The Blue Marble, a photograph of the planet Earth made on 7 December 1972 by the crew of the
Apollo 17 spacecraft.
The world is the totality of entities, the whole of
reality, or everything that
exists. The nature of the world has been conceptualized differently in different fields. Some conceptions see the world as unique while others talk of a "plurality of worlds". Some treat the world as
one simple object while others analyze the world as a complex made up of parts.
In
scientific cosmology, the world or universe is commonly defined as "[t]he totality of all space and time; all that is, has been, and will be".
Theories of modality talk of possible worlds as complete and consistent ways how things could have been.
Phenomenology, starting from the horizon of co-given objects present in the periphery of every experience, defines the world as the biggest horizon or the "horizon of all horizons". In
philosophy of mind, the world is contrasted with the mind as that which is represented by the mind.
Theology conceptualizes the world in relation to God, for example, as God's creation, as identical to God or as the two being interdependent. In
religions, there is a tendency to downgrade the material or sensory world in favor of a spiritual world to be sought through religious practice. A comprehensive representation of the world and our place in it, as is found in religions, is known as a
worldview.
Cosmogony is the field that studies the origin or creation of the world while
eschatology refers to the science or doctrine of the last things or of the end of the world.
Many of the
technological and
architectural innovations were of British origin. By the mid-18th century, Britain was the world's leading commercial nation, controlling a global trading empire with
colonies in North America and the Caribbean. Britain had major military and political hegemony on the
Indian subcontinent; particularly with the
proto-industrialisedMughal Bengal, through the activities of the
East India Company. The development of trade and the rise of business were among the major causes of the Industrial Revolution. Developments in
law also facilitated the revolution, such as courts ruling in favour of
property rights. An entrepreneurial spirit and consumer revolution helped drive
industrialisation in Britain, which after 1800, was emulated in Belgium, the United States, and France. (Full article...)
Image 2
Jacob Bryant's
Orphic Egg (1774)The cosmic egg, world egg or mundane egg is a
mythologicalmotif found in the
cosmogonies of many
cultures that is present in
Proto-Indo-European culture and other cultures and
civilizations. Typically, the world egg is a beginning of some sort, and the
universe or some primordial being comes into existence by "hatching" from the
egg, sometimes lain on the
primordial waters of the
Earth. Typically, the upper half of the egg, or its outer shell, becomes the
heaven (firmament) and the lower half, or the inner yolk, becomes the Earth. The motif likely stems from simple elements of an egg, including its ability to offer nourishment and give rise to new life, as is reflected by the
Latin proverbomne vivum ex ovo ('all life comes from an egg').
The origin of water on Earth is the subject of a body of research in the fields of
planetary science,
astronomy, and
astrobiology.
Earth is unique among the
rocky planets in the
Solar System in having
oceans of liquid
water on its surface. Liquid water, which is necessary for all known forms of
life, continues to exist on the surface of Earth because the planet is at a far enough distance (known as the
habitable zone) from the
Sun that it does not lose its water, but not so far that low temperatures cause all water on the planet to freeze.
It was long thought that Earth's water did not originate from the planet's region of the
protoplanetary disk. Instead, it was hypothesized water and other
volatiles must have been delivered to Earth from the outer Solar System later in its history. Recent research, however, indicates that hydrogen inside the Earth played a role in the formation of the ocean. The two ideas are not mutually exclusive, as there is also evidence that water was delivered to Earth by impacts from icy
planetesimals similar in composition to
asteroids in the outer edges of the
asteroid belt. (Full article...)
Image 4
Poster advertising the
Brussels International Exposition in 1897 A world's fair, also known as a universal exhibition or an expo, is a large global exhibition designed to showcase the achievements of nations. These exhibitions vary in character and are held in different parts of the world at a specific site for a period of time, typically between three and six months.
The term "world's fair" is commonly used in the United States, while the French term, Exposition universelle ("universal exhibition") is used in most of Europe and Asia; other terms include World Expo or Specialised Expo, with the word expo used for various types of exhibitions since at least 1958. (Full article...)
