exploring our world

Jacqueline Martin Read and discover more about the world! This series of non-fiction readers provides irrteresting and educationaI content, with activities and project work. Series Editor: Hazel Geatches ALrdio CD Pack avaitable Word count for this reader: r) \J r'r\ 'l \. _/ 3,489 A \ t f,r?\ \v L.r'v*[ f, I ,r'rii itr , ()Xl ( lstll I ,llllti $i Ourr World Jacqueline Martin Introduction 3 1 Exploring 4 2 Early Explorers 8 3 Exploring the Past L2 4 Deserts 16 5 Rivers and Rainforests 20 5 The Arctic and Antarctic 24 7 Mountains 28 8 Oceans 32 Activities 36 Projects 52 Glossary 54 About Read and Discover 56 OXTORD OXfORD uNIvt:l(sI1Y I'luiss Crert Chren(lon Strect. ()xlr)r(l ()\.r {,r)l' Oxford University l)ress is r (lclrrrtrrrnt ol lhc [Jnivcrsity ofOxfbrd. 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Oxford Univt'rsity Press disclaiurs any r('sponsil)ility li)r I he (\)ntcDt IsBN: 978 o r(.) {6J5rrr } An /\lr(lro ( | ) l',tr L t onl,ilril[t: t lils lrrrl<.rtrrl l ( ll) is rls0 ,tv.Il.tlrlt t\trN,f ,A o t,r tt, t,,.t0,, I lrI t I t lr.rr.r, lr,,r( ' ,,1 \rr' il,.ilr.rnrl llrrtrrlr lrrrglislr rr.,,,rrlrrrr'r,rl rlrr',,'Irl'1,.1,. 1,.\l \r .r,,,'ilr1,.ilr\ ilr1, \, l r\ rt \ ll',,,j. r\,tl\(',tv,ill,ll)lr'. r"r'r,r 5" r,r lr, l.,rrI I'r rnt,,l rrr r lrrrr.r llr lrn,l r. l'rilrt,.l!11 l'rl,'.t lr,'lr,r,rltllr\1,il1(l .r, ll r",r,,.,,1,'ilr,' AC K NOWLE DGI M IJ NT S liiffirrahons |ry: Kelly Kennedy pp.l3, 17, 24. 33; Dusan Pavlic/ Beehive lllustmtion pp.36.45.50; Alan Rowe pp.36.45,50: Mark Ruffle p.8-9, 38 'lhe l\blishn wouw iko like to thank thc fdlo$ingfor thcir kind pcmissitm to rcpreduce photogrdphs and oth{ .oryight mdterial: Alamy pp.3 (North PoleiBryan & Cherry Alexander Photography, Teotihuacan/aerialarchives.com), 4 (Nature Picture Library), 6 (map/Helene Rogers, CPS/DOZIER Marc/ Hemis), 7 (Sue CunninghamMorldwide Picture Library), 11 (C.p. Cushing/Classicstock), 12 {Dennis Hallinan), 15 (Teotihuacan/aerialarchives.coD), 16 (Frans Lemmens), 18 (World History Archive). 27 (Classic Image). 30 (Peter Richardson/Roben Harding Picture Library l.td); The Bridgeman Art Library p.2o (Captain Meriwether Lewis ( I 774-1809) and William Clark ( I 77G1838) on their trans- continental expedition fron the Missouri to the Pacific Ocean in 1804-05 (oil on cinvas). Burnham, Thonas Mickc.ll ( 1818-66)/l'dvate Collection); Constanza Cemti p.29 (photo courtesy of Constanza Ccruti/copyright Constanza Ceruti): Corbis pp. l4 (dig/Jiro Weiping/XinHua/XinHua Press. Rosetta Stone/Alfrcdo Dagli Oniflhe Picture Desk Ltd). l9 (UbariK.M. Westermann),25 (C.rlen Rowell). 3l (Stefen Chow/Auroru Photos),33 (Visuals Unlimited): Cetty Imrges pp.5 (ClrienjrriD Chung), 10 (Hulton Archive), l3 {O. Louis Milzzatcrrti/National Geographic), 22(ilCH'l |lSH/l hc lmge Bank). 24 (cordon Wiltsie/National Ceogrrphic); Mary Evans Picturc l-ibrary p.2l (Mary Kingsky/Mary Evans Picture l.ibrary): Meg l.ownrrn p.23; Oxford University Press pp.3 (Iiverest, rainforest), l5 (rock paintings), 17, 21 (l;rke Victoria), 28: l'hotolibrnry p.26 (Robert Peary/Photolibrary): Rick Smolan p.l9 (Robyn Davidson): Science Photo Library pp.32 (Alexis Rosenfeld),34 (Rir Novosti), 35 (Alexis Rosenle'ld). Explorers are people who leave their home to discover new places, or to learn new things about people, plants, or animals. To learn more about our world, they go on exciting journeys through forests, across hot or icy deserts, up mountains, or down rivers. Do you know about any famous explorers? Do you know what places they explored, and r Where are these places? V Now read and discover more about explorers and exptoring our world! they explored,andwhy? Thousands of years ago, early peopte knew about only a very small part of the world. Today we know a lot more, and some of our information comes from exptorers. Explorers have changed the world! Why Do People Explore? Early people traveled around to find food and water. Most explorers travel because they are curious and want to discover new places and to learn new things. Some early explorers hoped to get rich by discovering new plants, animals, or treasures, and by selling them when they got home. Today, explorers travel to have an adventure, to learn more about remote places, to find something new to help science, or maybe to