Page 273 - Demo

272 Arrow-Puffin-3_Semester-1 SocialEarth%u2019s LandformsThe Earth%u2019s surface has three-fourths water, one-fourth land and diverse landforms.Landformsmountains hills plateauglacier plains desertShape of the EarthIn the beginning, people were unaware of the shape of the Earth. They thought it was flat. They were afraid of travelling too far due to fear of falling off the edge of the Earth. Around the same time, thinkers like Aristotle and astronomers like Copernicus said that the Earth was shaped like a ball without edges.Who proved that the Earth was round? It all happened about 500 years ago when Ferdinand Magellan, a Portuguese sailor, set off on a voyage from Spain and sailed west. Magellan and his sailors kept sailing in the same direction. After three years, they reached the same place from where they had started the voyage. This proved that the Earth was not flat. It is round but slightly flattened at the poles.Horizon and CoastStand on the top of a high building. You will notice that the land and the sky appear to meet at a certain distance. The line at which the Earth and the sky seem to meet is called the horizon. If you move towards the Horizon