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What is a globe?

Satellite image of the Earth
Image caption,
Satellite image of the Earth with the Atlantic Ocean in the centre.

From space, the Earth looks like a sphere or a ball. About two thirds of the surface is covered with water, and the rest is covered with land.

A globe is a model of the Earth and shows what it looks like from space.

Some globes show how the land is divided into different countries - around 200 of them.

All the countries on our planet are located in seven different continents:

  • Europe
  • Africa
  • North America
  • South America
  • Asia
  • Oceania
  • Antarctica

Antarctica is a special case. The continent contains no countries, instead it is governed under a 1959 agreement called the Antarctic Treaty, which was signed by 12 nations, including the United Kingdom.

Satellite image of the Earth
Image caption,
Satellite image of the Earth with the Atlantic Ocean in the centre.
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Maps and atlases

An open atlas book with a map of Europe.

Maps are useful tools to help people navigate and locate places and features. Maps of different countries can be put together in books called atlases.

A cartoon of a satellite with a camera on it. It is floating in space pointed towards the Earth.

Today, computers and tablets show maps and aerial photographs. These are photographs taken from space by satellites and joined together to make very detailed images. Some aerial photographs are so detailed that you can zoom in and see a bird鈥檚-eye view of where you live.

In the past, maps were hand-drawn by using careful measurements of the ground. Flat, two-dimensional maps can look different because the world is actually curved. This means map-makers need to make compromises when drawing maps. These different map representations are called projections.

A cartoon of a satellite with a camera on it. It is floating in space pointed towards the Earth.
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Watch: Mapping the world

Explore globes and a map of the world with Sue Venir.

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Map projections

A map projection is an attempt by cartographers (map makers) to show all or part of the Earth鈥檚 curved surface on a flat surface.

Cartographers have tried various projections:

Image gallerySkip image gallerySlide 1 of 4, A Mercator map projection. It is 2D. Some of the continents are smaller or bigger than on a globe., Mercator map projection The Mercator map projection is used widely for navigation, but it distorts the size of countries and continents. For example, when compared to a globe, the island of Greenland at the top of the map appears much bigger and the continent of Africa appears much smaller.
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Activity: Quiz 鈥 Mapping the world

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Bitesize Primary games. game

Play fun and educational primary games in science, maths, English, history, geography, art, computing and modern languages.

Bitesize Primary games
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