The association shares the World Bank's mission of
reducing poverty and aims to provide affordable development financing to countries whose credit risk is so prohibitive that they cannot afford to borrow commercially or from the Bank's other programs. The IDA's stated aim is to assist the poorest nations in
growing more quickly,
equitably, and
sustainably to reduce poverty. The IDA is the single largest provider of funds to economic and
human development projects in the world's poorest nations. From 2000 to 2010, it financed projects which recruited and trained 3 million teachers, immunized 310 million children, funded $792 million in loans to 120,000
small and medium enterprises, built or restored 118,000 kilometers of paved roads, built or restored 1,600 bridges, and expanded access to
improved water to 113 million people and
improved sanitation facilities to 5.8 million people. The IDA has issued a total US$238 billion in loans and grants since its launch in 1960. Thirty-six of the association's borrowing countries have graduated from their eligibility for its concessional lending. However, nine of these countries have relapsed and have not re-graduated. (Full article...)
The World Trade Organization (WTO) is an
intergovernmental organization headquartered in
Geneva, Switzerland that regulates and facilitates
international trade. Governments use the organization to establish, revise, and enforce the rules that govern international trade in cooperation with the
United Nations System. The WTO is the world's largest international economic organization, with 164 member states representing over 98% of global trade and global
GDP.
The WTO facilitates trade in goods, services and intellectual property among participating countries by providing a framework for negotiating
trade agreements, which usually aim to reduce or eliminate
tariffs,
quotas, and other
restrictions; these agreements are signed by representatives of member governments and ratified by their legislatures. It also administers independent
dispute resolution for enforcing participants' adherence to trade agreements and resolving trade-related disputes. The organization prohibits discrimination between trading partners, but provides exceptions for environmental protection, national security, and other important goals. (Full article...)
Image 3Pangaea was a
supercontinent that existed from about 300 to 180 Ma. The outlines of the modern continents and other landmasses are indicated on this map. (from History of Earth)
Image 5Geologic map of North America, color-coded by age. From most recent to oldest, age is indicated by yellow, green, blue, and red. The reds and pinks indicate rock from the
Archean.
Image 6Earth's axial tilt causing different angles of seasonal illumination at different orbital positions around the Sun (from Earth)
Image 14Shanghai. China urbanized rapidly in the 21st century.
Image 15An animation of the changing density of
productive vegetation on land (low in brown; heavy in dark green) and phytoplankton at the
ocean surface (low in purple; high in yellow) (from Earth)
Image 22A 2012 artistic impression of the early
Solar System's
protoplanetary disk from which Earth and other Solar System bodies were formed (from Earth)
Image 26A schematic view of Earth's magnetosphere with
solar wind flowing from left to right (from Earth)
Image 27Artist's rendition of an oxinated fully-frozen
Snowball Earth with no remaining liquid surface water. (from History of Earth)
Image 28Empires of the world in 1898
Image 29A reconstruction of Pannotia (550 Ma). (from History of Earth)
Image 30Conjectured illustration of the scorched Earth after the
Sun has entered the
red giant phase, about 5–7 billion years from now (from Earth)
Image 31Artist's impression of a Hadean landscape with the relatively newly formed Moon still looming closely over Earth and both bodies sustaining strong
volcanism. (from History of Earth)
Image 40A view of Earth with its
global ocean and
cloud cover, which dominate Earth's surface and
hydrosphere; at Earth's
polar regions, its hydrosphere forms larger areas of ice cover. (from Earth)
Image 42The replicator in virtually all known life is
deoxyribonucleic acid. DNA is far more complex than the original replicator and its replication systems are highly elaborate. (from History of Earth)
Image 55An artist's impression of the
Archean, the
eon after Earth's formation, featuring round
stromatolites, which are early oxygen-producing forms of life from billions of years ago. After the
Late Heavy Bombardment,
Earth's crust had cooled, its water-rich barren
surface is marked by
continents and
