The Blue Marble, a photograph of the planet Earth made on 7 December 1972 by the crew of the Apollo 17 spacecraft.
A world is a totality of entities. In philosophy, the world is customarily viewed as all of existence or the whole of reality. Some conceptions see the world as unique, while others examine the character of entities that exist in the world or talk of a plurality of worlds, challenging the idea that the world is a all-inclusive whole. The term is also commonly used as a context-dependent expression to denote a specific domain of discourse and everything within it, such as the Earth and all life on it or the whole of human existence.
Theories of modality talk of possible worlds as complete and consistent ways how things could have been. Phenomenology, starting from the horizon of co-given objects present in the periphery of every experience, defines the world as the biggest horizon, or the "horizon of all horizons". In philosophy of mind, the world is contrasted with the mind as that which is represented by the mind.
Theology conceptualizes the world in relation to God, for example, as God's creation, as identical to God, or as the two being interdependent. In religions, there is a tendency to downgrade the material or sensory world in favor of a spiritual world to be sought through religious practice. A comprehensive representation of the world and our place in it, as is found in religions, is known as a worldview. Cosmogony is the field that studies the origin or creation of the world, while eschatology refers to the science or doctrine of the last things or of the end of the world.
In various contexts, the term "world" takes a more restricted meaning associated, for example, with the Earth and all life on it, with humanity as a whole, or with an international or intercontinental scope. In this sense, world history refers to the history of humanity as a whole, and world politics is the discipline of political science studying issues that transcend nations and continents. Other examples include terms such as "world religion", "world language", "world government", "world war", "world population", "world economy", or "world championship". (Full article...)
Indigenous peoples are characterized by self-identification, cultural difference from other groups in a state, a special relationship with their traditional territory, and an experience of subjugation and discrimination under a dominant cultural model,' although there is no generally accepted definition of the concept.
Estimates of the population of Indigenous peoples range from 250 million to 600 million. There are some 5,000 distinct Indigenous peoples spread across every inhabited climate zone and inhabited continent of the world. Most Indigenous peoples are in a minority in the state or traditional territory they inhabit and have experienced domination by other groups, especially non-Indigenous peoples. Although many Indigenous peoples have experienced colonization by settlers from European nations, Indigenous identity is not determined by Western colonization. ('Full article...)
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Thousands of people gathered for a demonstration in Warsaw, Poland, as the country prepared to enter the European Union in 2004.
Participants base their criticisms on a number of related ideas. What is shared is that participants oppose large, multinational corporations having unregulated political power, exercised through trade agreements and deregulated financial markets. Specifically, corporations are accused of seeking to maximize profit at the expense of work safety conditions and standards, labour hiring and compensation standards, environmental conservation principles, and the integrity of national legislative authority, independence, and sovereignty. Some commentators have variously characterized changes in the global economy as "turbo-capitalism" (Edward Luttwak), "market fundamentalism" (George Soros), "casino capitalism" (Susan Strange), and as "McWorld" (Benjamin Barber). (Full article...)
A world language (sometimes called a global language or, rarely, an international language) is a language that is geographically widespread and makes it possible for members of different language communities to communicate. The term may also be used to refer to constructedinternational auxiliary languages.
English is the foremost world language and, by some accounts, the only one. Other languages that can be considered world languages include Arabic, French, Russian, and Spanish, although there is no clear academic consensus on the subject. Some writers consider Latin to have formerly been a world language. (Full article...)
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The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is the UN process for negotiating an agreement to limit dangerous climate change. It is an international treaty among countries to combat "dangerous human interference with the climate system". The main way to do this is limiting the increase in greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. The Convention established the principle of "common but differentiated responsibilities," which asserts that all countries share responsibility for addressing climate change. However, developed countries are expected to assume a leading role because of their greater historical emissions. It was signed in 1992 by 154 states at the UN Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), known as the Earth Summit. The treaty entered into force in 1994. "UNFCCC" is also the name of the Secretariat charged with supporting the operation of the convention, with offices on the UN Campus in Bonn, Germany.
