Physical Maps of the World

This page lists all the Physical Maps of the World produced by National Geographic. The list goes from the earliest map to the most recent.

Click on Map Titles that are Links to see a Picture of that map.

1. How Man Pollutes His World - December 1970 (42"x29")
Side B: This map identified and graphically demonstrated how human activities impact our fragile biosphere. This piece by National Geographic put out in 1970, is amazing in that it touches on things that is on everyone's mind now but was published over 35 years back in time. It has a graphic presentation of issues surrounding pollution, detailed inset showing the life forms that exist at various elevations, inset showing world population in 1970 with projections to 2000 and beyond and an inset demonstrating the food chain.

2. Physical World Map - November 1975 (35"x24")
Side B: This physical map shows the splendor and natural look of the earth with beautifully portrayed major vegetable zones that easily visualize everything from the densest forests to most barren deserts. It includes insets of ocean currents, wind currents, food production and vegetation, and the earths crust.

3. Great Whales, Migration and Range Map - December 1976 (30"x22")
Side A: This physical map has shaded areas distinguishing the home waters of six different species of great whales; the Fin, Humpback, Sperm, Grey, Bowhead and Right. Arrows indicate seasonal migration paths. There is information on the range, population and migratory habits of these six species, countries that engage in whale hunting, shore whaling stations and floating factories catch and quotas for 1975 and 1976. There are also notes on tagging whales, whale watching and more.

4. Whales of the World Map - December 1976 (30"x22")
Side B: This supplement to the Great Whales map has beautiful paintings by Larry Foster of whales, and featuring an overview article about whales and information on each species.

5. World Ocean Floor Map - December 1981 (42"x29")
Side B: This beautiful physical world map uses stunning relief shading to accentuate the drama of Earths underwater world. You can see the ocean floor, mountain ranges, river valleys, deserts and continental shelves in amazing detail. It uses vegetation zones to show everything from forest to deserts.

6. Earths Dynamic Crust - August 1985 (22.5"x18")
Side B:  This map explores the forces that shape our Earth, explaining the various forms of tectonic activity such as hot spots, accretion, subduction and spreading. It shows the locations of volcanoes and earthquakes of 6.0 magnitude or greater that occurred from 1975-1985. It also shows land heights and water depths, plate motion noted in mm/yy and includes an abundance of informative notes.

7. Pinnipeds Around the World - April 1987 (30"x21")
Side A: This side has a physical map of the world with illustrations of various pinnipeds laid out on it in the normal locations that they would inhabit. On the left side are notes covering each pinniped laid out on the map.

8. Endangered Earth Map - December 1988 (46"x29")
Side A: This physical map published on the 100th anniversary of the National Geographic society is a primer for the issues and challenges surrounding our endangered Earth. There are insets showing the Ice Age vegetation 18,000 years ago, and greenhouse-effect vegetation zones. There is an inset showing a Peru-Ecuador upwelling showing how rapidly the oceans can change and an inset of a Minnesota Borreal forest and the pressures on it from human intervention. It has a timeline entitled "People and planet: A troubled partnership" and a spectacular graphic showing population growth from 16,000 B.C. to the present. It shows how advances in agriculture and public health have enabled the population to burgeon.

9. World Physical Map - February 1994 (43"x30")
Side A:  Here is a beautiful physical map of the world which has major vegetation zones to easily visualize everything from the most barren desert to the densest forest. It has ocean floor topography to show the underwater features. Included are insets of the vital Earth statistics, the Earths crust, ocean currents and wind currents. A chart shows the calculated area for the world, continents, major islands and largest lakes.

10. The Earths Fractured Surface - April 1995 (36"x22")
Side A:  This physical map shows the continents along with the lines of each tectonic plate. This is a great map for demonstrating the reaction between continental drift, earthquakes and volcanoes.

12. Treasures of the World: Lost and Found - July 2001 (31"x20")
Side B: This side is filled with a beautiful physical map of the world loaded with notes and locations of treasures. Also included on the map are illustrations of treasure items. There is also two inset maps  titled Realm of the Wine-Dark Sea and The Global Bazaar where East met West.

