First, let us discover some of the biggest pieces of land – where they are and what they are named. The large lands of our earth are called continents, and there are seven of them. The names of our world continent are , Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia, North America, South America and Antarctica. North America and south America are also joined together by a narrow neck of land. This is called an isthmus.
People often speak of these two continents as “the Americas.” South America is also called ” Latin America. “Many people there speak the Spanish language. Our United States is a part of North America.
Asia is the largest continent. Nearly one half the people in the world live in Asia. Europe is joined to Asia, but we call it a separate continent just the same. Many folks live there also. The British countries are a part of Europe. Africa, another large continent, is the home of many dark-skinned people. Australia is the smallest continent. Antarctica is the lonesome land of ice and snow around the South Pole. Thanks to explorers we are learning more and more about this continent.
However, no one wants to stay there for any length of time. It is much too cold. Asia, Europe, and Africa make up the lands called the ” Old World.” Really these continents are no older than the others. But they were known about long before Columbus was born. North and South America make up the lands called the ” New World.” Long ago map makers divided the different parts of the earth into hemispheres. Hemi means “half,” and sphere means “globe.” So a hemisphere is one half of the earth. There are also four hemispheres in our world – Eastern hemispheres, Western hemispheres, Northern hemispheres, and Southern hemispheres. The map makers named the lands of the Old World the Eastern Hemisphere. Australia was added later to this group of continents. The lands of the New World were named the Western Hemisphere.
. The North Pole is the center of the Northern Hemisphere. As we know that The South Pole is the center of the Southern Hemisphere. Our country lies in both the Western and the Northern Hemispheres. You remember that, as our earth cooled, a crust formed around it. There are many things in this crust. There is rock, stone, clay, and gravel. There is the sand of the beaches and deserts. There is rich, dark loam for growing things and poor soil where few plants live. Deep in the ground there are coal, copper, gold, silver, and lots of other minerals. Oil comes out of the earth also. Men get marble and granite from the earth and use these stones to make beautiful buildings.
Many of these things are found in the hills and mountains of our earth. There are many ranges of mountains scattered over the continents. Some well-known mountain ranges are the Rockies in North America, the Andes in South America, the Ural and Himalayas in Asia, and the Alps in Europe. Mount Everest, in Asia Nepal , is the world highest mountain in the world. It is five and one half miles high. It was first climbed in 1953. Mont Blanc and the Matterhorn are high peaks in Europe.
North America’s tallest mountain is named McKinley. It was named after one of the Presidents of our country. Once upon a time folks believed strange things about mountains. Witches and goblins were supposed to live upon them. There is a story about Rip Van Winkle who slept for twenty years upon one.
The Japanese still worship their beautiful mountain called Fujiyama, or Fuji. Long ago folks feared the high peaks. Today men have risked their lives trying to climb them. Volcanoes can be very dangerous mountains. Sometimes hot steam and gases inside the earth blow the top off one of these mountains and there is an explosion. The mountain spouts smoke, fire, stones, and lava; that’s how a volcano works. Hot lava flows down the mountain side and buries everything in its path. Probably the best-known volcano is Mount Vesuvius, in Italy. Years ago it wiped out two cities. It still gives forth fire, smoke, and lava. Just why the hot gases should pick some certain mountain to blow off steam from, no one knows.
Anyhow, away down deep, the earth’s insides are still very hot. In some places steam blows streams of hot water out of the ground. These hot-water fountains are called geysers. A very famous beautiful geyser is in our Yellowstone National Park.
It is also called ” Old Faithful,” and it lives up to its name. Old Faithful spouts steam and water every hour, and it never fails. Before we end our story of the large lands of our earth, we must not forget the small ones. These are the islands, and some of them are not so small either. A great many islands belong to different countries. Islands are often handy places for airplanes to land on, especially when they are the only land in the middle of a large ocean.