volcanoes, with the Moon still orbiting Earth half as far as it is today, appearing 2.8 times larger and producing strong
tides. (from Earth)
Image 56Change in average surface air temperature and drivers for that change. Human activity has caused increased temperatures, with natural forces adding some variability. (from Earth)
Image 58Trilobites first appeared during the Cambrian period and were among the most widespread and diverse groups of Paleozoic organisms. (from History of Earth)
Image 62Tiktaalik, a fish with limb-like fins and a predecessor of tetrapods. Reconstruction from fossils about 375 million years old. (from History of Earth)
Image 65Earth's western hemisphere showing topography relative to Earth's center instead of to
mean sea level, as in common topographic maps (from Earth)
Image 67Exaggerated illustration of Earth's elliptical orbit around the Sun, marking that the orbital extreme points (
apoapsis and
periapsis) are not the same as the four seasonal extreme points, the
equinox and
solstice (from Earth)
Image 68Pillar erected by India's Maurya Emperor
Ashoka
Image 69A reconstruction of human history based on fossil data. (from History of Earth)
Image 71Earth's night-side upper atmosphere appearing from the bottom as bands of
afterglow illuminating the
troposphere in orange with silhouettes of clouds, and the
stratosphere in white and blue. Next the
mesosphere (pink area) extends to the orange and faintly green line of the lowest
airglow, at about one hundred kilometers at the
edge of space and the lower edge of the
thermosphere (invisible). Continuing with green and red bands of
aurorae streching over several hundred kilometers. (from Earth)
Image 83Artist's impression of Earth during the later Archean, the largely cooled
planetary crust and water-rich barren
surface, marked by
volcanoes and
continents, features already
roundmicrobialites. The Moon, still orbiting Earth much closer than today and still dominating Earth's sky, produced strong
tides. (from History of Earth)
Shenzhen roughly follows the administrative boundaries of
Bao'an County, which was established in imperial times. The southern portion of Bao'an County became part of
British Hong Kong after the
Opium Wars, while the village of Shenzhen was on the border.
Shenzhen railway station was the last stop on the mainland Chinese section of the
Kowloon–Canton Railway, and Shenzhen's economy grew and it became a city by 1979. (Full article...)
... that Patricia Davies and
Jean Argles, two sisters who signed the
Official Secrets Act as World War II codebreakers, did not find out about each other's top-secret work until the 1960s?
... that the Maizbhandari order of Sufism in Bangladesh is each year host to reportedly the fifth-largest gathering of Muslims in the world?
... that
Mack Trucks adopted the
Bulldog as its corporate logo after World War I British soldiers nicknamed the Mack AC the "Bulldog", a reference to the model's tenacity and stub nose?
Guinea-Bissau was once part of the kingdom of
Kaabu, as well as part of the
Mali Empire. Parts of this kingdom persisted until the 18th century, while a few others were under some rule by the
Portuguese Empire since the 16th century. In the 19th century, it was colonised as
Portuguese Guinea. Portuguese control was restricted and weak until the early 20th century when pacification campaigns solidified Portuguese sovereignty in the area. The final Portuguese victory over the last remaining bastion of mainland resistance came in 1915 with the conquest of the
Papel-ruled Kingdom of Bissau by the Portuguese military officer
Teixeira Pinto and the
Wolof mercenary
Abdul Injai. The
Bissagos, islands off the coast of Guinea-Bissau, were officially conquered in 1936, ensuring Portuguese control of both the mainland and islands of the region. Upon independence, declared in 1973 and recognised in 1974, the name of its capital,
Bissau, was added to the country's name to prevent confusion with
Guinea (formerly
French Guinea). Guinea-Bissau has a history of political instability since independence. The current president is
Umaro Sissoco Embaló, who was elected on 29 December 2019. (Full article...)
The Seven Wonders of Portugal (
Portuguese: Sete Maravilhas de Portugal) is a list of cultural wonders located in Portugal. The creation of the list was supported by the Ministry of Culture and organized by the companies Y&R Brands S.A. and Realizar S.A.
Total size of protected area of
Bosnia and Herzegovina amounts of 57.83694 hectares (142.9182 acres), which is 1,13% of its entire territory. This is a list of areas protected by corresponding levels of the
government of Bosnia and Herzegovina, namely at the entity's levels, and with various categorizations. (Full article...)
