8 MEXICO AND CENTRAL AMERICA 10 SOUTH AMERICA HE WORLD is round. So, to make a map of the world appear on a flat page, the world’s curved surface must be flattened out and parts of it stretched.The world map (below) is the result.The maps in this atlas show different areas of the world. Look for the little world map printed on each page.The part shaded red shows where in the world that area is situated. The maps in this atlas have been specially drawn to show where different kinds of landscape are found. T Arctic lands (tundra) Mountains Desert Svalbard 12 NORTHERN AFRICA s u e h p r O © 14 SOUTHERN AFRICA Iceland 16 WESTERN EUROPE R o E U RO P E N O RT H y ck AMERICA s. Mt 20 NORTHERN EUROPE Grassland Coniferous forest Marshes Farmland Rivers and lakes PACIFIC 24 THE MIDDLE EAST Equator n Amazo Galápagos Is. A 26 INDIA AND SOUTHEAST ASIA n SOUTH S H im al ay a d e s 32 INDEX 2 0 4000 km s Hawaiian Is. Marshall Is. AFRICA Kiribati Seychelles New Guinea Solomon Is. INDIAN Samoa Fiji AMERICA OCEAN 30 AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND Scale A PAC I F I C O C E A N French Polynesia 28 CHINA AND JAPAN I b i G o Canary Is. Sahara Desert Cape Verde Is. OCEAN Ob Nile Hawaiian Is. Boundaries between countries are shown in this atlas by red lines (below left). Boundaries between states within countries, or disputed boundaries, are both shown by broken lines (below right). . A Azores OCEAN 200 km . Aleutian Is AT L A N T I C 22 RUSSIA AND CENTRAL ASIA Scale 0 ARCTIC OCEAN Greenland 18 SOUTHERN EUROPE s k o o B Forest and woodlands ts 6 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA HOW TO USE THIS ATLAS M 4 CANADA AND THE ARCTIC THE WORLD Ural CONTENTS A scale bar (below) tells us how far distances on the map are in the real world.You can use it to work out longer or shorter distances. AU S T R A L I A Tonga New Caledonia New Zealand Kergeulen Is. 3 DID YOU KNOW . . ? Much of northern Mexico is covered by desert.The cactus is often the only plant life there. MEXICO CENTRAL AMERICA AND Mexico City, the capital of Mexico, lies at more than 2000 metres above sea level. With more than 20 million people, it is one of the largest cities in the world—and one of the most polluted. MEXICALI S M Hand weaving is an ancient Indian art that still goes on in Mexico and Guatemala. Each region has its own style. i e r M and Gr Rio r a a e d r e In many Central American and Caribbean countries, growing bananas is the most important industry. As the bananas grow, workers cover them with bags to protect them from insects.The bananas are cut down while they are still green.They ripen just before they go on sale. NIA OR L IF CA OF 400 km LF GU Scale 0 BAHAMAS MONTERREY M E X I C O HAVANA s u e h p r O © TURKS & CAICOS IS. (Br.) CUBA HAITI MÉRIDA BELIZE C IF IC OCEA N GUATEMALA EL SALVADOR ANGUILLA (Br.) DOMINICAN REPUBLIC VIRGIN IS. (Br. & US) ST. KITTS & NEVIS PUERTO ANTIGUA RICO (US) GUADELOUPE (Fr.) DOMINICA ST. LUCIA MEXICO CITY The Panama Canal links the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Before the canal was built, ships had to go around the stormy seas off the southern tip of South America. A series of locks were built to take canal traffic across the 80kilometre stretch of land. Small trains help pull the ships through the locks. 8 GULF OF MEXICO GUADALAJARA PA s k o o B EXICO and the Central American countries stretch from the United States in the north to South America in the south. A mountain chain runs all the way down.There are many active volcanoes and the land is regularly shaken by earthquakes, too. In the north the climate is dry, but further south there is tropical rainforest. The Caribbean islands have a hot, wet climate.They often suffer fierce hurricanes. ST.VINCENT AND THE GRENADINES JAMAICA C A R I B B E A N HONDURAS MARTINIQUE (Fr.) BARBADOS GRENADA S E A NETHERLANDS ANTILLES TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO N I C A R AG UA Panama Canal C O S TA RICA PA N A M A Steel band music is popular on every Caribbean island. It was first played in Trinidad.The pans or drums are made from large oil drums. Calypso and reggae music both have their origins in the Caribbean. 9 N ORWAY, Sweden and Denmark are known as Scandinavia.Together with Finland, they are the most northerly European lands. Central Europe lies between the Baltic Sea and the Alps.The plains of northern Germany, Denmark and Poland are fertile. Evergreen forests cover upland areas, as well as low-lying Finland. D NORTHERN EUROPE 0 E ine A l SWITZERLAND ZÜRICH OSLO W E L Scale A Bornholm e p A s LIECHTENSTEIN MUNICH ube Dan FRANKFURT S T R I A VIENNA The River Rhine in Germany is a major waterway. Barges carry goods up and down it.They pass through the Rhine gorge, a land of castles and vine-covered slopes. U O PRAGUE P L Åland A Vistu la N A T V RIGA I WARSAW VILNIUS A ESTONIA TALLINN LITH UANIA L HELSINKI (Russia) N OULU D Inari F I N L A N D A D BRATISLAVA S L OVA K I A KRAKOW L GDANSK CZECH REPUBLIC BERLIN GERMANY El b COPENHAGEN P 300 km B A L T I C S E A Gotland STOCKHOLM GÖTEBORG Vänern A HAMBURG DENMARK BERGEN TRONDHEIM COLOGNE Rh GENEVA This man shapes a blob of melted glass by blowing into it. Glassblowing is a traditional industry of Poland. DID YOU KNOW . . ? Northern Scandinavia is the Land of the Midnight Sun. At the height of summer, the sun never sets. But in the depths of winter, it never rises. REYKJAVIK R ICELAND N O N G Y W S LF U F O TH BO IA N 20 s u e h p r O © Mountains cover much of Austria and Switzerland. Many Austrian village churches have onionshaped domes. Lapland is home to the Lapps, or Saami people. A few still herd reindeer, a traditional way of life. These sea inlets in Norway’s coastline are called fjords. s k o o B 21