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Background: Globally, the 20th century was marked by: (a) two
devastating world wars; (b) the Great Depression of the 1930s; (c)
the end of vast colonial empires; (d) rapid advances in science and
technology, from the first airplane flight at Kitty Hawk, North
Carolina (US) to the landing on the moon; (e) the Cold War between
the Western alliance and the Warsaw Pact nations; (f) a sharp rise
in living standards in North America, Europe, and Japan; (g)
increased concerns about the environment, including loss of forests,
shortages of energy and water, the drop in biological diversity, and
air pollution; (h) the onset of the AIDS epidemic; and (i) the
ultimate emergence of the US as the only world superpower. The
planet's population continues to explode: from 1 billion in 1820, to
2 billion in 1930, 3 billion in 1960, 4 billion in 1974, 5 billion
in 1988, and 6 billion in 2000. For the 21st century, the continued
exponential growth in science and technology raises both hopes
(e.g., advances in medicine) and fears (e.g., development of even
more lethal weapons of war).

World Geography

Map references: World, Time Zones

Area: total: 510.072 million sq km

land: 148.94 million sq km

water: 361.132 million sq km

note: 70.8% of the world's surface is water, 29.2% is land

Area - comparative: land area about 16 times the size of the US

Land boundaries: the land boundaries in the world total 251,480.24
km (not counting shared boundaries twice)

Coastline: 356,000 km

Maritime claims: contiguous zone: 24 NM claimed by most, but can
vary

continental shelf: 200-m depth claimed by most or to depth of
exploitation; others claim 200 NM or to the edge of the continental
margin

exclusive fishing zone: 200 NM claimed by most, but can vary

exclusive economic zone: 200 NM claimed by most, but can vary

territorial sea: 12 NM claimed by most, but can vary

note: boundary situations with neighboring states prevent many
countries from extending their fishing or economic zones to a full
200 NM; 43 nations and other areas that are landlocked include
Afghanistan, Andorra, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bhutan,
Bolivia, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Central African Republic,
Chad, Czech Republic, Ethiopia, Holy See (Vatican City), Hungary,
Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Lesotho, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg,
Malawi, Mali, Moldova, Mongolia, Nepal, Niger, Paraguay, Rwanda, San