The World

The "world" is also called Earth, earth, Mother Earth, the planet, the globe.
The world essentially consists of three parts:
• Air
• Water
• Land
Geographical Divisions
We can divide the land and water into the following major features:
• Continents
• Islands
• Mountains
• Oceans and Seas
• Lakes and Rivers
These features are called "geographical". They are not "man-made". They exist with or without man.
Political Divisions
"Political" divisions are made by man. Politically, we can divide the land into:
• Countries
On these pages we will look in more detail at:

Continents
Countries
Countries & Nationality




Continents
A continent is one of the world's main continuous pieces of land. (The word continent comes from the Latin terra continens, meaning "continuous land".)
Unfortunately, even the experts cannot agree on how many continents there are:
• 7 Continents: Africa, Antarctica, Asia, Europe, North America, Oceania, South America
• 6 Continents: Africa, Antarctica, Eurasia, North America, Oceania, South America
• 6 Continents: Africa, America, Antarctica, Asia, Europe, Oceania
• 5 Continents: Africa, America, Antarctica, Eurasia, Oceania
• 4 Continents: Eurafrasia, America, Antarctica, Oceania

Curiously, we have a word for somebody who comes from Mars (a Martian), but we have no word for somebody who comes from Antarctica.

This chart lists what is probably the most widely-accepted number of continents (7), and shows the associated adjective and the noun used for a person from each continent:




Continent Adjective Person
Africa African an African
Antarctica Antarctic -
Asia Asian an Asian
Europe European a European
North America North American a North American
Oceania Oceanian an Oceanian
South America South American a South American
"Continent" is a geographical term, not political.





Countries
A country is a nation with its own government, occupying a particular territory or piece of land. For example, China, France, Iraq and Japan are all countries.
"Country" is a political term, not geographical. In theory, all countries are sovereign, meaning that they are independent and decide their own laws (though they may sometimes surrender or modify certain rights by treaty).


The noun for a country's language usually comes from the adjective for that country, for example:
• He speaks Polish.
• Is French difficult?


In English, all words (nouns and adjectives) relating to countries or nationalities begin with a capital letter, for example:
• France (not france)
• French (not french)
• a Frenchman (not a frenchman)


Countries & Nationality
This chart lists many of the countries or nations in the world, with the following information:
• Name of country
• Adjective used for that country (also describes nationality)
• Noun used for a person from that country
Look at these example sentences:
She comes from France. She is French. Her nationality is French. She is a Frenchwoman. She drives a French car. She speaks French.



