Explore the World Through Geography, Natural Resources & Daily History
Clear, reliable and engaging guides that help you understand our planet — from UK geography education to global natural resources and On This Day history events.
Explore, discover, and learn about the wonders of our world! At Earth Site, we’re passionate about bringing geography, history, and science to life for curious minds of all ages. Whether you’re delving into historical events, uncovering the mysteries of the natural world, or seeking interactive resources, you’re in the right place.
Here, you can uncover the stories behind historical events, explore the natural wonders of our planet, and gain valuable insights into how the Earth’s systems shape our daily lives. From the towering peaks of mountain ranges to the far-reaching impacts of human innovation, we aim to make every topic both engaging and informative.
Start your journey of discovery with us today, and let’s make learning an adventure!
What We Cover
Earth Site brings together engaging and accessible educational content designed to help you understand the world, its history, and its natural systems.
🌍 Geography Education (UK & Worldwide)
We publish clear, easy-to-understand geography resources for students, teachers and curious learners. Our guides support geography education in the UK and cover physical geography, climate, ecosystems, population, and global development.
⛏️ Natural Resources & Environmental Geography
Explore detailed country profiles covering natural resources, mining, energy, geology and global environmental challenges. We show how nations manage minerals, water, land and ecosystems, and why these resources matter.
📅 On This Day in History
Every day has a story. Our On This Day history series features major events, anniversaries, traditions, and cultural milestones from around the world — with timelines, context, and fun facts.
TIMELINE
Global Economies
Many factors or indicators can affect or be used to measure the economies of the world. This article explains these factors/indicators and explains how they effect the global economies. Creation of Money Gross Domestic Product Official Exchange Rate GDP Purchasing Power Parity GDP Difference and accuracy of OER and PPP Calculating GDP Economic Growth Calculating Aggregate Demand Interactive Map of Global Economies GDP growth (annual %) Gross savings (% of GDP) Current account balance (BoP, current US$) Government Borrowing The World Bank The International Monetary Fund (IMF) Government Bonds Interactive Map of National Debt Central Government Debt, Total (% of GDP) External Debt Stocks, Total (DOD, current US$)      The Creation of Money  Thousands of years ago various goods and services would have been bartered or swapped for other such items as required. A fisherman who had a good day may have far too many fish which without the storage facilities the fish would be wasted, however these excess goods were traded for other goods or services that were required. As far back as 12,000 BC the Earliest civilisation in Anatolia (modern day Asian part of Turkey) used to barter with obsidian or cows for goods and services. These items were very useful in their time (the stone obsidian was turned into tools or weapons) which is why they were largely accepted in payment. It is believed that cowrie shells had been used in China as currency from around 2,500 BC but by around 1,200 BC various Kingdoms within China had created coins which had set values and created for the...
Global Food Production
Despite global food production being adequate to meet demand more people died of hunger, or hunger related diseases, than died of AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis combined. Global Food Production Interactive Map of Global Food Production Chronic Undernourishment Global Food Production According to the World Food Programme the global food production is enough food to feed our 7 billion population (1) which through improved techniques has seen a 17% increase in food per person in the last 30 years (according to Oxfam). The increased use of fertilisers and improved irrigation has been responsible for a 70% increase in yield of crops in recent years. But this apparent abundance of food is not likely to last. Population growth, globally, has remained steady since 1975 with the addition of 1 billion every 12 years since then reaching 7 billion in 2011. The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) predict that if global populations reach 9 billion (which, based on current population growth, is more likely to be 10 Billion) we will need to 60% more food (taking into account wastage etc). This may prove an impossible task if the populations eating habits and production methods don’t change dramatically. As populations rise the need for more urban land to house them is reducing the amount of agricultural land available. Additionally the demand for certain foods like meat require more land not only to be used to raise cattle but also land to grow the grain to feed them. It is believed that only 43% of cereal produced is used for direct human consumption while the remaining 47% is used to feed...