Strict nature reserve — Area of unmodified natural features with representative
ecosystems set aside for the preservation of its biodiversity and for scientific research and monitoring.
Special nature reserve — Area of unmodified or slightly modified natural features of great importance due to uniqueness and rarity which includes the habitats of
endangered species set aside for the preservation of its unique features, education, limited tourism and for scientific research and monitoring.
National park — Area with large number of diverse ecosystems of national value, with outstanding natural features and/or cultural heritage set aside for the preservation of its natural resources and for educational, scientific and tourist use.
Natural monument — Small unmodified or slightly modified natural feature, object or phenomenon, easily detectable and unique, with unique natural attributes.
Protected habitat — Area which includes
habitats of one or more wildlife species.
Landscape of outstanding features — Area of remarkable appearance with important natural and cultural value.
Nature park — Area of well-preserved natural values with preserved natural ecosystems and picturesque landscape set aside for the preservation of biodiversity and for educational, tourist, recreational and scientific use.
Illinois has a variety of
protected areas, including over 123 state-protected areas, dozens of federally protected areas, hundreds of county-level and municipal park areas. Illinois also contains sites designated as internationally important protected areas. These multiple levels of protection contribute to a statewide network of numerous recreation opportunities and conservation schemes, sometimes in a small area. For example,
DeKalb County contains a 1,000-acre (4.0 km2)
forest preserve system and a 1,500-acre (6.1 km2) state park (
Shabbona Lake State Park); within DeKalb County, the DeKalb Park District in the
City of DeKalb has a 700-acre (2.8 km2) park system. (Full article...)
Image 8
Redwood grove in
Redwood National Park According to the
California Protected Areas Database (CPAD), in the state of
California, United States, there are over 14,000 inventoried
protected areas administered by public agencies and non-profits. In addition, there are private conservation areas and other
easements. They include almost one-third of
California's scenic
coastline, including
coastal wetlands,
estuaries,
beaches, and
dune systems. The California
State Parks system alone has 270 units and covers 1.3 million acres (5,300 km2), with over 280 miles (450 km) of coastline, 625 miles (1,006 km) of lake and river frontage, nearly 18,000 campsites, and 3,000 miles (5,000 km) of hiking, biking, and equestrian trails.
Obtaining an accurate total of all protected land in California and elsewhere is a complex task. Many parcels have
inholdings, private lands within the protected areas, which may or may not be accounted for when calculating total area. Also, occasionally one parcel of land is included in two or more inventories. Over 90% of Yosemite National Park for example, is listed both as wilderness by the
National Wilderness Preservation System, and as national park land by the
National Park Service. The
Cosumnes River Preserve is an extreme example, owned and managed by a handful of public agencies and private landowners, including the
Bureau of Land Management, the
County of Sacramento and
The Nature Conservancy. Despite the difficulties, the CPAD gives the total area of protected land at 49,294,000 acres (199,490 km2), or 47.05% of the state (not including easements); a considerable amount for the most populous state in the country. (Full article...)
About 5.18% of the area of Romania has a protected status (12,360 km2), including the
Danube Delta, which makes half of these areas (2.43% of Romania's area). (Full article...)
The headquarters of the National Parks Service are in downtown
Buenos Aires, on Santa Fe Avenue. A library and information centre are open to the public. The administration also covers the national monuments, such as the
Jaramillo Petrified Forest, and natural and educational reserves. (Full article...)
Image 14
Greece is characterized by an extremely fragmented, rugged
landscape hosting a great diversity of
ecosystems and an outstanding
biodiversity. Almost 5% of its extensive
coastline consists of
ecologically sensitivewetlands. Two thirds of the total population live no further than 2 km from the coast and most of the important urban centers are coastal, while almost all of the tourist infrastructure is divided among
islands and the coastal mainland. (Full article...)
Image 15
Protected areas of
Slovakia are areas that need protection because of their environmental, historical or cultural value to the nation. Protected areas in Slovakia are managed by institutions and organizations governed by the Ministry of the Environment.