The treaty calls for continuing scientific research into the climate. This research supports meetings and negotiations to lead to agreements. The aim is to allow ecosystems to adapt to climate change. At the same time it aims to ensure there are no threats to food production from climate change or measures to address it. And it aims to enable economic development to proceed in a sustainable manner. The UNFCCC's work currently focuses on implementing the Paris Agreement, which entered into force in 2016. It aims to limit the rise in global temperature to well below 2°C (3.6°F) above levels before the Industrial Revolution, and even aiming to hold it at 1.5°C (2.7°F). The treaty sets out responsibilities for three categories of states: developed countries, developed countries with special financial responsibilities, and developing countries. The developed countries are called Annex I countries, and should adopt national policies and take corresponding measures to limit their emissions of greenhouse gases. They should report on steps for returning individually or jointly to their 1990 greenhouse gas emission levels. (Full article...)
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Global average temperatures show that the Medieval Warm Period was not a planet-wide phenomenon, and that the Little Ice Age was not a distinct planet-wide time period but rather the end of a long temperature decline that preceded recent global warming. The temperature record of the last 2,000 years is reconstructed using data from climate proxy records in conjunction with the modern instrumental temperature record which only covers the last 170 years at a global scale. Large-scale reconstructions covering part or all of the 1st millennium and 2nd millennium have shown that recent temperatures are exceptional: the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate ChangeFourth Assessment Report of 2007 concluded that "Average Northern Hemisphere temperatures during the second half of the 20th century were very likely higher than during any other 50-year period in the last 500 years and likely the highest in at least the past 1,300 years." The curve shown in graphs of these reconstructions is widely known as the hockey stick graph because of the sharp increase in temperatures during the last century. As of 2010[update] this broad pattern was supported by more than two dozen reconstructions, using various statistical methods and combinations of proxy records, with variations in how flat the pre-20th-century "shaft" appears. Sparseness of proxy records results in considerable uncertainty for earlier periods.
Individual proxy records, such as tree ring widths and densities used in dendroclimatology, are calibrated against the instrumental record for the period of overlap. Networks of such records are used to reconstruct past temperatures for regions: tree ring proxies have been used to reconstruct Northern Hemisphere extratropical temperatures (within the tropics trees do not form rings) but are confined to land areas and are scarce in the Southern Hemisphere which is largely ocean. Wider coverage is provided by multiproxy reconstructions, incorporating proxies such as lake sediments, ice cores and corals which are found in different regions, and using statistical methods to relate these sparser proxies to the greater numbers of tree ring records. The "Composite Plus Scaling" (CPS) method is widely used for large-scale multiproxy reconstructions of hemispheric or global average temperatures; this is complemented by Climate Field Reconstruction (CFR) methods which show how climate patterns have developed over large spatial areas, making the reconstruction useful for investigating natural variability and long-term oscillations as well as for comparisons with patterns produced by climate models. (Full article...)
Proto-globalization distinguished itself from modern globalization on the basis of expansionism, the method of managing global trade, and the level of information exchange. The period is marked by the shift of hegemony to Western Europe, the rise of larger-scale conflicts between powerful nations such as the Thirty Years' War, and demand for commodities, most particularly slaves. The triangular trade made it possible for Europe to take advantage of resources within the western hemisphere. The transfer of plant and animal crops and epidemic diseases associated with Alfred Crosby's concept of the Columbian exchange also played a central role in this process. Proto-globalization trade and communications involved a vast group including European, Middle Eastern, Indian, Southeast Asian, and Chinese merchants, particularly in the Indian Ocean region. (Full article...)
