We Shall Learn

The Earth

spherical Oceans
continents
in shape

Antarctica Pacific Southern

Asia
Africa Europe Atlantic Arctic
North America Australia Indian
South America
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THE EARTH
Earth is the third planet from
the Sun. It is the only planet
known to have an atmosphere
that contains oxygen.

Earlier, it was believed that

the Earth was flat. In the year
1519, Ferdinand Magellan, a
sailor from Portugal, set out in a
westward direction. After sailing
for three years, some members Pictures taken by satellites from
space proved that the
isspherical in shape and slightly flattened at the Noth rdi
and
of the ship's crew reached the South Pole.
same port from where

they had begun their voyage. This established that the Earth was round ana
not flat.

ZoOM IN
Several million years after the formation of
Did You Know3
the Earth, the first land mass that
emerged was a supercontinent. This supercontinent was called
Pangaea was surrounded by a single Pangaea.
ocean. About
200 million years ago,
thePangaea broke into two parts-Gondwanaland
and Laurasia. In due course of time,
Gondwanaland and Laurosia also broke up into different
and oceans were parts, and the present-day continelnhts
formed.
CONTINENTS AND OCEANS

You have already studlod that. big land masses on the Earth's surlace aro
are callod
callod continents, and tho largo continnous masses of sallwator
oceans. Seas, gulis and bayn are the smallor parts
of these ocoans,

Continenls
North
There are seven Continents in the world. These are-Asia, Africa,
Europe and Australia (in the order of tho
America, South America, Antarctica,

largest to the smallest),

Asia
world's otal
Asia is the largest continent and occupies aboul one-third of the

land are.
ANCT D WAN
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2157 Map ut lo au le
CKNTURY visual literaty
word showing the
DHILLS |interpretallon a map of the
continonts and oconns
GGRAPHY SKLLBULDER to go
provide a colouy coded key or legend
In notebook,
yur
with the map,

Words to Know
surrounded by land
area of sea that s almost
gulf: a large that c u r v e s
into a constline
or of a large loke,
bay: a part of the sea,
 MI Evorost (left), the highost mountain poak on Earth, and tho Doad Soa (right), tho lowost land
roglon, aro locatod In Asla

This continent is surrounded by oceans on throe sides. To the north lios th

Arctic Ocean, to the east Iies tho Pacific Oc0an and to the south is the Indian
Ocean.
India and China, the two m0st populous countries in the world, ar
located in this continent.

Africa
Africais the second largest continent in the world.
To its north lies the Mediterranean Sea, to the oast lies the Indian Ocean
and to the west, the Atlantic Ocean,
aAfrica has(diversity in' låndforms) It is home to the Salhara Desert, the
largest hot desert in the world; the Nile River, the longest. river in the
world, and Mt Klimanjaro, which is the hicghest. mountain in Africa.

North America

North America is the third largest continent in the world.

It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean in the north, the Atlantic Ocean in the
east and the Pacific Ocean in the west.

CANADA
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the Nile River of
Africa UNITED STATES AMERICA
a map showing tho Groat Lako3 of North America
 It hashigh mountains such as the Rockies and large lakes such as the
Great Lakes, which is a
group of five freshwater lakes.
This continent is home to
developed countries of the world such as the
United States of America
and Canada. The Amazon River, which is in
South America South America, is the second
longest river in the world.
South America is the fourth
largest continent
in the world.

Both the Americas are joined by the

Isthmus of Panama.
A long stretch of mountains, called the
Andes, run parallel to the Pacific coast in
the western part of South America.

The famous Amazon rainforests are

penguins polar bears"
located here.

Antarctica
Antarctica is the coldest and the fifth largest
continent in the world.
seals
It is also called the White Continent as it
is always covered by a thick
carpet of ice and snow.
it is
Due to its extremely cold climate, Wildlife in Antarctica includes
which has no penguins, polar bears and seals
the world's only continent
permanent human habitation.

zOOM IN DidYou Know3

in
Antarctica is the largest cold desert
research stations run
the world. It has
some
three
countries. India also has
by different
Maitri and Bharati in research
Dakshin Gangotri, Maitri one ofthe Indian
research base stations, stations in Antarctica
two are operational.
Antarctica,of which the last

Words to Know
advanced
economically
and socially and has water on both sides
areas
developed: two larger land
of land that joins rainfall and has rich varietv of
piece a
isthmus: a narrow
regions receiving heavy
found in
rainforest: a
dense forest
animal life
plant and
 Europe

Europe is the sixth largest continentin

the world.