Global Population
Since the last catasphrophic event that hugely affected global population some 70,000 years ago it took the human race until 1804 (69,800 years)to reach a population of 1 billion and only 211 years to grow to 7 billion. World Human Population Global Population Interactive Data Map Origin of Humans Extinction Events Reaching 7 Billion Life expectancy Tuberculosis Life expectancy Interactive Data Map Factors that affect Life Expectancy Globa Population Demographics Global Population Demographics Interactive Map World Human Population Year (at the start of) World Population total World Population Growth (%) Percent of Population Aged 0-14 Percent of Population Aged 15-64 2013 7,124,543,962 1.16 26.31 65.75 2012 7,043,105,591 1.127 26.415 65.756 2011 6,964,638,027 1.179 26.548 65.716 2010 6,883,512,372 1.172 26.712 65.638 2009 6,803,742,004 1.18 26.905 65.521 2008 6,724,646,992 1.188 27.127 65.365 2007 6,645,716,553 1.184 27.385 65.170 2006 6,567,959,806 1.198 27.683 64.935 2005 6,490,176,815 1.211 28.024 64.663 2004 6,412,516,968 1.222 28.412 64.353 2003 6,335,086,088 1.235 28.841 64.009 2002 6,257,804,216 1.259 29.295 63.646 2001 6,180,015,757 1.278 29.750 63.280 2000 6,102,001,950 1.311 30.187 62.925 1999 6,023,047,888 1.347 30.599 62.588 1998 5,943,024,724 1.383 30.986 62.269 1997 5,861,934,009 1.418 31.344 61.975 1996 5,779,968,275 1.439 31.670 61.713 1995 5,697,950,314 1.490 31.960 61.488 1994 5,614,317,064 1.492 32.214 61.301 1993 5,531,794,369 1.535 32.430 61.155 Use the global population interactive data map below for more information about each country’s population records for the last 50 years. All data sourced from the World Bank – a trusted source for many...
Geography of Earth
The Geography of Earth is unique in our solar system in that it is predominantly covered by water with the oceans covering 70.1% of the surface and with only 29.1% dry land (this is without taking into account all the lakes and rivers etc). Land Mass Continents Six continent of the world Seven continents Islands Lines of Latitude Lines of Longitude Time Zones Interactive map of World Geography Earth’s Environment Temperature variations Topography Atmospheric Pressure The Geography of Earth is unique in our solar system in that it is predominantly covered by water with the oceans covering 70.1% of the surface and with only 29.1% dry land (this is without taking into account all the lakes and rivers etc). Land Masses Continents The land masses of the world are normally divided into seven continents. The term continent comes from the Latin “terra continens” meaning continuous land and this ambiguous term has led to many variations as to the number of continents. Six continent of the world There are a few variations in the six continent description of the world’s landmass. In the past it was considered that both North and South America as a single continent and this led to the Olympic symbol of five interlocking circles (Antarctica not included). This view has now changed but some now consider Europe and Asia to be a single continent known as Eurasia as they are a single landmass. However this logic would also revert thinking back to America as a single continent and Africa being combined with Asia and Europe to form a super continent. This would allow...
Bodies of Water
The geography of earth includes many bodies of water from streams, rivers and lakes to channels, seas and oceans with many of these terms overlapping in their definitions. Bodies of Water Streams Rivers Watersheds and Drainage basin Ponds Lakes Lochs Is The Caspian Sea a Lake? Lagoons Water Bodies Interactive Data Map Seas Oceans Bodies of Water The geography of earth includes many bodies of water from streams, rivers and lakes to channels, seas and oceans with many of these terms overlapping in their definitions. Throughout human history all major civilisations built their cities near to large fresh water bodies, normally rivers, the most important natural resource for life. Sea or Oceans have also proved valuable to the economic growth of most civilisations and today they carry 90%of the world’s trade in huge ships (the exception to this was the ‘Silk Road’, a land based trade route set up to by various Chinese Dynasties to sell their goods). It was England’s and later Great Britain’s trade routes and Navy that allowed them to produce the largest Empire ever seen, an empire that covered a quarter of the globe and on which the sun never set. Streams The smallest body of water can be termed as a stream which describes a flowing channel of water that usually leads to a larger body of water. (This is not strictly true as it is also used to describe a warmer and faster moving body of water within other water bodies such as the gulfstream but this is not a common usage of the term stream). The term stream itself...
