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The surface of the Earth consists of continents and oceans. Though oceans are coming to play a bigger role in the life of humanity, it is the land that is the natural foundation for the existence of nations and states.

Area, Population and States in Different Parts of the World (by mid-1971) Parts of the world Area (sq. km.) Population (mln) Stati s and territories Europe Asia 10,500,000 44,400,000 650 2,160 37 42 Africa 30,300,000 353 56 America 42,100,000 522 47 Australia and Oceania 8,500,000 20 24 135.800,000 3,705 206

EUROPE

p Though one of the smallest in area Europe is one of the most heavily populated parts of the world. For density of population—over 60 people per sq. km.—Europe holds first place in the world, and second, after Asia, for the size of the population.

p Having less than a fifth of the total world population, Europe accounts for over 50 per cent of the world industrial output.

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p More than 50 per cent of the Europeans are townspeople. Europe has many large cities of which more than 30, including London, Moscow, Leningrad, Paris have millions of inhabitants. European cities are major industrial centres where the working class is concentrated. The proletariat in the countries of capitalist Europe alone totals 105 million people. There are more than 30 states, some of them extremely small, on the political map of Europe. Their socio-political systems are not alike. More than 60 per cent of the territory of Europe is occupied by the socialist countries of Central, East and Southeast Europe and the European part of the USSR. They account for more than 50 per cent of the continent’s population and yield over a half of Europe’s industrial output. Socialist Europe is one of the most advanced and important industrial zones in the world. For rates of development, structural changes in the economy and the level of industrial production the European socialist countries are far ahead of many advanced capitalist countries.

p Western Europe yields about a third of the industrial output produced in the capitalist world and possesses a considerable portion of imperialism’s military potential. The CMEA countries form the core of socialist Europe and the entire world socialist system.

p Economically developed small countries account for less than a quarter of the territory and population of Western Europe, but manufacture over a quarter of its industrial production, or approximately as much as is produced in Britain. As regards some economic indicators, for example, the production of machine tools per head of population, Belgium, the Netherlands and Switzerland have either surpassed Britain or have almost caught up with other major West European states. On the whole, however, it is the Federal Republic of Germany, Britain and other West European powers that comprise the second biggest "power centre" of imperialism after the United States.

p Two inter-state monopoly alliances, the European Economic Community or the Common Market, and the European Free Trade Area were established in Western Europe after the Second World War.

p The six Common Market countries—the FRG, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxemburg—account tor 60 per cent of Western Europe’s industrial output.

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The European Free Trade Area, an association uniting Britain, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Iceland, Portugal, Switzerland and Austria, with Britain playing the central role, is considerably weaker than the Common Market monopoly alliance. In effect it is disintegrating as Great Britain and some of its other members are about to enter the Common Market.

p .

Concerned with the future of the nations, the socialist countries are advocating the establishment of a reliable European security system. The member countries of the Warsaw Treaty Organisation of Friendship, Co-operation and Mutual Assistance have long ago proposed a non-aggression pact with NATO. The International Meeting of Communist and Workers’ Parties held in Moscow in 1969 underlined the vital importance of establishing a reliable security system in that part of the world. This policy of promoting peaceful co-operation, strengthening security in Europe and in the world has the mounting support of all progressive forces and broad masses of people.

ASIA

p More than 2,000 million people, or just under two-thirds of the world population, live in the vast expanses of Asia which covers almost a third of the earth’s land surface. The bulk of the world’s rural population is concentrated in the countries of East, Southeast and South Asia. About a fifth of the population of Asia live in towns. Although the percentage of the urban population is relatively small, some Asian countries have very large cities, the biggest of which are Tokyo (10 million inhabitants), Shanghai, Bombay and Peking, each with a population of several million. The populations of Tashkent and Novosibirsk in the Asian part of the USSR have also surpassed the million mark.

p There are over 30 states in Asia, and, as in Europe, they belong either to the capitalist or the socialist world system.

p Besides the Soviet Union, which occupies over 60 per cent of its territory, socialist Asia includes the Mongolian People’s Republic, the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, the Korean People’s Democratic Republic and the Chinese People’s Republic.

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p The formation of a group of socialist states was a most important factor that changed the political map of Asia.

p Another significant development has been the rise of newly-free states in Asia in place of the former colonies. Today they occupy a vast part of the continent and their total population is almost as large as the population of the socialist countries of Asia.

Asia’s role in world affairs is rapidly mounting thanks to her peoples’ progress along the road of national liberation, social and economic development. Developing Asian states are making serious efforts to surmount the economic and cultural backwardness inherited from colonialism, raise living standards and solve other crucial problems. As in the past the Soviet Union wants to have the best possible relations with the Asian states. "Our aim,” said L. I. Brezhnev, "is to contribute to the strengthening of peace in Asia, to help progressive forces in Asia in their struggle against imperialism and all variants of colonialism".