Image 5Exaggerated illustration of Earth's elliptical orbit around the Sun, marking that the orbital extreme points (apoapsis and periapsis) are not the same as the four seasonal extreme points, the equinox and solstice (from Earth)
Image 6An impression of the Archean, the eon after Earth's formation, featuring round stromatolites, which are early oxygen-producing forms of life from billions of years ago. After the Late Heavy Bombardment, Earth's crust had cooled; its water-rich barren surface is marked by continents and volcanoes, with the Moon still orbiting Earth half as far as it is today, appearing 2.8 times larger and producing strong tides. (from Earth)
Image 7The replicator in virtually all known life is deoxyribonucleic acid. DNA is far more complex than the original replicator and its replication systems are highly elaborate. (from History of Earth)
Image 10A reconstruction of human history based on fossil data. (from History of Earth)
Image 11An animation of the changing density of productive vegetation on land (low in brown; heavy in dark green) and phytoplankton at the ocean surface (low in purple; high in yellow) (from Earth)
Image 12A conception of the scorched Earth after the Sun has entered the red giant phase, about 5–7billion years in the future (from Earth)
Image 13Artist's rendition of an oxinated fully-frozen Snowball Earth with no remaining liquid surface water. (from History of Earth)
Image 32Trilobites first appeared during the Cambrian period and were among the most widespread and diverse groups of Paleozoic organisms. (from History of Earth)
Image 36Tiktaalik, a fish with limb-like fins and a predecessor of tetrapods. Reconstruction from fossils about 375million years old. (from History of Earth)
Image 37Earth's night-side upper atmosphere appearing from the bottom as bands of afterglow illuminating the troposphere in orange with silhouettes of clouds, and the stratosphere in white and blue. Next, the mesosphere (pink area) extends to the orange and faintly green line of the lowest airglow, at about one hundred kilometers at the edge of space and the lower edge of the thermosphere (invisible). Continuing with green and red bands of aurorae stretching over several hundred kilometers. (from Earth)
Image 38A map of heat flow from Earth's interior to the surface of Earth's crust, mostly along the oceanic ridges (from Earth)
Image 39Earth's axial tilt causing different angles of seasonal illumination at different orbital positions around the Sun (from Earth)
Image 40Overall increase in average surface air temperature juxtaposed with natural drivers: human activity has caused increased temperatures, with natural forces adding some variability. (from Earth)
Image 42Earth's land use for human agriculture in 2019 (from Earth)
Image 43Artist's impression of a Hadean landscape with the relatively newly formed Moon still looming closely over Earth and both bodies sustaining strong volcanism. (from History of Earth)
Seoul's history traces back to 18 BC when it was founded by the people of Baekje, one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea. During the Joseon dynasty, Seoul was officially designated as the capital, surrounded by the Fortress Wall of Seoul. In the early 20th century, Seoul was occupied by the Empire of Japan, temporarily renamed "Keijō" ("Gyeongseong" in Korean). The Korean War brought fierce battles, with Seoul changing hands four times and leaving the city mostly in ruins. Nevertheless, the city has since undergone significant reconstruction and rapid urbanization. (Full article...)
Switzerland is a federal republic composed of 26 cantons, with Bern serving as the federal city and the seat of the national government. The country encompasses four principal linguistic and cultural regions—German, French, Italian, and Romansh—reflecting a long-standing tradition of multilingualism and cultural pluralism. Swiss national identity nonetheless remains fairly cohesive, rooted in a shared historical background, common values such as federalism and direct democracy, and Alpine symbolism. Swiss nationhood transcends language, ethnicity, and religion, leading to Switzerland being described as a Willensnation ("nation of volition") rather than a conventional nation state. (Full article...)
The Seven Wonders of Wales (Welsh: Saith Rhyfeddod Cymru) is a traditional list of notable landmarks in north Wales, commemorated in an anonymously written rhyme:
The rhyme is usually supposed to have been written sometime in the late 18th or early 19th century by an English visitor to North Wales. The specific number of wonders may have varied over the years: the antiquary Daines Barrington, in a letter written in 1770, refers to Llangollen Bridge as one of the "five wonders of Wales, though like the seven wonders of Dauphiny, they turn out to be no wonders at all out of the Principality". (Full article...)