Image 6Only a few of the largest
large igneous provinces appear (coloured dark purple) on this geological map, which depicts crustal geologic provinces as seen in
seismic refraction data
.svg)
An artist's rendering of a protoplanetary disk (from History of Earth)
Pangaea was a supercontinent that existed from about 300 to 180 Ma. The outlines of the modern continents and other landmasses are indicated on this map. (from History of Earth)
Yggdrasil, an attempt to reconstruct the Norse world tree which connects the heavens, the world, and the underworld. (from World)
Geologic map of North America, color-coded by age. From most recent to oldest, age is indicated by yellow, green, blue, and red. The reds and pinks indicate rock from the Archean.
Earth's axial tilt causing different angles of seasonal illumination at different orbital positions around the Sun (from Earth)
Graph showing range of estimated partial pressure of atmospheric oxygen through geologic time (from History of Earth)
Satellite time lapse imagery of Earth's rotation showing axis tilt (from Earth)
Olmec colossal head, now at the Museo de Antropología de Xalapa
Image of the physical world, captured by the Hubble Space Telescope (from World)
Tracy Caldwell Dyson, a NASA astronaut, observing Earth from the Cupola module at the International Space Station on 11 September 2010 (from Earth)
Battle during 1281 Mongol invasion of Japan
Shanghai. China urbanized rapidly in the 21st century.
An animation of the changing density of productive vegetation on land (low in brown; heavy in dark green) and phytoplankton at the ocean surface (low in purple; high in yellow) (from Earth)
A pillar at Göbekli Tepe
Pale orange dot, an artist's impression of Early Earth, featuring its tinted orange methane-rich early atmosphere (from Earth)
Chloroplasts in the cells of a moss (from History of Earth)
Last Moon landing: Apollo 17 (1972)
A 2012 artistic impression of the early Solar System's protoplanetary disk from which Earth and other Solar System bodies were formed (from Earth)
A view of Earth with different layers of its atmosphere visible: the troposphere with its clouds casting shadows, a band of stratospheric blue sky at the horizon, and a line of green airglow of the lower thermosphere around an altitude of 100 km, at the edge of space (from Earth)
Earth's land use for human agriculture (from Earth)
Great Pyramids of Giza, Egypt
A schematic view of Earth's magnetosphere with solar wind flowing from left to right (from Earth)
Artist's rendition of an oxinated fully-frozen Snowball Earth with no remaining liquid surface water. (from History of Earth)
Empires of the world in 1898
A reconstruction of Pannotia (550 Ma). (from History of Earth)
Artist's impression of a Hadean landscape with the relatively newly formed Moon still looming closely over Earth and both bodies sustaining strong volcanism. (from History of Earth)
" Lucy", the first Australopithecus afarensis skeleton found. Lucy was only 1.06 m (3 ft 6 in) tall.
A computer-generated image mapping the prevalence of artificial satellites and space debris around Earth in geosynchronous and low Earth orbit (from Earth)
Great Mosque of Kairouan, Tunisia, founded 670 CE
Artist's impression of the enormous collision that probably formed the Moon (from History of Earth)
Ming dynasty section, Great Wall of China
A view of Earth with its global ocean and cloud cover, which dominate Earth's surface and hydrosphere; at Earth's polar regions, its hydrosphere forms larger areas of ice cover. (from Earth)
The replicator in virtually all known life is deoxyribonucleic acid. DNA is far more complex than the original replicator and its replication systems are highly elaborate. (from History of Earth)
Artist's conception of Devonian flora (from History of Earth)
First airplane, the Wright Flyer, flew on 17 December 1903.