Country Adjective Person
Afghanistan Afghan an Afghan
Albania Albanian an Albanian
Algeria Algerian an Algerian
Andorra Andorran an Andorran
Angola Angolan an Angolan
Argentina Argentinian an Argentinian
Armenia Armenian an Armenian
Australia Australian an Australian
Austria Austrian an Austrian
Azerbaijan Azerbaijani an Azerbaijani
Bahamas Bahamian a Bahamian
Bahrain Bahraini a Bahraini
Bangladesh Bangladeshi a Bangladeshi
Barbados Barbadian a Barbadian
Belarus Belorussian or Byelorussian a Belorussian or a Byelorussian
Belgium Belgian a Belgian
Belize Belizian a Belizian
Benin Beninese a Beninese
Bhutan Bhutanese a Bhutanese
Bolivia Bolivian a Bolivian
Bosnia-Herzegovina Bosnian a Bosnian
Botswana Botswanan a Tswana
Brazil Brazilian a Brazilian
Britain British a Briton
Brunei Bruneian a Bruneian
Bulgaria Bulgarian a Bulgarian
Burkina Burkinese a Burkinese
Burma (official name Myanmar) Burmese a Burmese
Burundi Burundian a Burundian
Cambodia Cambodian a Cambodian
Cameroon Cameroonian a Cameroonian
Canada Canadian a Canadian
Cape Verde Islands Cape Verdean a Cape Verdean
Chad Chadian a Chadian
Chile Chilean a Chilean
China Chinese a Chinese
Colombia Colombian a Colombian
Congo Congolese a Congolese
Costa Rica Costa Rican a Costa Rican
Croatia Croat or Croatian a Croat or a Croatian
Cuba Cuban a Cuban
Cyprus Cypriot a Cypriot
Czech Republic Czech a Czech
Denmark Danish a Dane
Djibouti Djiboutian a Djiboutian
Dominica Dominican a Dominican
Dominican Republic Dominican a Dominican
Ecuador Ecuadorean an Ecuadorean
Egypt Egyptian an Egyptian
El Salvador Salvadorean a Salvadorean
England English an Englishman, an Englishwoman
Eritrea Eritrean an Eritrean
Estonia Estonian an Estonian
Ethiopia Ethiopian an Ethiopian
Fiji Fijian a Fijian
Finland Finnish a Finn
France French a Frenchman, a Frenchwoman
Gabon Gabonese a Gabonese
Gambia, the Gambian a Gambian
Georgia Georgian a Georgian
Germany German a German
Ghana Ghanaian a Ghanaian
Greece Greek a Greek
Grenada Grenadian a Grenadian
Guatemala Guatemalan a Guatemalan
Guinea Guinean a Guinean
Guyana Guyanese a Guyanese
Haiti Haitian a Haitian
Holland (also Netherlands) Dutch a Dutchman, a Dutchwoman
Honduras Honduran a Honduran
Hungary Hungarian a Hungarian
Iceland Icelandic an Icelander
India Indian an Indian
Indonesia Indonesian an Indonesian
Iran Iranian an Iranian
Iraq Iraqi an Iraqi
Ireland, Republic of Irish an Irishman, an Irishwoman
Israel Israeli an Israeli
Italy Italian an Italian
Jamaica Jamaican a Jamaican
Japan Japanese a Japanese
Jordan Jordanian a Jordanian
Kazakhstan Kazakh a Kazakh
Kenya Kenyan a Kenyan
Korea see North Korea, South Korea
Kuwait Kuwaiti a Kuwaiti
Laos Laotian a Laotian
Latvia Latvian a Latvian
Lebanon Lebanese a Lebanese
Liberia Liberian a Liberian
Libya Libyan a Libyan
Liechtenstein - a Liechtensteiner
Lithuania Lithuanian a Lithuanian
Luxembourg - a Luxembourger
Macedonia Macedonian a Macedonian
Madagascar Malagasay or Madagascan a Malagasay or a Madagascan
Malawi Malawian a Malawian
Malaysia Malaysian a Malay
Maldives Maldivian a Maldivian
Mali Malian a Malian
Malta Maltese a Maltese
Mauritania Mauritanian a Mauritanian
Mauritius Mauritian a Mauritian
Mexico Mexican a Mexican
Moldova Moldovan a Moldovan
Monaco Monégasque or Monacan a Monégasque or a Monacan
Mongolia Mongolian a Mongolian
Montenegro Montenegrin a Montenegrin
Morocco Moroccan a Moroccan
Mozambique Mozambican a Mozambican
Myanmar see Burma - -
Namibia Namibian a Namibian
Nepal Nepalese a Nepalese
Netherlands, the (see Holland) Dutch a Dutchman, a Dutchwoman, or a Netherlander
New Zealand - a New Zealander
Nicaragua Nicaraguan a Nicaraguan
Niger Nigerien a Nigerien
Nigeria Nigerian a Nigerian
North Korea North Korean a North Korean
Norway Norwegian a Norwegian
Oman Omani an Omani
Pakistan Pakistani a Pakistani
Panama Panamanian a Panamanian
Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinean or Guinean a Papua New Guinean or a Guinean
Paraguay Paraguayan a Paraguayan
Peru Peruvian a Peruvian
the Philippines Philippine a Filipino
Poland Polish a Pole
Portugal Portuguese a Portuguese
Qatar Qatari a Qatari
Romania Romanian a Romanian
Russia Russian a Russian
Rwanda Rwandan a Rwandan
Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabian or Saudi a Saudi Arabian or a Saudi
Scotland Scottish a Scot
Senegal Senegalese a Senegalese
Serbia Serb or Serbian a Serb or a Serbian
Seychelles, the Seychellois a Seychellois
Sierra Leone Sierra Leonian a Sierra Leonian
Singapore Singaporean a Singaporean
Slovakia Slovak a Slovak
Slovenia Slovene or Slovenian a Slovene or a Slovenian
Solomon Islands - a Solomon Islander
Somalia Somali a Somali
South Africa South African a South African
South Korea South Korean a South Korean
Spain Spanish a Spaniard
Sri Lanka Sri Lankan a Sri Lankan
Sudan Sudanese a Sudanese
Suriname Surinamese a Surinamer or a Surinamese
Swaziland Swazi a Swazi
Sweden Swedish a Swede
Switzerland Swiss a Swiss
Syria Syrian a Syrian
Taiwan Taiwanese a Taiwanese
Tajikistan Tajik or Tadjik a Tajik or a Tadjik
Tanzania Tanzanian a Tanzanian
Thailand Thai a Thai
Togo Togolese a Togolese
Trinidad and Tobago Trinidadian and Tobagan a Trinidadian and Tobagan
Tunisia Tunisian a Tunisian
Turkey Turkish a Turk
Turkmenistan Turkmen or Turkoman a Turkmen or a Turkoman
Tuvali Tuvaluan a Tuvaluan
Uganda Ugandan a Ugandan
Ukraine Ukrainian a Ukrainian
United Arab Emirates (UAE) - -
United Kingdom (UK) British a Briton
United States of America (USA) - a citizen of the USA
Uruguay Uruguayan a Uruguayan
Uzbekistan Uzbek an Uzbek
Vanuata Vanuatuan a Vanuatuan
Vatican City - -
Venezuela Venezuelan a Venezuelan
Vietnam Vietnamese a Vietnamese
Wales Welsh a Welshman, a Welshwoman
Western Samoa Western Samoan a Western Samoan
Yemen Yemeni a Yemeni
Yugoslavia Yugoslav a Yugoslav
Zaire Zaïrean a Zaïrean
Zambia Zambian a Zambian
Zimbabwe Zimbabwean a Zimbabwean