West Matukituki Valley and the Matukituki River seen from Cascade Saddle in Mount Aspiring National Park. Protected areas of New Zealand are areas that are in some way protected to preserve their environmental, scientific, scenic, historical, cultural or recreational value. There are about 10,000 protected areas, covering about a third of the country. The method and aims of protection vary according to the importance of the resource and whether it is publicly or privately owned.
China has more than 10,000 protected areas, covering eighteen percent of the country's land. There are many forms of protected areas in China. Based on their relative importance, each type of protected area can be further graded into two to three levels (national, provincial and prefectural/county level). Nevertheless, the highest rank for "pocket nature preserve" (social and mass-based), "no-hunting area", "no-fishing area", "no-logging area", "wild medicinal material resources conservation area", "crop germplasm resources conservation area", "forest tree germplasm resources conservation area" or "source water protection area" is practically restricted to provincial level. The local government at county level is also responsible for the delimitation and declaration of "basic farmland protection area" and "basic grassland".
Many protected areas (PAs) in China have multiple official designations, and the statutory boundaries of these multi-designated PAs may be identical or may vary from one another. For instance, the boundaries of Huangshan NSHA coincide with those of the Huangshan NGP, whereas Fujian province's Wuyi Mountains NNR, NSHA and NFP are adjacent to each other. In Heilongjiang, 27,642.14 hectares out of 115,340.27 hectares of Huzhong NFP are intersected with the experiment zone of Huzhong NNR. (Full article...)
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Total size of protected area of Bosnia and Herzegovina amounts of 57.83694 hectares (142.9182 acres), which is 1,13% of its entire territory. This is a list of areas protected by corresponding levels of the government of Bosnia and Herzegovina, namely at the entity's levels, and with various categorizations. (Full article...)
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Protected areas of Peru:
National parks
National reserves
National sanctuaries
Historic sanctuaries
Landscape reserves
Wildlife refuges
Communal reserves
Protected forests
Game reserves
Reserved zones
Peru is recognized as one of the world's 17 megadiverse countries, due to its high concentration of species and diverse ecosystems. Peru's protected areas are continental and marine regions formally designated by the State to conserve the country's biological diversity and associated cultural, scenic and scientific values, while contributing to sustainable development. These areas are administered at three levels: by the National System of State‑Protected Natural Areas (Spanish: Sistema Nacional de Áreas Naturales Protegidas por el Estado, SINANPE) under the National Service of Natural Protected Areas (SERNANP); by regional governments as regional conservation areas (Áreas de Conservación Regional, ACR); and by private individuals or communities as private conservation areas (Áreas de Conservación Privada, ACP). As of 2026[update], Peru has 258 protected natural areas covering terrestrial and marine environments: 77 managed nationally by SERNANP, 39 by regional governments, and 147 under private administration. These areas cover 22.15% of the country's terrestrial territory and 7.9% of its marine territory. The system includes 15 national parks, 18 national reserves, 9 national sanctuaries, 4 historic sanctuaries, 2 landscape reserves, 3 wildlife refuges, 11 communal reserves, 7 protected forests, 2 game reserves, and 6 reserved zones, representing the country's altitudinal gradients from the Amazon lowlands through Andean highlands to Pacific coastal deserts. Protected Natural Areas Day (Día de las Áreas Naturales Protegidas del Perú) is celebrated annually on 17 October, recognizing their critical role in biodiversity conservation, ecosystem services, and sustainable development for present and future generations. This list includes all terrestrial and marine areas formally designated as protected under Peruvian law—at the national, regional, or private level—as of 30July2026[update]. (Full article...)
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A Bengal Tiger in Bardiya National Park The protected areas of Nepal cover mainly forested land and are located at various altitudes in the Terai, in the foothills of the Himalayas and in the mountains, thus encompassing a multitude of landscapes and preserving a vast biodiversity in the Palearctic and Indomalayan realms. Nepal covers 147,181km2 (56,827sqmi) in the central part of the Himalayas. Altitudes range from 67m (220ft) in the south-eastern Terai to 8,848m (29,029ft) at Mount Everest within a short horizontal span. This extreme altitudinal gradient has resulted in 11bio-climatic zones ranging from lower tropical below 500m (1,600ft) to nival above 5,000m (16,000ft) in the High Himalayas, encompassing nine terrestrial ecoregions with 36vegetation types.
