scattered group of islands that run along the northern and southern edges of the Equator.

ARCTIC AND ANTRACTIC CIRCLE

Arctic Circle

This region, north of the Arctic Circle, includes the Arctic Ocean, Greenland, Baffin Island, other smaller northern islands, and the far northern parts of Europe, Russia (Siberia), Alaska and Canada

• The Antarctic (or Antarctica) Circle is one of the five major circles or parallels of latitude that mark maps of the Earth. 

• Shown on the image with a dashed red line, this parallel of latitude sits at approximately 66.33° south of the Equator.

•Every place south of the Antarctic Circle experiences at least one whole day each year during which the sun does not set, and at least one whole day during which the sun does not rise.

Antarctic Circle

Oceans• Oceans are large bodies of water which cover two thirds of the Earth's surface. These are part of a continuous body of water which is divided by the continental landmasses. • 5 oceans are: Pacific, Atlantic, Antarctic, Arctic, Indian Ocean.•The largest and the deepest ocean is the Pacific which separates Asia from America. The other oceans are Indian, Southern, Atlantic and Arctic. • The Pacific Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean are further sub divided at the equator into northern and southern parts. • Atlantic separates North and South America from Europe and Africa. • Indian Ocean named after India is bounded by Southern and Western Asia, Africa and Australia. • Southern ocean encircles Antarctica• Arctic Ocean-located in the Arctic polar region- is surrounded by Europe, Asia and North America. Arctic Ocean is the smallest of all the oceans.

MAP READING Maps are the basic tools of geography. They enable us to depict spatial phenomenon on paper. There are conventions used in cartography which allow a map to be read efficiently and quickly.

A good map will have a legend or key which will show the user what different symbols mean.

ELEMENTS OF MAP reading

Every map is a representation of a larger portion of the earth. Without a north arrow, it is difficult to determine the orientation of a map.

With a north arrow (pointing in the correct direction), a user can determine direction.

A neat line is the border of a map. It helps to define the edge of the map area and obviously keeps things looking "neat."

Since the map is a flat representation of the curved surface of the earth, all maps are inherently inaccurate.

There are a variety of projections which have been formulated for different uses. A map's title provides important clues about the cartographer's intentions and goals.

MAP AND GLOBEMAP= Representation Of Earth On A Flat Paper

Globe= Representation of earth in 3D view

Color appears so often on maps that we often take it for granted that mountains are brown and rivers are blue.

GMT is a time system originally referring to the mean solar time at the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, London, which later became adopted as a global time standard.

It is arguably the same as Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) and when this is viewed as a time zone the name Greenwich Mean Time is especially used by bodies connected with the United Kingdom, and countries of the Commonwealth, including Australia, South Africa, India, Pakistan and Malaysia, as well as many other countries in the Old World.

GREENWICH MEAN TIME

Why does the Prime Meridian (Zero Longitude) pass through Greenwich?

The International Meridian Conference took place in October 1884 in Washington DC. Twenty-five nations were represented at the conference by 41 delegates. The Greenwich Meridian was chosen to become the Prime Meridian of the World. There were several reasons for this; the main one being that nearly two thirds of the World's ships were already using charts based on it.

TIME ZONE MAP

How long is the Prime Meridian?From Pole to Pole, the Prime Meridian covers a distance of 20,000 km.

Before the introduction of UTC on 1 January 1972 Greenwich Mean Time (also known as Zulu time) was the same as Universal Time (UT) which is a standard astronomical concept used in many technical fields. Astronomers no longer use the term "Greenwich Mean Time".

Historically the term GMT has been used with two different conventions, sometimes numbering hours starting at midnight and sometimes starting at noon. The more specific terms UT and UTC do not share this ambiguity, always referring to midnight as zero hours.

INTERNATIONAL DATE LINEThe International Date Line is an imaginary line on the surface of the Earth that sits mostly on the 180º line of longitude in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

The International Date Line lies on the opposite side of the world to the Prime Meridian (The Prime Meridian passes through Greenwich in London. It separates the Eastern and Western Hemispheres).

The International Date Line separates two consecutive calendar days.