be famous. Where Do People Fr prlr*r"e? Early explorers wanted to find new places or people. They crossed land and explored deserts, forests, rivers, and mountains. Then they started to explore the oceans. Today, many explorers want to be the first to go somewhere a new way. Some try to find a different route, or look for new ways to travel. Others want to be the youngest, the fastest, or the first to do something, for example, climb a mountain. I h,arlv cxplorers uscd only the stars to flnd their rn'ay. Expkrrcrs wanted to sharc what they found, sc-r they wrote about their journeys and made maps. On the maps they drew mountains, rivers, and other things that thcy had seen, to makc casicr firr other travelers to follow It the same routc. Information from somc carl1, cxpkrrcrs has helped people to make maps to shou'what the world is like. The things that thev wrote tell us what life was like a long time ago in the places that they visited. Explorers have learned about new plants and animals, discovered new materials, and learned new languages. Thcy have also discovered inventions, and different ways of doing things, for examplc, ncw \vays of farming. Modern explorers are sti[[ finding new things. Scientists hope that in the future, they wit[ find cures for many diseases in the rainforests and the oceans. Go to pages 36-37 for activities. At-rtrr-rt 2,200 vears ago, Chinesc people inventcd the c()n-lpass. A compass always points north, sct it tells vou whicl-r direction vou are traveling in. GPS instruments that use satellites help modern explorers to find out where they are. ff i) t' ,w \'!',,illt ,r n,r' I ,il n rrill-,r{'. Early people traveled around to look for food, but they weren't exptorers. Explorers go from their home land to discover something about another place, and then they come back and te[[ peopte what they found. People have lived in most parrs of the world for thousands of years. Scientists think that early people started in Africa and traveled to Asia. By about 401000 years ago, there were people in almost every part of Africa, Asia, and Europe. By about 15,000 years ago they moved into America. ,l .,,". NOBTN AMEBIET Zhang Qian Marco Polo lbn Battuta Zheng He Bartolomeu Dias Christopher Columbus Vasco da Gama Ferdinand Magetlan AbeI Tasman James Cook '/,hang Qian was an early explorer from China. IIc explored many other parts of Asia more than 2,100 years ago. Other people followed his route to trade silk from Asia with things from Europe. The route that he took is now called the Silk Road. Marco Polo was an explorer fromVenice, now in Italy. In 1271, he traveled from Europe to China.When he returned to Italy 24 years later, he told people about inventions like paper, money, pasta, and ice cream. From about 1325 a Moroccan explorer, Ibn Battuta, explored North Africa, the Middle East, and Asia. He traveled 120.000 kilometers. IBCTIE OCTAN West North * fast PTCIFIC OCITN TOUTf, AMERIEA INDIAN OEEAN PACIFIC . OCIAN ANTANCTICA SOUTIIIBN OCEAN i -r,,,, ;.;*f*mfl ffiWpXeXf*fg Most early explorers traveled over land, but later, explorers traveled over the ocean. The first explorer to sail from China was Zheng He. In 1405, he sailed south to Indonesia and then across the Indian Ocean and down the east coast of Africa. A Portuguese explorer, Bartolomeu Dias, was the first explorer to travel west from Europe by ship. In 1488 he sailed from Portugal around the south of Africa. Ten years later another Portuguese explorer, Vasco da Gama, sailed even further and reached India. Christopher Columbus was an explorer from Genoa, now in Italy. He sailed west from Europe. He reached the'West Indies in 1492 and thought he was near India, but he was near a place that no one in Europe knew about - America! A Portuguese explorer called Ferdinand Magellan was the first explorer to travel to Asia by sailing west from Spain. In 1520 he sailed around South America and across the Pacific Ocean. In 1616, some Dutch explorers discovered the west of Australia. In 1642 another Dutch sailor called Abel Tasman discovered New Zealand. Antarctica was the last continent to be explored. A British sailor called James Cook explored a lot of places. In 1773, he was the first explorer to cross the Antarctic Circle, but he didn't see Antarctica. People think that the