World

For other uses, see World (disambiguation).

Antarctica

Oceania

Africa

Asia

Europe

North
America

South
America

Pacific
Ocean

Pacific
Ocean

Atlantic
Ocean

Indian
Ocean

Southern Ocean

Arctic Ocean

Middle East

Caribbean

Central
Asia

East Asia

North Asia

South
Asia

Southeast
Asia

SW.
Asia

Australasia

Melanesia

Micronesia

Polynesia

Central
America

Latin
America

Northern
America

Americas

C.
Africa

E.
Africa

N.
Africa

Southern
Africa

W.
Africa

C.
Europe

E.
Europe

N.
Europe

S.
Europe

W.
Europe

The World is a proper noun for the planet Earth envisioned from an anthropocentric or human worldview, as a place inhabited by human beings. It is often used to signify the sum of human experience and history, or the \'human condition\' in general.\'This is the excellent foppery of the world...\' -- Shakespeare, King Lear, I.ii There were approximately 6.5 billion (or 6500 million) people living on the Earth as of February 2006. David, Leonard. "Planet\'s Population Hit 6.5 Billion Saturday", Live Science, 2006-02-24. Retrieved on 2007-02-14. 

Especially in a metaphysical context, World may refer to everything that constitutes reality and the Universe: see World (philosophy).

Contents 1 Etymology 2 Usage 3 Physical characteristics 3.1 Earth dimensions 3.2 Continents and population 4 See also 5 External links 6 References

Etymology

In English, world may be parsed as rooted in a compound of the obsolete words were, "man", and eld, "age"; thus, its etymology may be semantically rendered as "age or life of man". American Heritage Dictionary

Usage

The World in plate carrée projection

\'World\' distinguishes the entire planet or population from any particular country or region: world affairs are those which pertain not just to one place but to the whole world, and world history is a field of history which examines events from a global (rather than a national or a regional) perspective. Earth, on the other hand, refers to the planet as a physical entity, and distinguishes it from other planets and physical objects.

\'World\' can also be used attributively, as an adjective, to mean \'global\', \'relating to the whole world\', forming usages such as World community. See World (adjective).

By extension, a \'world\' may refer to any planet or heavenly body, especially when it is thought of as inhabited.

\'World\', when qualified, can also refer to a particular domain of human experience.

• The world of work describes paid work and the pursuit of a career, in all its social aspects, to distinguish it from home life and academic study.
• The fashion world describes the environment of the designers, fashion houses and consumers that make up the fashion industry.
• The New World is a part of the world discovered or colonized by Europeans later than other parts; it usually refers to the American continents or to Australia. Native Americans and Native Australians tend to dislike this usage. For them America and Australia are not new. Their ancestors have lived there since time immemorial. The Old World refers, by contrast, to the continents of Europe, Asia and north Africa.

Physical characteristics

The World

Earth dimensions

Physical feature
Superficial area	510,000,000 km² (196,950,000 Sq. miles)
Land surface	149,000,000 km² (57,510,000 Sq. miles)
Water surface	361,000,000 km² (139,440,000 Sq. miles)
Equatorial circumferences	40,077 km (24,902 miles)
Meridional circumference	40,009 km (24,860 miles)
Equatorial diameter	12,756.3 km (7,926 miles)
Polar diameter	12,714 km (7,899.988 miles)
Polar radius	6,356.89 km (3,949.99 miles)
Volume of the Earth	1,080,000,000,000 km³ (260,000,000,000 cubic miles)
Mass	5,980,000,000,000,000,000,000 tonnes (6,592,000,000,000,000,000,000 U.S. tons)

Continents and population

Size continent area (km²) percent World 149 000 000 100 Afro-Eurasia 84 580 000 57 Eurasia 54 210 000 36 Asia 43 810 000 29 Americas 42 330 000 28 Africa 30 370 000 20 North America 24 494 000 16 South America 17 840 000 12 Antarctica 13 720 000 9.2 Europe 10 400 000 7.0 Oceania 9 142 000 6.0 Australia-New Guinea 8 500 000 5.7 Australia mainland 7 600 000 5.1

Human Population continent approx. population percent density (h/km²) World 6 641 000 000 100 43.29 Afro-Eurasia 5 400 000 000 84 63.84 Eurasia 4 510 000 000 70 83.19 Asia 3 800 000 000 59 86.74 Africa 990 000 000 14 21.03 Americas 886 000 000 14 29.17 Europe 770 000 000 11 29.15 North America 515 000 000 8.0 28.87 South America 471 000 000 5.8 27.04 Oceania 40 800 000 0.55 3.44 Australia-New Guinea 30 000 000 0.5 3.28 Australia mainland 23 000 786 0.3 2.47 Antarctica 1 000 0.002 ~0.00

See also

• Earth
• Planet
• World map
• Globe
• Universe

External links

• World entry at The World Factbook

References

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from Wikipedia