This section explains what a globe is, how it represents our planet Earth, and why it is useful for learning about the world. A globe is a 3D model that helps us understand Earth's geography more accurately than a flat map.
What Is a Globe?
A globe is a round model of the Earth that shows land, water, and directions as they really are on the planet.
It is mounted on a stand that allows it to spin, just like Earth rotates on its axis.
A globe gives a true sense of distance, shape, and position of continents and oceans.
What Does a Globe Show?
Continents: Large land areas like Asia, Africa, Europe, North America, South America, Australia, and Antarctica.
Oceans and Seas: The Pacific Ocean, Atlantic Ocean, Indian Ocean, Arctic Ocean, and Southern Ocean.
Countries and Borders: Political boundaries of countries, often shown with different colours.
Equator: The imaginary line around the middle of the Earth dividing the Northern and Southern Hemispheres.
North Pole and South Pole: The topmost and bottommost points of the Earth’s axis.
Latitude Lines: Horizontal lines showing how far a place is north or south of the equator.
Longitude Lines: Vertical lines showing how far a place is east or west of the Prime Meridian.
Tropic of Cancer: The line of latitude at about 23.5° North — marks the northernmost point where the sun shines directly overhead.
Tropic of Capricorn: The line of latitude at about 23.5° South — marks the southernmost point where the sun shines directly overhead.
Prime Meridian: The 0° longitude line, running through Greenwich, London — used to measure time and location.
International Date Line (IDL): An imaginary line near 180° longitude — crossing it changes the date by one day.
Why Is a Globe Useful?
It shows the true shape of the Earth and positions of places without distortion.
It helps us understand time zones, directions, climates, and distances.
It helps students learn geography with a realistic view of the world.
It can also show special lines like the Equator, Tropics, Prime Meridian, and IDL clearly.
Interesting Facts About Globes
The earliest known globe was made around 150 BCE in ancient Greece.
Globes can be physical (showing landforms), political (showing countries), or thematic (showing climate or population).
Some modern globes light up to show day and night across different parts of the world.
Digital globes are now available as apps and interactive displays in classrooms and museums.