Europe is home to a famous Europe and Asla are together called

mountain range calledthe Alps
Eurasiaand form the longest stretch
of land on the Earth.

Europe is bordered by the Mediterrane nean

Sea in the south, Asia to the east and the
Atlantic Ocean in the west.

Technologically developed countries with

high standard of living such as the Unitet
TheVolga (left) and the Danube (ight) are
two of the important rivers of Europe. Kingdom and France are part of Europe.

Australia
Australia is the smallest continent in the
world. It is the only continent which is
also a country.
It is an island and is surrounded by
water on all sides.

Australia is famous for its Great

The Great Barrier Reef is the largest coral reef
on Earth.
Australian Desert and the Great
Oceans
Barrier Reef.
There five oceans-the Pacific Ocean, the
are
Atlantic Ocean, the Indian
Ocean, the Southern Ocean and
the Arctic Ocean (in the order of 21ST
A Activity CENTURYH
SKILLS
ICTskillscommunicationsk
written
the largest to the smallest). A rich
Find out more about
variety of plants and animals are the Great Barrier Reer
and write in
your notebook under the following
found in these oceans. Together,
categories:
they are called marine life. length number of reefsspecies of corals
species of fish species of turtles
****************
Word to Know
coral reef: hard natural structure under the
a
sea that is formed from
marine organisms called coral polyps skeletois
 21ST research and ICT skills
CENTURY collaboration
Activity SKILLS Synthesising information

The closs is dividedinto seven groups. Each group is given a continent to do research on. Iheir
research can cover the following topics:
locationphysical features and rivers climate and natural vegetotion
resources and people
or PowerPoint slides.
Each group can make a presentation of their findings either through posters
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Pacific Ocean

The Pacific Ocean is the largest and

deepest ocean in the world.
It covers about 30 per cent of the

Earth's surface.

It separates the two Americas from Mariana Trench, the deepest trench in the
world, lies within the Pacific Ocean
Asia and Australia.

found in the
Some of the world's most active and dormant volcanoes
are

basin of the Pacific Ocean.

Atlantic Ocean

The Atlantic Ocean is the world's

second largest ocean.

from
It separates Europe and Africa
North America and South America.

There is an underwater mountain

range on its ocean floor, known as

The elevated portion of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge passes

the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Although aro
across the Þingvellir (Thingvellir)
National Park,
Iceland, which is a popular tourist destination
underwater, a
this ridge is mostly
extend above sea level.
to
portion of it is elevated enough

Words to Know
future
but may erupt in
dormant: not erupted for several years floor
narrow channels in
the ocean
trench: long, deep and
underneath the ocean
a mountain range
ridge: (here)
Indian Ocean
the world.
third largest o c e a n in
The Indian Ocean is the
which lies at its head.
Asia and is named after India,
It lies to the south of
Australia.
It separates Africa from
and Arctic Oceans.

It is warmer than the Pacific, Atlantic

Southern Ocean
the world.
fourth largest ocean in
The Southern Ocean is the
South Pole, near Antarctica.
It is located around the

the Pacific
The southern portions of
and the
Ocean, the Atlantic Ocean
IndianOcean combine to form the

Southern Ocean.

Arctic Ocean
smallest
The Arctic Ocean is the
Ocean in the world.

t located around
Iis the North Pole
It is frozen during the winter season.

During summer, the ice melts to form floating icebergs of the

Arctic Ocean

and floating islands.

large icebergs 21ST
CENTURY self-assessment
SKILLS
Chapter Checklist
understood.
Tick()theconceptsyouhave round.
Ferdinand Magellan proved that the Earth is
The journey of
masses
continents. Large continuous
masses on the Earth's surface are called
Big land
called oceans.
of saltwater are
on the Earth's surface are Asio, Africa, North America, South
The seven continents
Australia.
Europe and
America, Antarctica,
surtace are the Pacific Ocean, the Atlantic Ocean, the
The five oceans on the Earth's
Ocean and the Arctic Ocean.
Indian Ocean, the Southern

Word to Know
mass of ice floating in the sea
iceberg: an extremely large