Big Bang Theory
The big bang theory accompanied by inflation theory, is to date, the most accurate explanation for the creation of the universe. Naming the Big Bang Theory Prediction of the Big Bang The Big Bang from a Singularity Evidence of the Big Bang Theory The Big Bang from a Quantum Fluctuation Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principal What are Quantum Fluctuations? Gravitational Energy is Negative Quantum Fluctuation Theory Expansion Theory Planck Time Grand Unified Theory Naming the Big Bang Theory The term ‘big bang theory’ was coined by Sir Fred Hoyle who helped develop Steady State Theory in the 1940’s. According to steady state theory the universe had no beginning and has always been expanding while the overall density of matter in the universe remained the same. After Edwin Hubble’s discovery of the expanding universe there were two main theoretical models of the universe. One was that the universe had a beginning (what we call the big bang) and the other was the steady state theory. The steady state theory was the most recognised for many years, due to miscalculations about the rate of expansion, and Hoyle termed the alternate theory ‘the big bang theory’ to mock it with images of cartoon explosions. Prediction of the Big Bang Initially the Big Bang theory was implied by impressive physicists, mathematician and priest named Georges Lemaitre. He theorised that space was expanding contrary to Albert Einstein’s theory of relativity. This prompted Einstein to look at his work once more particularly the Maths he had used (where he had included the ‘universal constant’ in order to comply...
Geographical Land Use
Geographical land use is an article discussing the environmental features on Earth and how humans have adapted the environment to meet their requirements Geographical Land Use Urban land Advantages of Urbanisation Problems with Urbanisation Additional Effects of Urbanisation Rural Land Agricultural Land Arable Land Woodland Deserts How Are Deserts Formed? Convection Cells Coriolis Effect Rain Shadow Interactive World Map of Land Use    Geographical Land Use Life on earth has evolved and adapted to suit their environment and continues to do so. This has been known for centuries, long before Charles Darwin took his famous journey, but what Darwin showed us was the mechanism by which this adaptation occurs. It is naturally occurring mutations that either benefit or hinder an animal’s survival and reproduction that determines if that mutation survives and in the case that it does a new better equipped sub-species is born.  Public domain image of a termite mound  However amazing and intricate these adaptations have become none are perfect and in a world with an ever changing environment most animals adapt their own habitat to some degree in order to aid their survival. From burrows to nests all are made from the surrounding resources perfectly designed for their inhabitants. Humans have taken this adaptation of the environment to new levels allowing them to live in almost any location on the earth and live with comforts beyond the comprehension of all other species. This has come at some cost to the planet but this topic is discussed in the world pollution section. This article about geographical land use is concerned with how we...
Steady State Theory
Steady State Theory was a model to explain the observation of the expanding universe before the Big Bang Theory became a viable theory. The Problem The Answer What is Steady State Theory? Rise of the Steady State Theorists Problems with Steady State Theory Rise of the Big Bang Theorists Evidence of the Big Bang Theory The Problem It had been known since Edwin Hubble’s observations in the 1920’s that the universe was expanding. But while some suggested that if the universe was expanding then it may have been created at some moment in time there seemed to be a major flaw in their logic. The major problem with this idea was that, based on the most accurate data at the time, the rate of expansion would mean that the Universe was only a few billion years old and this was less than the age of many stars. Additionally if the universe has always been expanding, which was implied by Hubble’s observations, but had no beginning then galaxies and stars would be too distant to see. The Answer In the 1940’s three astronomer-mathematicians at the University of Cambridge – Hermann Bondi, Thomas Gold and Fred Hoyle created a theory that would account for an eternal universe that although was expanding allowed for the density of matter to remain the same. This theory was the Steady State Theory. What is Steady State Theory? Their theory was known as the ‘Steady State Theory’ and was proposed which basically suggested this. The same mechanism that made the galaxies move apart and the universe expand also...
Pluto – the Dwarf Planet
Pluto is situated in a region known as the Kuiper Belt, a band that sits approximately 30-50 AU’s (astronomical units – the distance from Earth to the Sun) from the Sun in a ring shape that encompasses the 8 planets. Discovery Naming ‘Planet X’ Characteristics of Dwarf Planet Pluto Moons of Pluto Re-Classification of Pluto Where in the Solar System? Quick Statistics The colour image taken in 2015 shows Pluto (front) and one of its moons Charon (back-left) Credit NASA Discovery Early in the 20th century an American astronomer by the name of Percival Lowell found that a large body was affecting the orbits of the planets Neptune and Uranus (known to astronomers as perturbation). He posited that this was due to another planet further out which he named ‘Planet X’. In 1905 he began his search but due in part to the power of his telescope he was unable to find ‘Planet X’ before his death in 1916. The image on the left is of Percival Lowell taken in 1901 and is in the public domain. Photo of Clyde Tombaugh Shortly After his discovery of Pluto Percival Lowell had founded an observatory (the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona) in 1894 from where he first started to draw the ‘channels’ of Mars and later search for ‘Planet X’. In 1929 the observatory had a more powerful 13 inch telescope built for the sole purpose of completing Lowell’s work and finding his ninth planet. A young observer by the name of Clyde W. Tombaugh set to work and it took him a year to...