first explorers to land on Antarctica were led by a Norwegian explorer called Henryk Bull in 1895. Go to pages 38-39 for activities. There are lots of people who explore the past. This helps scientists to understand what is happening on Earth today. Geologists are scientists who study rocks to learn how Earth was made and how it has changed. They discovered that Earth is made of hot liquid rock that is covered by big pieces of solid rock called plates. The plates can move, and when they crash into each other, they can push up and make a mountain or a volcano, or they can cause an earthquake. Scientists study how the plates move to try to tell when earthquakes will happen or when volcanoes will erupt. When ancient plants and animals died, they were buried under sand and mud. After a long time, they went hard and changed into fossils. Paleontologists are scientists who study fossils to learn which plants and animals lived on E,arth in the past. They hetvc discovered fossilized plants and bones, tccth' cggs, atlcl shells from fish, birds, insects, and other animals tl-rat lived up to 500 million years ago. These discoveries give us information about animals that lived a long time ago - like dinosaurs! r/ ff6q- \(}/ Scientists have found fossits of ocean animats at the toP of Mount Everest. This means that the rocks on Mount Everest were once under the ocean and were Pushed uP. 1 Archaeologists study ancient placcs, buildings, bones, or objects, to learn about how pcc-rple lived in the past. These things tell us what skills and materials people had, what they believed, and what clothes they wore. Some old buildings, like the Great\Wall of China, are easy to see. Sometimes, the things that archaeologists look for havc becn buricd for a long time, and thcy have to dig them up very careful dszsC\d> (=If ', -li \f/ The discovery of the Rosetta Stone in Egypt was very important. It hetped peopte to understand the Ancient Egyptian atphabet and to learn about tife in Ancient Egypt. Many ancicnt buildings and objccts have becn found in Ccntral An-rerica, for cxample, in Mcxico. By studying thcsc discovcrics, archaeologists havc learned a lot about how the May'an pcoplc livcci abclut 2,000 years ago, and how the Aztcc 1-rcoplc lived about 500 years ago. At Mohcnjo Daro) now in Pakistan, archaeologists have found houses from 4.500 vears aso with toilets and bathrooms! Many important discoverics have also been found in cavcs. In 2009. an archaeoloeist =.: called Quirino Olivera found cave ,' paintings more than 6,000 years :. olcl in tl-re Andes. Cave paintings at lilkaclu National Park in r\ustralia tcll archaeologists about Ircr,ple uncl animals who lived llrt'r't' r.rl) l() 23,000 years ago. (ro lo lr.rges 40-41 for activities. A desert is an area of land where less than 25 centimeters of rain fa[[s every year. At the moment about 3O% of the tand on Earth is part of a desert, but deserts are getting bigger. There are four types of desert. They form in different ways near the equator, near the ocean, near mountains, or inland. Only 25% of deserts are sandy, and the rest are made from stones. All deserts are very dry, but they can be hot or cold. Antarctica is a desert. It's very cold, but it doesn't snow there very often. The largest hot desert in the world is the Sahara Desert in Africa. People have explored deserts for many ycllrs. Ilarlv desert explorers went to find things ttl trltclc, ()l' llt'\\' trade routes. Not much grows in thc clcscrt, l-rttt underground there can be salt, oil, gold, ttr prcciotts stones like diamonds. Today, explorers want to lcltrt't about the people who live in deserts, and some just want an adventure! Archaeologists have found villages buried under the sand. In 1922 an American explorer, Roy Chapman Andrews, found lots of dinosaur bones in the Gobi Desert in Mongolia. 4rc L:lD "d \3/ Explorers keep discovering new things in the desert because the wind btows the sand around and chartges the [andscape! ? ,di*{i#Mdln [...]