National Geographic Kids World Atlas

National Geographic Kids World Atlas — page 5
6 HOW TO USE THIS ATLAS GETTING STARTED How To Use This Atlas YOU ARE HERE Locator globes help you see where one area is in relation to others On regional pages Ishown herel the area covered by the main map is yellow on the globe and its continent is green On pages with continent maps the locator globe shows the whole continent in yellow The surrounding land is brown This atlas is a window on your planet Through it you can explore the world To learn about maps use the first section Understanding Maps Next basic facts about Earth as a planet are presented in the section called Planet Earth The section Physical World includes world maps that focus on different aspects of nature and the environment The Political World contains world maps about how humans live on the planet In the pages that follow the maps photographs and essays are arranged by continent and region You can look up specific places or just browse Remember it's your planet learn it love it explore it 115 SOUTHWEST ASIA Southwest Asia This region made up largely of deserts and mountains includes the coun tries of the Arabian Peninsula and those that border the Persian Gul Islam is the dominant religion in each and the two holl est places for Muslims Mecca and Medina are here Arabic is the principal language everywhere butiran where most people speak Farst While water has been the most portant natural resource here for millennia global attention has focused in recent decades on the region's oil wealth With the major ity of the world's reserves found here oil has brought outside offences and military con flict Long a cradle of c ation Southwest Asia continues to hold the world's attention STATS FACTS At the left hand edge of each continent opener and regional page is a bar that includes basic information about the subject This feature is a great first stop if you're writing a report CHARTS GRAPHS Each region includes a chart or graph that shows information visually South America WHERE ARE THE PICTURES If you want to know where a picture in the regional sections of this atlas was taken look for the map in the photo essay Find the label that describes the picture you're curious about and follow the line to its location Maps use symbols to stand for political and physical features At right is the key to the symbols used in this atlas If you are wondering what you're looking at on a map here check