The Cloudrest Map Room

The World Map at Cloudrest

On a snowy morning in the mountain town of Cloudrest, the geography club met in the school map room. The club used a globe and a flat world map. A globe is a round model of Earth. A flat map can show the whole world at once, but its shapes may look a little different from the round globe.

Earth has seven continents, or large land areas: North America, South America, Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia, and Antarctica. It also has five oceans: the Arctic, Atlantic, Indian, Pacific, and Southern Oceans. Continents are land areas, while oceans are large bodies of salt water.

The North Pole and South Pole are opposite ends of Earth's axis. The equator is an imaginary line around Earth halfway between the poles. It divides Earth into the Northern Hemisphere, north of the equator, and the Southern Hemisphere, south of it. The equator crosses parts of South America, Africa, and some islands of Asia. The prime meridian and the line opposite it help divide Earth into the Eastern and Western Hemispheres. Australia is east of the prime meridian and south of the equator.

On the club's practice map, labels help students practice. North America is west of the Atlantic Ocean. South America is below North America and west of the Atlantic. Europe is east of the Atlantic and above Africa. Africa is below Europe. The Pacific Ocean touches the map's far left and far right edges. The North Pole is at the top, the South Pole is at the bottom, and the equator runs across the middle.