Standard Model of Particle Physics
The Standard model of particle physics (or quantum field theory) is the ultimate theory of everything. The standard model explains interactions between all subatomic particles and the fundamental forces. It is a work in progress, most recently updated in 2012 to include the higgs boson. Before we begin discussing the standard model we will provide some background information. to skip this select ‘The Standard Model’ below and begin reading from there. The discovery of sub-atomic particles Electron Shells The Photoelectric Effect Dirac’s Prediction of Antimatter The discovery of anti-matter Particle Accelerators Hadrons Baryons Mesons The Standard Model Fermions Quarks Leptons Fundamental Forces and Force Carrying Particles Bosons Photons (y) – The Electromagnetic Force Gluons (g) – The Strong Force Z and W Bosons – The Weak Force Gravity and the Higgs Boson The discovery of sub-atomic Particles By the Late 19th and Early 20th Centaury scientist became aware that although all matter was made from atoms, atoms themselves were made up of sub atomic particles and the first of these to be discovered was the electron by J.J. Thomson in 1897. The electron is a negatively charged particle that orbits the nucleus of an atom. Later Ernest Rutherford performed a series of experiments between 1909 and 1911 which suggested that atoms also contained small, dense and positively charged nuclei. He named the new particle a Proton and it was believed for some time that these were the only particles that occupied the nucleus and gave the atom its mass. In 1932 British Physicist James Chadwick proved the existence of the neutron. A neutron is a neutral...
Milky Way Galaxy
The shape of the Milky Way Galaxy is a Barred Spiral Galaxy. Made of hudreds of billions of stars the Diameter of the disk is 100,000 light years with the average thickness is about 2,000 light years. How the Milky Way Galaxy got its Name Early Discoveries of the Milky Way Formation and Destiny of the Milky Way Shape of the Milky Way Our Position in the Milky Way How the Milky Way Galaxy got its Name In the times of the ancient Greeks people would look into the sky on a dark ‘moonless’ night and see a band of light streaked across the visible cosmos. They likened the sight to that of milk naming it galaxias (the Greek word for milk) from which we get the name galaxy and the Milky Way. Image in the public domain obtained from Pixabay Early Discoveries of the Milky Way In 1609 Galileo used his telescope to look at the Milky Way and realised that the Milky Way was actually a large clump of stars set in close proximity to each other. Later in 1750 an English physicist/astronomer called Thomas Wright suggested that the Milky Way may be a collection of stars in the shape of a convex lens and that our sun was one of the many stars within this mass. He published this theory in a book called ‘An original theory or new hypothesis of the Universe’. He came up with this idea when trying to explain the different perspectives of the Milky Way and gradually this theory became accepted by the Astronomers of the time. Formation and Destiny...
Stars – from Birth to Death
Born in the cosmic clouds (which can be up to 300 light-years across) known as nebula (meaning cloud) or “stellar nurseries”, stars form almost by chance. The Birth of Stars Plasma Nuclear Fusion in Stars The Life of Stars Hydrogen Fuelled Stars (Stage I) Helium Fuelled Stars (Stage II) Carbon Fuelled Stars (Stage III) White Dwarf Stars Supernova Neutron Stars Pulsars Black Holes The Birth of Stars Born in the cosmic clouds (which can be up to 300 light-years across) known as nebula (meaning cloud) or “stellar nurseries”, stars form almost by chance. In these incredibly vast accumulations of gas, often the result of a supernova (the explosive death of extremely large stars), is the potential for life. A slight movement of the matter that forms these clouds can cause a small clump to form. This clump will have a slight increase in mass and therefore, in gravity drawing more matter slowly towards its centre. This seemingly insignificant event is the first step towards creating a star and even a solar system like ours. Image Credit NASA As the clump draws in more matter it grows larger. Other clumps may have formed which too would slowly attract each other through their gravitational pull. Either way the mass will increase over millions of years and due to the conservation of angular momentum causes the clump to spin (similar to what causes water to spin as it falls down the plug hole). Plasma The sphere that has formed at the centre of the disc grows dramatically. As its mass and density increase...