Additionally, nine Ramsar sites were declared between 1988 and 2008. Two wildlife reserves were declared as national parks in 2017. (Full article...)
As of present, there are around 400 protected areas in Pakistan that are recognized by International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). The total protected land area represents 13% of Pakistan's landmass as of 2020, The Government of Pakistan plans to increase it to at least 15% by 2023. As a signatory of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity, Pakistan is committed to expanding its protected areas to encompass 17% of its total territory by the year 2030. This ambitious goal aims to ensure the long-term conservation of nature, safeguard vital ecosystem services, and preserve the cultural values associated with these protected areas. (Full article...)
Victoria is the smallest mainland state in Australia. As of 2022[update] it contained 5,081 separate protected areas with a total land area of 4,012,888ha (9,916,060 acres) (17.64% of the state's area).
The parks are managed by Parks Victoria, a state governmentagency. There are also many smaller state areas which are subject to commercial activity such as logging.
National parks of Victoria State parks of Victoria Marine national parks of Victoria Marine and coastal parks of Victoria Marine sanctuaries of Victoria Other parks of Victoria
Greece is characterized by an extremely fragmented, rugged landscape hosting a great diversity of ecosystems and an outstanding biodiversity. Almost 5% of its extensive coastline consists of ecologically sensitivewetlands. Two thirds of the total population live no further than 2km from the coast and most of the important urban centers are coastal, while almost all of the tourist infrastructure is divided among islands and the coastal mainland. (Full article...)
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Illinois has a variety of protected areas, including over 123 state-protected areas, dozens of federally protected areas, hundreds of county-level and municipal park areas, and historic sites under various governmental levels of protection. Illinois also contains sites designated as internationally important protected areas. These multiple levels of protection contribute to a statewide network of numerous recreation opportunities and conservation schemes, sometimes in a small area. For example, DeKalb County contains a 1,000-acre (4.0km2) forest preserve system and a 1,500-acre (6.1km2) state park (Shabbona Lake State Park); within DeKalb County, the DeKalb Park District in the City of DeKalb has a 700-acre (2.8km2) park system. (Full article...)
Image 2Only a few of the largest large igneous provinces appear (coloured dark purple) on this geological map, which depicts crustal geologic provinces as seen in seismic refraction data
Image 3A plate tectonics map with volcano locations indicated with red circles
Dinosaurs were the dominant terrestrial vertebrates throughout most of the Mesozoic (from History of Earth)
An impression of the Archean, the eon after Earth's formation, featuring round stromatolites, which are early oxygen-producing forms of life from billions of years ago. After the Late Heavy Bombardment, Earth's crust had cooled; its water-rich barren surface is marked by continents and volcanoes, with the Moon still orbiting Earth half as far as it is today, appearing 2.8 times larger and producing strong tides. (from Earth)
The replicator in virtually all known life is deoxyribonucleic acid. DNA is far more complex than the original replicator and its replication systems are highly elaborate. (from History of Earth)
Fall of the Berlin Wall, 1989
The Colosseum in Rome (from Human history)
A reconstruction of human history based on fossil data. (from History of Earth)
An animation of the changing density of productive vegetation on land (low in brown; heavy in dark green) and phytoplankton at the ocean surface (low in purple; high in yellow) (from Earth)
Artist's rendition of an oxinated fully-frozen Snowball Earth with no remaining liquid surface water. (from History of Earth)
COVID-19 pandemic, 2020 (from Human history)
The first airplane, the Wright Flyer, flew on 17 December 1903.
