National Geographic Kids Ultimate Globetrotting World Atlas

National Geographic Kids Ultimate Globetrotting World Atlas — page 5
HOW TO USE MAPS Maps tell visual stories about the world but you have to learn how to read them to understand what they are illustrating The maps in this book show the shape size landscape and position of continents regions and countries They also show some of the places and features humans have made on Earth for example cities canals and national parks All maps in this book are shown with North at the top 160 ooz PROJECTIONS To make flat maps a round image of Earth is cut into sections and spread out These sections and the gaps that exist between them can be different shapes and sizes The exact way sections are cut and laid flat is known as the map projection Projections are usually very close to the actual shape of countries or regions but are not 100 percent accurate EUROPE ASIA NORTH AMERICA AFRICA CONTINENTS Earth's land area is mainly made up of seven giant landmasses known as continents People have divided the continents into smaller political units called countries Australia is a continent and also a single country Antarctica is a continent with no countries The five other continents include almost 200 independent countries SOUTH AMERICA AUSTRALIA ANTARCTICA