From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The world is a proper noun for the planet Earth envisioned from an anthropocentric or human worldview, as a place inhabited by human beings. It is often used to signify the sum of human experience and history, or the 'human condition' in general.^[1] There were approximately 6.6 billion (or 6600 million) people living on the Earth as of April 2006. ^[2]

Especially in a metaphysical context, World may refer to everything that constitutes reality and the Universe: see World (philosophy).

Contents 1 Etymology 2 Usage 2.1 Religion 2.2 Underworld 3 Physical characteristics 3.1 Earth dimensions 3.2 Continents and population 4 See also 5 External links 6 References

Etymology

In English, world may be parsed as rooted in a compound of the obsolete words were, "man", and eld, "age"; thus, its etymology may be semantically rendered as "age or life of man".^[3]

Usage

'World' distinguishes the entire planet or population from any particular country or region: world affairs are those which pertain not just to one place but to the whole world, and world history is a field of history which examines events from a global (rather than a national or a regional) perspective. Earth, on the other hand, refers to the planet as a physical entity, and distinguishes it from other planets and physical objects.

'World' can also be used attributively, as an adjective, to mean 'global', 'relating to the whole world', forming usages such as World community. See World (adjective).

By extension, a 'world' may refer to any planet or heavenly body, especially when it is thought of as inhabited.

'World', when qualified, can also refer to a particular domain of human experience.

• The world of work describes paid work and the pursuit of a career, in all its social aspects, to distinguish it from home life and academic study.
• The fashion world describes the environment of the designers, fashion houses and consumers that make up the fashion industry.
• The New World is a part of the world discovered or colonized by Europeans later than other parts; it usually refers to the American continents or to Australia. Native Americans and Native Australians tend to dislike this usage. For them America and Australia are not new. Their ancestors thav lived there since time immorial. The Old World refers, by contrast, to the continents of Europe, Asia and north Africa.

Religion

In Christian theology, the 'World' connotes the corrupt, mortal order of society outside the community of believers (which is worldly as opposed to heavenly). It is often cited alongside the flesh and the Devil as a source of temptation that Christians should allegedly flee. The adjective worldly refers to world in this sense: 'mortal', 'mundane', 'devoted to the interests of this world'. See World (theology). Avoiding worldly temptation can make Christians unhappy in this life.

Underworld

In the study of religion and mythology, the Underworld is a place, often thought of as below the world, where souls go upon death. In some mythologies there were numerous underworlds, the choice of which depended on the soul's virtue or worth: the Elysian Fields are an example from Greek religion.

Physical characteristics

Earth dimensions

Physical feature
Superficial area	510,000,000 km² (196,950,000 Sq. miles)
Land surface	149,000,000 km² (57,510,000 Sq. miles)
Water surface	361,000,000 km² (139,440,000 Sq. miles)
Equatorial circumferences	40,077 km (24,902 miles)
Meridional circumference	40,009 km (24,860 miles)
Equatorial diameter	12,757 km (7,926 miles)
Polar diameter	12,714 km (7,899.988 miles)
Polar radius	6,356.89 km (3,949.99 miles)
Volume of the Earth	1,080,000,000,000 km³ (260,000,000,000 cubic miles)
Mass	5,980,000,000,000,000,000,000 tonnes (6,592,000,000,000,000,000,000 tons)

Continents and population

Size continent area (km²) percent World 149 000 000 100 Afro-Eurasia 84 580 000 57 Eurasia 54 210 000 36 Asia 43 810 000 29 Americas 42 330 000 28 Africa 30 370 000 20 North America 24 494 000 16 South America 17 840 000 12 Antarctica 13 720 000 9.2 Europe 10 400 000 7.0 Oceania 9 142 000 6.0 Australia-New Guinea 8 500 000 5.7 Australia mainland 7 600 000 5.1

Human Population continent approx. population percent density (h/km²) World 6 450 000 000 100 43.29 Afro-Eurasia 5 400 000 000 84 63.84 Eurasia 4 510 000 000 70 83.19 Asia 3 800 000 000 59 86.74 Africa 890 000 000 14 21.03 Americas 886 000 000 14 29.17 Europe 714 000 000 11 29.15 North America 515 000 000 8.0 28.87 South America 371 000 000 5.8 27.04 Oceania 35 800 000 0.55 3.44 Australia-New Guinea 30 000 000 0.5 3.28 Australia mainland 21 000 786 0.3 2.47 Antarctica 1 000 0.002 ~0.00

See also

• Earth
• Planet
• World map
• Globe
• Universe

External links

• National Geographic maps
• CIA World Factbook entry on World

References