Artist's impression of the enormous collision that probably formed the Moon (from History of Earth)
Graph showing range of estimated partial pressure of atmospheric oxygen through geologic time (from History of Earth)
A view of the Southern Pacific under moonlight with different layers of Earth's atmosphere visible: the troposphere with its clouds casting shadows, a band of stratospheric blue sky at the horizon, and a line of green airglow of the lower thermosphere around an altitude of 100 km, at the edge of space (from Earth)
Cuneiform inscription, eastern Turkey
Great Pyramids of Giza, Egypt
Artist's conception of Devonian flora (from History of Earth)
Worldwide Köppen climate classifications (from Earth)
A composite image of artificial light emissions at night on a map of Earth (from Earth)
A combination of different cosmological Middle Eastern axis mundi ideas from the post-classical age (The Wonders of Creation by Zakariya al-Qazwini) showing a flat round Earth surrounded by a range of Qaf Mountains, resting on the back of a giant bull (Kujata or Behemoth), which in turn stands on a vast fish (Bahamut or Leviathan) in a cosmic ocean held up by an angel or jinn (from Earth)
Chennakesava Temple, Belur, India
Earth's history with time-spans of the eons to scale. Ma means "million years ago", Ga means "billion years ago". (from History of Earth)
Battle during the 1281 Mongol invasion of Japan
Map of Earth's 16 principal tectonic plates (from Earth)
Cross-section through a liposome (from History of Earth)
Trilobites first appeared during the Cambrian period and were among the most widespread and diverse groups of Paleozoic organisms. (from History of Earth)
Satellite time-lapse imagery of Earth's rotation showing axis tilt (from Earth)
Benin Bronze head from Nigeria, 16th century AD
A depiction of the early Solar System's protoplanetary disk from which Earth and other Solar System bodies were formed (from Earth)
Tiktaalik, a fish with limb-like fins and a predecessor of tetrapods. Reconstruction from fossils about 375 million years old. (from History of Earth)
Earth's night-side upper atmosphere appearing from the bottom as bands of afterglow illuminating the troposphere in orange with silhouettes of clouds, and the stratosphere in white and blue. Next, the mesosphere (pink area) extends to the orange and faintly green line of the lowest airglow, at about one hundred kilometers at the edge of space and the lower edge of the thermosphere (invisible). Continuing with green and red bands of aurorae stretching over several hundred kilometers. (from Earth)
A map of heat flow from Earth's interior to the surface of Earth's crust, mostly along the oceanic ridges (from Earth)
Earth's axial tilt causing different angles of seasonal illumination at different orbital positions around the Sun (from Earth)
Overall increase in average surface air temperature juxtaposed with natural drivers: human activity has caused increased temperatures, with natural forces adding some variability. (from Earth)
Earth depicted to scale alongside the planetary-mass objects of the Inner Solar System. From left: Mercury, Venus, Earth, the Moon, Mars and Ceres. (from Earth)
Earth's land use for human agriculture in 2019 (from Earth)
Artist's impression of a Hadean landscape with the relatively newly formed Moon still looming closely over Earth and both bodies sustaining strong volcanism. (from History of Earth)
The Intertropical Convergence Zone's band of clouds over the Eastern Pacific and the Americas as seen from space (from Earth)
Angkor Wat temple complex, Cambodia, early 12th century
Artist's conception of Hadean Eon Earth, when it was much hotter and inhospitable to all forms of life. (from History of Earth)
A pillar at Neolithic Göbekli Tepe
European migrations by mostly Germanic peoples, 2nd–6th centuries (from Human history)
Standing Buddha from Gandhara, 2nd century CE
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Time zones of the world
Only a few of the largest large igneous provinces appear (coloured dark purple) on this geological map, which depicts crustal geologic provinces as seen in seismic refraction data
A plate tectonics map with volcano locations indicated with red circles
1516 map of the world by Martin Waldseemüller
The Goode homolosine projection is a pseudocylindrical, equal-area, composite map projection used for world maps.
United Nations Human Development Index map by country (2016)
Mollweide projection of the world
Index map from the International Map of the World (1:1,000,000 scale)
The world map by Gerardus Mercator (1569), the first map in the well-known Mercator projection
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