AFRICA

p Africa is almost three times as large as Europe but its population is approximately 50 per cent smaller. Yet before the appearance of the colonialists in Africa its population was even bigger than that of Europe.

p Starting their conquest of Africa in the beginning of the 16th century the colonialists turned it into what Marx called "a warren for the commercial hunting of black-skins”. Of the approximately 100 million Africans who suffered at the hands of the slavers 20 million were shipped to America. Slave trade, colonial wars and the subjugation of the continent were accompanied by the extermination of the Africans that went on for several centuries and greatly reduced their numbers. Inhuman exploitation of the African peoples and downright plunder of the continent’s natural wealth brought fantastic profits to the colonialists.

p Until recently Africa was an important source of capital accumulation for the colonialists, a reliable economic hinterland, a strategic bridgehead and a politically "dormant continent”. The victorious advance of socialism, which had transcended the bounds of the Soviet Union, awakened the 22 consciousness of the African nations and ushered in the era of their liberation. Since the Second World War the national liberation movement of the African peoples has come to embrace all African countries and undermined the positions of colonialism and imperialism on the continent. As a result, the political map of Africa has changed beyond recognition.

p Before the Second World War only Egypt, Ethiopia and Liberia were considered to be politically independent African states, although in effect their independence was purely nominal. More than 40 national states have appeared in Africa since the end of the Second World War. By 1971, they had over 300 million inhabitants (90 per cent of the continent’s total population) and occupied an area of more than 25 million sq. km., or about 85 per cent of the territory of Africa. And the day of the political emancipation of the remaining African states is not far off.

Those African countries that have achieved political independence are now facing the difficult task of creating a national economy and raising cultural standards. The national development of the newly-free countries is seriously impeded by their underdeveloped industry, the primitive agriculture of the native population and its poverty and almost total illiteracy, and the absence of trained national personnel. But their peoples are fighting with increasing determination for a better future.

AMERICA

p There are about 30 states and a large number of colonies on America’s political map, which had remained almost unchanged for a long period. The victory of the revolution in Cuba, which became the first socialist country in America, wrought the first fundamental change in the political map of the Western Hemisphere. Chile was the next Latin American state to light the flame of freedom.

p The fight of the people for freedom and independence is mounting on the Latin American continent.

p Jamaica, an island in the Caribbean Sea, achieved independence in 1962 after three centuries of British domination. Shortly afterwards Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados and Guyana also became independent. The peoples of British Honduras and French Guiana and other colonies still under 23 the domination of imperialist countries are fighting for independence and national emancipation. That part of the world is turning into a giant centre of the anti-imperialist revolution.

Imperialism’s undivided rule in the Western Hemisphere has come to an end.

AUSTRALIA

p Australia with Oceania comprises the smallest part of the world. It is smaller than Europe and its population is but three per cent of the population of that continent. Australia was colonised by Europeans who discovered it in the beginning of the 16th century.

p The biggest country in this part of the world is the Commonwealth of Australia, a member of the British Commonwealth of Nations and an economically developed capitalist state. The Commonwealth of Australia possesses a number of island colonies and holds trusteeship rights over the northeastern part of New Guinea.

p New Zealand, likewise an advanced capitalist state, also has colonies in the Pacific Ocean including the Cook and Tokelau islands.

The population of the Pacific islands is struggling to abolish the colonial regime. In 1962 West Samoa became the first independent state in Oceania. In 1968 Nauru became independent and in 1970 Fiji.

ANTARCTICA

p Antarctica is the only continent which has no permanent population. This icy continent was discovered during the Antarctic summer of 1819-20 by the first Russian Antarctic Expedition headed by Faddei Bellingshausen and Mikhail Lazarev.

p Today the map of the Antarctica is dotted with dozens of scientific stations operated by many countries. In 1959 twelve countries, including the Soviet Union and the United States, signed an agreement on the peaceful use of the Antarctica.

A very important part in the study of the icy continent is being played by Soviet scientists who are taking part in 24 complex antarctic expeditions. Scientific investigations of the Antarctica, which systematically augment the available information about the continent, are of tremendous practical importance.

OCEANS

p Oceans and seas comprise the World Ocean which covers more than three-fifths of the Northern Hemisphere and about four-fifths of the Southern Hemisphere.

p The World Ocean is a vast storehouse of diverse natural resources. In our day the opportunities of tapping them are rapidly increasing. Man is inventing more and more methods of the economic exploitation of its biological, mineral and chemical resources.

p The biological resources of the World Ocean are estimated at the colossal figure of 16,000-18,000 million tons, of which fish alone account for approximately 500 million tons. The food resources of the ocean amount to 400,000 million tons a year or four times the amount available on land. Yet, so far less than one-seventh of the total area of oceans and seas is used as fishing grounds.

p What is known to date of the mineral resources of the World Ocean staggers the imagination. The bed of the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian oceans contains from 300,000 to 350,000 million tons of iron and manganese concretions which also contain copper, nickel, cobalt, uranium and other elements. The oil deposits in the bed of the World Ocean are estimated at 150,000 million tons. The amount of sodium chloride, magnesium, bromine, potassium, iodine and other chemical elements in sea water is estimated in astronomical figures. A thousand million kilowatts, such is the capacity of the power resources of ocean tides. Economic development of the world, particularly in the future, will to an ever greater degree be connected with the exploitation of the ocean’s inexhaustible natural resources.

p The World Ocean plays an extremely important role in world transport and economy. On its shores there are 1,600 large and 5,500 small ports connected with each other by coastal and international shipping routes.

p An overwhelming majority of states of the world lie on the shores of seas and oceans. The Soviet Union, a great sea 25 power, is washed by the waters of the Atlantic, Pacific and Arctic Oceans. Seaboard socialist countries are enlarging their merchant and fishing fleets and expanding shipping, fishing and sea-animal hunting in the World Ocean.

