FUN ACTIVITIESWith National Geographic Little Kids First Big Book series

Near the North Pole, the land and ocean are often frozen. The flat land in the central plains is great for farming.

In the southwest, you’ll find deserts and rocky canyons. Steamy jungles grow in the southern part of the continent.

The landForests cover much of North America.

kulusuk, greenland

arches national park, utah, U.s.a.

saguaro cactus in

Arizona, U.s.a.

This type of cactus can live up to 200

years!

SOCIAL STUDIES

(Angola)

(Morocco)

CABINDA

WESTERNSAHARA

Réunion(France)

Mayotte(France)

CanaryIslands(Spain)

Niger River

Zam

be zi River

CongoRiver

Nile

Riv

er

LakeTanganyika

Lake Victoria

LakeMalawi

Red

Sea

M ed i t e r ran ean S ea

A T L A N T I C

O C E A N

I N D I A N

O C E A N

Algiers Tunis

Tripoli

Dakar

Cairo

Kinshasa

Luanda

AddisAbaba

Nairobi

Mombasa

Dar es Salaam

Maputo

Conakry

Mogadishu

Dodoma

Cape Town

Alexandria

Accra Lagos

Casablanca

Laayoune

Johannesburg

Abidjan

Khartoum

Juba

Yaoundé

Kampala

Lusaka

Freetown

Brazzaville

Rabat

Bangui

Antananarivo

Pretoria (Tshwane)

Nouakchott

Bissau Bamako

Niamey

Ouagadougou

LibrevilleSão

Tomé

Malabo

Harare

Windhoek

Cotonou

Lomé

Monrovia

N’Djamena

Banjul

Djibouti

Lilongwe

Porto-Novo

Victoria

Gaborone

Lobamba

Bujumbura

Kigali

Asmara

Port Louis

Praia

Abuja

Moroni

Mbabane

Maseru

Yamoussoukro

Bloemfontein

TU

NIS

IA

A L G E R I AL I B Y A

C H A D

E G Y P T

S U D A N

CABOVERDE

GAMBIA GUINEA-BISSAU

M AL

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E T H I O P I ACENTRALAFRICAN REPUBLIC

S O U T HS U D A N

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REPUBLIC OF THE

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BURUNDI

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SWAZILAND

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G U I N E ADJIBOUTI

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N I G E R I A

N I G E R ERITREA

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SENEGAL

CAMERO

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TANZANIA

UG

ANDA

ZIMBABWE

NAMIBIA

S O U T HA F R I C A

MA

UR I T A N I A

S E Y C H E L L ES

MAURITIUS

MOROCCO

CÔTE D’IVOIRE(IVORY COAST)

SIERRA LEONE

LIBERIA

A S I A

EUROPE

Map KeyCountry capitalOther capitalCityBoundary

Disputed territoryshown in light gray

900 kilometers

600 miles0

0

Africa has 18,500 miles

(30,000 km) of coastline.

Of all the continents, Africa is divided into the most countries.

The newest country is South Sudan. It was created in 2011.

FactSCOUNTRIES 54

LARGEST COUNTRY Algeria

SMALLEST COUNTRY Seychelles

CITY WITH THE MOST PEOPLECairo, Egypt. 18 million people live there.

The

CountriesThe most of any continent

A man sits in a busy

marketplace in Cairo, Egypt.

Some cities are very crowded. But most Africans live in smaller villages and farms.

Death Valley(-86 m) -282 ftLowest elevation in

North America

(Denali) Mt. McKinley(6,194 m) 20,320 ft

Highest elevation inNorth America

Brooks Range

RO

CK

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OU

NT

AI

NS

GR

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SOUTH AMERICA

ASIA

C E N T R ALA

ME R I C A

P A C I F I CO C E A N

ATLANTICOCEAN

HudsonBay

Gulf of Mexico

Car i bbean Sea

A R C T I CO C E A N

Ohio River

Mis

siss

ipp

iR

iver

Missou

r i

R iver

Macken

zieR

iver

Yukon River

Colorado River

Rio Grande

Columbia

Riv

er

GreatBear Lake

LakeWinnipeg

GreatSlave Lake

Great LakesMap Key

Mountain

Arid (Dry area)

Coniferous forest

Deciduous forest

Rain forest

Grassland

Wetland

Tundra

Ice cap

900 kilometers

600 miles0

0

NORTH AMERICA

FactSSIZE 9,449,000 square miles (24,474,000 sq km)

HIGHEST MOUNTAIN Mount McKinley (Denali), Alaska, U.S.A.

LOWEST PLACE Death Valley, California, U.S.A.

LONGEST RIVERMississippi River, U.S.A.

LARGEST LAKELake Superior, U.S.A. and Canada

ASIA

The world may feel like a very big and unfamiliar concept if you have never traveled beyond your town or state. Maps and facts can help you understand other places and how they are similar and different.

Let’s start by looking at “The Land” map of North America. This is called a physical map because it shows the natural geography. A political map shows how people have divided the land into coun-tries, states and other man-made boundaries. From north to south (top to bottom of the map), the countries in North America are Canada, the United States, Mexico, many smaller countries in the area called Central America, and several Caribbean Islands in the area called the West Indies. Look at the map key which shows the different habitats (places where plants and animals live) in North America.

1/How many habitats are found in North America? Which type of habitat seems to appear most on the map? See if you can find examples of each type of habitat on the map.

2/Look at the pictures and read the text. Can you point to the places on the map where the land and water are often frozen? Where will you find deserts and rocky canyons? Look at the “Facts” box on the map and see if you can point to some of these places.

3/Name some wild animals that live in North America.

Now let’s look at a place far from where you live, Africa. On this example of a political map, you can see all 54 countries on the continent of Africa. This continent has no cold-weather environ-ments, so most places are very hot, especially the deserts of the north and south. Most of the big animals that travelers like to see live in the grasslands and rainforests of central Africa.

4/The newest country in Africa was formed when one country split into two. What is that country, and can you find it on the map? What runs through that country, and why might it be important?

5/How many languages are spoken in Africa? Can you name any languages that people speak around the world?

6/Name some wild animals that live in Africa.

FUN FACTS TEST YOUR SMARTS!Basketball was invented in North America in 1891.

Pyramids were built thousands of years ago in both Africa and North America.

One of the world’s great natural wonders, Africa’s Victoria Falls creates mist that can be seen from 12 miles away.

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There are 25+ titles in the popular Little Kids First Big Book series for ages 4–8!

ANSWERS: 1/Nine; forests cover much of North America. 2/Tundra and icecaps, arid/dry area. 3/Possible answers: bison/buffalo, deer, wolf, bear, eagle, moose, squirrel, rabbit, racoon, and many more. 4/South Sudan; the Nile River provides not only water and fertile soil for growing food, but also a way to travel to other parts of the country and continent. 5/More than 2,000; possible answers: English, Spanish, Chinese, French, Hindi, Arabic, Swahili, and many more. 6/Possible answers: elephant, giraffe, lion, gorilla, zebra, hippo, monkey, meerkat, and many more.

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