See this land called North America. It would take five days and nights in a fast express train to travel straight across it.
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We can cut the globe in half and make a flat picture of the two parts as they look when placed side by side.
Another name for the globe is sphere. “Hemi” means “half,” so each half of the globe is called a “hemisphere.”
One half is called the Eastern Hemisphere and the other half the Western Hemisphere.
In the Western Hemisphere we have the Western Continent, which is America. This Western Continent is made of two grand divisions, North America and South America. Why are they so named? We live in North America. Find our city and the river nearest to it. North America was joined to South America by a narrow strip of land called the Isthmus of Panama. Look at the map and think why millions of dollars have been spent through many years to cut through this isthmus. Now vessels can pass through this Panama Canal.
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Look at the map of the Western Hemisphere and notice what it contains besides the Western Continent of America. There is more water than land. This water forms the great oceans.
Perhaps you have been to Atlantic City or some other seashore place and have seen the Atlantic Ocean. Do you remember the big waves which rolled in on the sandy beach and the pretty white-caps far out? Did you see the big nets drawn in full of hundreds of fish? Perhaps you bathed in the ocean and got your mouth full of water. It did not taste like the water we drink, for it was salty. All of the water of the ocean is salt water, but the water of rivers is fresh.
The oceans are very large. It would take us five or six days and nights on a great steamer to cross to the other side of the Atlantic Ocean. In what direction should we go?