Maps of the world: Junior Scholastic 2002-2003. (Atlas).

Locate Asia and the Middle East on the map above. If you keep up with world events, you know that U.S. and allied forces are stationed in Afghanistan, a small nation in Central Asia. You also know that President Bush has called Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein a "danger" to world peace.

You can find Afghanistan, Iraq, and other countries in the news in our World Atlas. To get the most out of these maps, read the tips that follow:

Independent countries are in bold, capital letters.

Nonindependent areas, such as colonies and trust territories (areas administered by another country under the supervision of the United Nations), are shown in italic, small-capital letters. Following, in parentheses, is the name of the country that governs it.

Example: SAUDI ARABIA 

Continents: Our maps show six of the world's seven continents. Land that is not part of the featured continent is shown in a tan color.

Example: GREENLAND (DENMARK)

Oceania includes the continent of Australia, plus New Zealand and most islands in the South Pacific Ocean.

Europe/Asia: Europe and Asia share the same landmass. Geographers divide the two continents along a line formed by the Ural Mountains, Ural River, Caspian Sea, and Caucasus Mountains. Our maps use a dotted line (as at left) to mark this division.