... Weather All About lslands Animal Life Cyctes Exploring World Our Great Migrations @ r o 1,050 headwordso @ Celtsand Microbes Clothes Thenand Now Inoedible Energy YourAmazing Body The Wortd of Arts & SociaI Studies r o r Al[ About Space Caring OurPlanet for Earth Thenand Now WonderfuI Ecosvstems Homes Around the Worl.d OurWorld in Art a a Helping Around theWorld Food Around theWortd Foryounger students,... Ocean He found lots of new materials t() trade Lots of river explorers wanted to be tl-rcllrst to lirttl the source - where a river starts Many explorcrs hltvc tried to find the source of the Nile River in Afiica the longest river in the world They have all returncd with different ideas of where source the stit[ Scientists don'tatl agree Victoria, thinkthat it's Lake the Niteis,but mostpeople Explorers... When? \ Where? theYfind? \7.-_ -/ @€ @@ @ @ @ ,@ @ @ ,4ffi @ ,& @ Doyou knowanyotherplaces that havethe samename as a famous explorer? thereany in yourcountry? Are yourwork Writeaboutthe places disptay and write sentences 3 Makea posteraboutthis type of place yourposter' Display andphotos maps, andaddpictures, ll Herearesomewordsusedin this book,andyou canche(.k whatthey mean Usea dictionary checkothernewworrt.,... 71000hours underwater '#h,rf*{*xi: Modern explorershave better equipment and they can explore further than ever before, but they don't even Today we can send robots to have to go anywhere explore placesand bring back information! The oceansare the least explored part of Earth, but there are still things to find in rainforests,mountains to What part climb, and thousandsof placesto explore of our world. .. There _ are (rocky sandy) / Complete chart the buttheycanbe hot or cold new famouslost hot 7 Thelargest desert the worldis the Sahara in (cotd hot) Desert / 2 Match 1 People haveexplored deserts 2 Some earlydesert explorers 3 4 5 6 Desert int977 Davidson crossed Sahara the 5 Robyn (four/ five) typesof desert 5 Only25%of deserts are 6 A1[ deserts _, are (dry/ wet) Desert Younghusband the 4 Francis... Countries earnmoney trading can by things with eachother gaveexplorers Governments sometimes foodif theyfounda newroute Lotsof explorers wanted be the first to to findthe source a river of t TheRiver Niteis the [ongest riverin the world 4 tDices c a t c o t t e e n 3 o r x n b u e g n b t t u b t a t e f V s r r u i t a t m 5 r s o o g g u m e 2 4"w o &t# 3 5 o 6 7 Comptete sentences the ptants [and... explorers, Meriwether Lewis and tVilliam Clark, explored the Missouri River to look for a new trade route to the Pacific Ocean It took them 1B months, but they made it!They drew maps and wrote about the things they saw and the people they met In I 542 a Spanish explorer called Francisco de Orellana sailcd down the Amazon River from its source to tl-rcAtlantic Ocean He found lots of new materials t()... Area The Wortd of Science & Technology The Natural Wortd n * * 600 headwordss How We Make Products Sound and Music SuperStructures YourFiveSenses Amazing Minibeasts Animats the Air in Life in Rainforests Wonderful Water * Festivals Around the Wortd Free TimeAround the World r r 750 headwords A[[ About Plants Howto StayHeatthy Machines Thenand Now Why We Recycte At[ About DesertLife All About OceanLife... youthinkwasthe mostimportant? whv? 3 MarcoPolotraveted fromAfricato China lbn Battuta exptored NorthAmerica, MiddteEast, the andAsia T Exploring Past the C 3 Comptete chart the wore made fossils ffis rocks archaeotogists animalspaleontologists pages Read !2-t5 Circlethe correct words 1 Exploring pasthetps the scientists read to /fu-i6f gr] whatis happening today Whatdo they find or study? Who? qeoloqists _J_'-... changed wortd have the maps mountains instruments s'tafs rivers compass north ?nmm peopte 2 Early traveled findfood to used 1 Early exptorers the 3 Explorers aren't curious starg to findtheirway and theirjourneys made wroteabout 2 Explorers 4 Explorers to discover p[aces want new 3 Theydrew 5 Some earty exptorers hoped get sick to and on the maps people years Chinese invented the ago 4 About2,200 6 Some . f, I ,r'rii itr , ()Xl ( lstll I ,llllti $i Ourr World Jacqueline Martin Introduction 3 1 Exploring 4 2 Early Explorers 8 3 Exploring the Past L2 4 Deserts 16 5 Rivers and Rainforests. exptoring our world! they explored,andwhy? Thousands of years ago, early peopte knew about only a very small part of the world. Today we know a lot more, and some of our information. learn new things about people, plants, or animals. To learn more about our world, they go on exciting journeys through forests, across hot or icy deserts, up mountains, or down