13. A World Transformed - September 2002 (31"x20")
Side A:  This physical world map clearly demonstrates the impact us humans are having on the Earth. The map is color coded to show the human impact on the land for urban development, agriculture and grazing. Color coded to show where the coal, natural gas and oil reserves are, and showing what countries are leading in wind, solar, hydroelectric and geothermal alternative energy sources. It uses color shading to show major protected areas or natural world heritage sites, and where world heritage sites and frontier forest are threatened. It also uses color shading to show coral reefs, coral reef hot spots in danger, dead zones, mangroves and marine protected areas. The map contains sections titled Oceans at risk, The Air We Breath, Alien Invasion, Earth's Vulnerable Soils, Missing the Forest for the Trees, Energy Bingo and A Warmer World.

14. A Thirsty Planet - September 2002 (31"x20")
Side B: The worlds water supply is dwindling and this side clearly shows this in a huge physical map. It is color coded to show the annual renewable water sources and how much water they are producing. Also marked on the map are the critical areas where the sources of water is a major concern. All around the outside are insets of water hot spots such as the Colorado River Basin-Demand exceeds supply, Tigris & Euphrates Watershed-Whose water is it, Murray-Darling Watershed-Salty soils, Yangtze River Basin-Monumental gamble, Lake Chad-Africa's vanishing lake and Parana River Basin-River or canal.

15. Earth at Night - November 2004 (35"x22")
Side B: This is a fantastic picture of the Earth which is a composite of satellite images from cloud-free nights gathered over a one year period. One look shows the disproportionate use of energy by regions like the United States, Europe and Japan when you compare their populations to places like India.

16. Earthquake Risk: A global View - February 2006 (24"x20")
Side A: This is a great physical map of the world color coded to show the earthquake risk around the world.  The map also marks the locations of the 10 deadliest earthquakes in the last 100 years, the 10 costliest earthquakes in the last 100 years and lines showing plate boundaries and direction of plate movement. The map is also filled with notes and illustrations to further help understand earthquakes.

17. Earthquakes: Living with the Threat - February 2006 (24"x20")
Side B: This is a fantastic illustration of a cityscape during a earthquake. Shown through-out are ways to prevent major damage to houses, subway lines, mid-rises, utility lines, highways and bridges and high-rises. There is also a little illustration and write-up how earthquakes work.

18. Soccer Unites the World - April 2006 (24"x20")
Side A: The center of this map is occupied by a large physical map of the world color coded to show the number of soccer players per 1000 people. There are notes showing how soccer has evolved in different parts of the world like North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia and Oceania. There are charts showing World and Olympic championships by continents, revenues created by soccer, and player salaries. On the bottom of the map is a time line showing the evolution of soccer.

19. The Beautiful Game - April 2006 (24"x20")
Side B: Most of this side of the map deals with the strategy of the game of soccer. It has notes of the skills and science of the game and notes on the strategies of different countries like Brazil, Germany, Italy and England. On the right is an inset illustrating the World Cup's living legends.

20. Changing Climate - October 2007 (31"x20")
Side A: This map is dedicated to showing how the changing climate is effecting our world. This side is divided into three sections the top part of which shows a physical map of the world color coded to show how much the temperature has changed over the surface of the Earth between 1976 and 2005. The middle section also has a physical map of the world color coded to show the percent of change in average annual precipitation between 1976 and 2005. The bottom section has a chart showing how the world will feel the heat in the areas of water, food, health, coasts and ecosystems.

21. Greenhouse Earth - October 2007 (31"x20")
Side B: This side has a chart showing how the sun hits the earth and reflects back, how greenhouse gases warm the earth and showing how much greenhouse gases are being emitted by different sources like electricity and heat, land-use change, agriculture, transportation, industry, other fuel combustion, equipment leaks, landfills/sewage and industrial processes. It has charts on the right showing a warmer future in temperature, showing population demands, and CO2's modern imprint. On the bottom is a chart showing the changes in sea levels, temperature and CO2 levels over the last 400,000 years.

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