Ocean shipping and fishing are acquiring vital importance for the young Asian, African and Latin American states lying on the shores of the warm seas of the World Ocean. India, Egypt, Pakistan and other countries are building up their national merchant marine, reconstructing old and building new ports and developing navigation.

ATLANTIC OCEAN

p As regards its area and the size of the population gravitating towards its basin the Atlantic Ocean ranks second after the Pacific Ocean. But for the number of maritime countries and their economic potential, the number of shipping and air routes the Atlantic surpasses all other oceans.

p Just under 70 states with a total population of 1,300 million lie on the shores of the Atlantic Ocean and its seas. About two-thirds of the world’s biggest ports are situated on the shores of the Atlantic. The states of this ocean basin account for more than 50 per cent of the tonnage of the world merchant marine, over 75 per cent of the world shipping and the most intense air communications, particularly transatlantic routes between Western Europe and North America.

p The entire eastern and southern coastline of the Baltic Sea (Atlantic basin) from Leningrad in the USSR to Wismar in the German Democratic Republic is shared by the Soviet Union, Poland and the German Democratic Republic. The greater part of the Black Sea coast lies within the USSR, Rumania and Bulgaria. Yugoslavia and Albania are situated along the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea. The Republic of Cuba lies in the Caribbean basin.

With the exception of Japan, all major capitalist countries are situated in the Atlantic basin where the main economic potential of the capitalist world is concentrated. Some of the world’s biggest ports including New York and Boston in the United States and London, Hamburg, Marseilles and 26 Genoa in Western Europe are situated on the shores of the Atlantic. Atlantic shipping routes handle more than 50 per cent of the world’s seaborne trade.

PACIFIC OCEAN

p The Pacific is the largest of the earth’s oceans, both in area, volume of water, the number of islands, and the size of the population of its seaboard countries. More than 1,600 million people, or almost 50 per cent of the world population, live in the countries of the Pacific basin. For this part of humanity the vast resources of the Pacific Ocean are becoming of vital importance. The Pacific is also the world’s biggest source of fish and sea animals. As regards the density of shipping it is second only to the Atlantic.

p About thirty countries lie on the Pacific. The USSR, the Chinese People’s Republic, the Korean People’s Democratic Republic and the Democratic Republic of Vietnam have long Pacific coastlines. The Soviet Union alone has about 18,000 kilometres of mainland and approximately 9,000 kilometres of island coastline on the Pacific.

p Vladivostok and Nakhodka, in the Soviet Union, Wonsan in the Korean People’s Democratic Republic, Tientsin, Shanghai and Kwangchow in China and Haiphong in the Democratic Republic of Vietnam are the socialist countries’ biggest Pacific ports.

Of the imperialist countries the biggest power on the Pacific just as it is on the Atlantic is the United States. After the United States Japan has the second largest economic potential on the Pacific.

INDIAN OCEAN

p In area, density of shipping routes and size of the fish catch, the Indian Ocean is no match for the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. There are 25 states along the mainland coast and on the islands of the Indian Ocean with a total population of approximately 1,000 million.

p Just recently Great Britain dominated the basin of the Indian Ocean, and today too she controls the extraction of oil in Bahrain and in some other parts of Arabia. The British also own rubber plantations and tin mines in Malaysia.

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But the successes of the national liberation movement have considerably undermined Britain’s positions in the Indian Ocean countries. In an effort to retain them Britain and the United States are establishing a system of new military bases on the thinly populated islands of the Indian Ocean.

ARCTIC OCEAN

p Since the Second World War the states of the world have been focussing their attention on the Arctic Ocean. The Soviet Union occupies one side of its basin with the USA, Canada, Iceland, Norway and Greenland, an island belonging to Denmark, on the other. Sea and air communications between the USSR and the USA across the Arctic Ocean are much shorter than those across the Atlantic and the Pacific.

p The Soviet Union holds sovereign rights over 28,000 kilometres of mainland and approximately 35,000 kilometres of insular shoreline in the Arctic. The Barents, White and other seas of the Arctic Ocean and also the North Atlantic Ocean are major areas of the Soviet fishing industry whose principal base is the unfreezing port of Murmansk. From Murmansk begins the North Sea route that makes possible the economic development of the vast Soviet Arctic region.

Thus, the political and economic map of the world is extremely complex and diverse, and without a profound knowledge of the subject it is impossible to obtain a more or less complete idea of the modern world and its states.