There are seven continents: Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Antarctica, Europe, and Australia. Continents are divided into countries which have borders separating them. Each country has a capital city, such as Madrid for Spain, Paris for France, and Lisbon for Portugal. Maps can show political information like countries, borders, and capital cities, or physical details of the landscape including rivers, mountains, roads, and train lines. A scale on maps allows the distance between places to be measured and calculated.

1. Continents and Countries

2. We use a map, an atlas, and a globe to
learn about the continents and oceans.
map atlas globe

3. There are seven continents, Asia, Africa,
North America, South America, Antarctica,
Europe, and Australia.

4. Continents are divided into countries. The
line between two countries is called a
border.

5. Each country has one capital city. The
capital of Spain is Madrid. The capital of
France is Paris. The capital of Portugal is
Lisbon. Capital cities are sometimes shown on
maps with a star.

6. There are two types of maps, physical maps and political maps.

7. Political maps tell us about countries,
borders, and capital cities.

8. Physical maps tell us about the
landscape. They show rivers and
mountains.

9. Some maps give even more details. They can
help us find places we want to go. A key
helps us understand the information.

10. We can find out about train lines on a map.

11. We can find out about roads on a map.

12. We can find out about monuments on a
map.

13. A map is smaller than a real country. We use
a scale to find the distance between places.

14. We can use a ruler to calculate the distance
from a map. The ruler tells us the distance in
centimeters. Then we can calculate the
real distance in kilometers.

15. Vocabulary
● Map
● Atlas
● Globe
● Continents
● Countries
● Boarders
● Capital city
● Physical map
● Political map
● Key
● Train line
● Monument
● Road
● Centimeter
● Kilometer
● Distance
● Scale
● Ruler