Immediately to the left of the International Date Line (the date) is always one day ahead of the date (or day) immediately to the right of the International Date Line in the Western Hemisphere. 

People crossing the line from East to the West skip forward a day. Those crossing from the West to the East repeat the day.

WESTEAST

ELEMENTS OF WEATHER AND CLIMATE The earth's climate is generally defined as the average weather over a long period of time. A place or region's climate is determined by both natural and anthropogenic (human-made) factors.

The natural elements include the atmosphere, geosphere, hydrosphere, and biosphere, while the human factors can include land and resource uses.

Changes in any of these factors can cause local, regional, or even global changes in the climate.

How Does Climate Differ From Weather?WEATHER is the current atmospheric conditions, including temperature, rainfall, wind, and humidity at a given place. If you stand outside, you can see that it's raining or windy, or sunny or cloudy. Weather is what's happening right now or is likely to happen tomorrow or in the very near future.

CLIMATE, on the other hand, is the general weather conditions over a long period of time. Climate refers to the sum total of weather conditions and variations over a large area for a long period of time (more than thirty years).

ELEMENTS OF WEATHER AND CLIMATE

PRECIPITATION: Precipitation is simply any water form that falls to the Earth from overhead cloud formations. As an element of weather, precipitation determines whether outdoor activities are suitable or if the water levels of creeks and rivers will rise. As an element of climate, precipitation is a long-term, predictable factor of a region's makeup. For instance, a desert may experience a storm (weather) though it remains a typically dry area (climate).

HUMIDITY: Humidity is the measurable amount of moisture in the air of the lower atmosphere. The humidity element of weather makes the day feel hotter and can be used to predict coming storms. However, the humidity element of climate is the prolonged moisture level of an area that can affect entire ecosystems. For instance, tropical jungles can sustain different forms of life than dry, arid climates because of the overall humidity from rainfall and other factors.

TEMPERATURE: Temperature is simply the measurement of how hot or cold a region is on a day-to-day basis. The weather aspect of temperature can change throughout the day, however, it generally falls within a certain range of predictable highs and lows (as climate). Cold snaps and heat waves are weather that affect the temperatures of particular climates.

ATMOSPHERIC PRESSURE: Atmospheric pressure is basically the "weight" of the air. It is used primarily by meteorologists to monitor developing storms that can seem to come out of nowhere. While typically considered an aspect of weather, certain regions of the world exist in zones where changing atmospheric pressures form part of the predictable climate. Because of their proximity to large bodies of water, places like coastal regions and islands experience severe storms on a regular basis.

METEOROLOGICAL PHENOMENA: Tornadoes, hail storms and fog are all examples of meteorological phenomena that are hard to predict. As an element of weather, these occurrences can seem random and are a result of a set of unique circumstances. However, some regions of the world can factor meteorological phenomena into their climate. For instance, the American Midwest's "Tornado Alley" (tornadoes) and places like London (fog) and Bangladesh (drastic and rapid climate changes) have these occurrences so often that they are an almost predictable part of the region's climate.

DISTANCE FROM THE SEALand heats and cools faster than the sea. Therefore coastal areas have a lower temperature range than those areas inland. On the coast winters are mild and summers are cool. In inland areas temperatures are high in the summer and cold in the winter.

LATITUDETemperature range increases with distance from the equator. Also, temperatures decrease as you move away from the equator. This is because the suns rays are dispersed over a larger area of land as you move away from the equator. This is due to the curved surface of the earth. In addition Polar Regions are colder because the suns rays have further to travel compared to place on the equator. Altitude Temperatures decrease with height. The air is less dense and cannot hold heat as easily.

WINDS: If winds are warm - they have been blown from a hot area - they will rise temperatures. If winds have been blown from cold areas they will lower temperatures

CLIMATIC ZONES

The classification is based on maximum and minimum temperatures and the temperature range as well as the total and seasonal distribution of precipitation

Polar very cold and dry all yearTemperate cold winters and mild summersArid dry, hot all yearTropical hot and wet all yearMediterranean mild winters, dry hot summersMountains (tundra) very cold all year

NATURAL VEGETATION OF WORLD