A composite image of Earth, with its different types of surface discernible: Earth's surface dominating Ocean (blue), Africa with lush (green) to dry (brown) land and Earth's polar ice in the form of Antarctic sea ice (grey) covering the Antarctic or Southern Ocean and the Antarctic ice sheet (white) covering Antarctica. (from Earth)
A composite image of artificial light emissions at night on a map of Earth (from Earth)
Vitruvian Man by Leonardo da Vinci epitomizes the advances in art and science seen during the Renaissance. (from History of Earth)
Ajloun Castle, Jordan
Angkor Wat temple complex, Cambodia, early 12th century
A High Desert storm, sweeps across the Mojave (from Earth)
Standing Buddha from Gandhara, 2nd century CE
A 580 million year old fossil of Spriggina floundensi, an animal from the Ediacaran period. Such life forms could have been ancestors to the many new forms that originated in the Cambrian Explosion. (from History of Earth)
An artist's impression of the Archean, the eon after Earth's formation, featuring round stromatolites, which are early oxygen-producing forms of life from billions of years ago. After the Late Heavy Bombardment, Earth's crust had cooled, its water-rich barren surface is marked by continents and volcanoes, with the Moon still orbiting Earth half as far as it is today, appearing 2.8 times larger and producing strong tides. (from Earth)
Change in average surface air temperature and drivers for that change. Human activity has caused increased temperatures, with natural forces adding some variability. (from Earth)
Persepolis, Achaemenid Empire, 6th century BCE
Trilobites first appeared during the Cambrian period and were among the most widespread and diverse groups of Paleozoic organisms. (from History of Earth)
Chennakesava Temple, Belur, India
Machu Picchu, Inca Empire, Peru
Tiktaalik, a fish with limb-like fins and a predecessor of tetrapods. Reconstruction from fossils about 375 million years old. (from History of Earth)
Florence, birthplace of the Italian Renaissance
Obelisk of Axum, Ethiopia
Earth's western hemisphere showing topography relative to Earth's center instead of to mean sea level, as in common topographic maps (from Earth)
A reconstruction of human history based on fossil data. (from History of Earth)
A banded iron formation from the 3.15 Ga Moodies Group, Barberton Greenstone Belt, South Africa. Red layers represent the times when oxygen was available; gray layers were formed in anoxic circumstances. (from History of Earth)
Earth's night-side upper atmosphere appearing from the bottom as bands of afterglow illuminating the troposphere in orange with silhouettes of clouds, and the stratosphere in white and blue. Next the mesosphere (pink area) extends to the orange and faintly green line of the lowest airglow, at about one hundred kilometers at the edge of space and the lower edge of the thermosphere (invisible). Continuing with green and red bands of aurorae streching over several hundred kilometers. (from Earth)
Dinosaurs were the dominant terrestrial vertebrates throughout most of the Mesozoic (from History of Earth)
The Pantheon, originally a Roman temple, now a Catholic church
An artist's impression of ice age Earth at glacial maximum. (from History of Earth)
Fall of the Berlin Wall, 1989
Earth's history with time-spans of the eons to scale (from History of Earth)
Taj Mahal, Mughal Empire, India
Cross-section through a liposome (from History of Earth)
View of Earth from the Moon by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (from Earth)
Lithified stromatolites on the shores of Lake Thetis, Western Australia. Archean stromatolites are the first direct fossil traces of life on Earth. (from History of Earth)
A Benin Bronze head from Nigeria
A map of heat flow from Earth's interior to the surface of Earth's crust, mostly along the oceanic ridges (from Earth)
Artist's conception of Hadean Eon Earth, when it was much hotter and inhospitable to all forms of life. (from History of Earth)
Japanese depiction of a Portuguese carrack. European maritime innovations led to proto-globalization.
Notre-Dame de Paris, France
Map of peopling of the world ( Southern Dispersal paradigm), in thousands of years ago.
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Index map from the International Map of the World (1:1,000,000 scale)
The Goode homolosine projection is a pseudocylindrical, equal-area, composite map projection used for world maps.
A plate tectonics map with volcano locations indicated with red circles
Mollweide projection of the world
United Nations Human Development Index map by country (2016)
Only a few of the largest large igneous provinces appear (coloured dark purple) on this geological map, which depicts crustal geologic provinces as seen in seismic refraction data
Time zones of the world
1516 map of the world by Martin Waldseemüller
The world map by Gerardus Mercator (1569), the first map in the well-known Mercator projection
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