Finding Your Way Around the World Map

Imagine you are an astronaut floating in space, looking down at Earth. You can see huge patches of land and enormous stretches of blue water. How would you describe where anything is? That is exactly what a world map helps us do. A world map is a flat drawing of our round planet. It shows us every country, every ocean, and every continent all at once.

A world map has two main features: continents and oceans. Continents are the seven giant landmasses on Earth. Their names are: Africa, Antarctica, Asia, Australia (also called Oceania), Europe, North America, and South America. Asia is the largest continent. Australia is the smallest. You live on one of these seven continents right now. Oceans are the five huge bodies of salt water that cover most of our planet. Their names are: the Pacific Ocean, the Atlantic Ocean, the Indian Ocean, the Southern Ocean, and the Arctic Ocean. The Pacific Ocean is the largest — it is bigger than all the land on Earth put together! To describe where something is on a map, we use a compass. A compass shows four main directions: North (N), South (S), East (E), and West (W). On almost every world map, North points to the top of the map and South points to the bottom. East is to the right and West is to the left. For example: Europe is north of Africa. The Pacific Ocean is east of Asia and west of North America. These direction clues help you find any place on the map.