The book I could not find, so I made it
From the peaks of the Himalaya to the ice of Antarctica, from the markets of Marrakesh to the islands of the Pacific, this atlas takes you to every country on Earth: 196 countries in seven chapters, told in 2,261 photographs across 1,026 pages.
01How it began
It started with a simple question: where is the book that takes me to every country on Earth? Not a list of areas and populations, but a book that tells me how people greet each other in the morning, what they cook for their feasts, what story their flag tells, and which proverb they reach for when life gets hard.
I searched bookshops and the internet, in Arabic and in English. I found atlases with beautiful maps and no life in them, encyclopedias full of facts and heavy to read, and travel books that visit a handful of countries and forget the rest. The book I had in mind did not exist, so I decided to make it.
In your hands are 196 countries, from the largest to the smallest, each given the same care: Vatican City, which you can cross on foot in less than an hour, and Russia, which stretches across eleven time zones.
02What is inside
At the front
- Introduction
- The story of the book, why it was made and how to read it.
- World map
- Every continent across two pages, in the colours of its chapter.
- The world in numbers
- The size, girth and age of the Earth, its highest and its deepest points.
- The seven continents
- A table comparing countries, people, area and highest peaks.
- Between two continents
- The countries that span two continents, and where the line runs.
- Reader’s guide
- How to read a card, page by page and section by section.
- Contents
- Every country by continent, with its page number.
At the back
- The Edges of the Earth
- Records from the highest peaks to the deepest waters.
- The Seven Wonders
- Ancient and new, with where they stand and their stories.
- Notes
- What needs explaining about figures, names and borders.
- Sources
- The references the book was written from and checked against.
- Picture credits
- The photographer and license of every photograph in the book.
- Index
- Cities, landmarks and names, and where to find them.
196 cards, one order
Every country has a card that follows the same order, so you can read any country like any other and compare two at a glance. The card opens with the country’s strongest photograph, its name in the local language and how to say it, an everyday greeting, the story of its flag, a map and its key facts.
Then comes the story: the land and its regions, the people, their customs and celebrations, the kitchen with dishes by their local names, and the famous landmarks. The third page is the soul of the country: what it gave the world, an ordinary day in the life of its people, surprises few people know, a book, a song and a film to understand it, a proverb in its own language, and five dates that made it. Every card closes with a page of its most beautiful views.
01The opener
- A large photograph to open the door
- The name in its own language, and how to say it
- A greeting in a word
- The story of the flag, and a map
- Its size compared with Jordan
02The story
- A scene or a tale to begin
- The land and its regions
- The people and their celebrations
- The kitchen and its dishes by name
03The soul
- The best known landmarks
- A book, a song and a film
- What it gave the world
- Surprises and a proverb
- Five dates that made it
04The photographs
- Five of its most beautiful views
- Nature, buildings and daily life
- Every photo licensed and credited
Seven chapters
- 01Asia48 countries
- 02Europe45 countries
- 03Africa54 countries
- 04North America23 countries
- 05South America12 countries
- 06Oceania14 countries
- 07AntarcticaNo countries
The world in numbers
- Surface area
- 510 million km²
- 29% land, 71% water
- Circumference at the equator
- 40,075 km
- Age
- about 4.54 billion years
- US Geological Survey estimate
- Highest point
- 8,849 m
- Mount Everest, joint China and Nepal survey, 2020
- Deepest point
- about 10,935 m
- Challenger Deep in the Mariana Trench, below the Pacific
- Lowest land
- about 440 m below sea level
- the Dead Sea shore, dropping by about a metre a year
- Largest ocean
- about 165 million km²
- the Pacific, larger than all the land put together
- Largest hot desert
- about 9.2 million km²
- the Sahara, across North Africa
- Longest river
- about 6,650 km
- the Nile, though the Amazon rivals it depending on how rivers are measured
- Living languages
- more than 7,000
- according to Ethnologue, 2025
The Edges of the Earth
The highest peaks and the deepest waters, the mightiest rivers and the driest deserts, and the capitals that live at the edges of the map. Every record here belongs to a country, and the page number beside its name takes you there.
Peaks and depths
- Highest mountainEverest8,848.86 m
- Highest volcanoOjos del Saladonearly 6,900 m
- Lowest land on EarthThe shores of the Dead Seaabout 440 m below sea level
- Deepest point in the oceanChallenger Deep10,935 m
- Deepest lakeLake Baikal1,642 m
- Deepest riverThe Congoabout 220 m
- Lowest countryMaldiveshighest natural point 2.4 m
- Highest lowest pointLesotho1,400 m
Water
- Longest riverThe Nile or the AmazonNile 6,650 km, Amazon 6,400 km
- Largest river by flowThe Amazonabout 209,000 m³ a second
- Largest lakeCaspian Sea371,000 km²
- Highest waterfallAngel Falls979 m
- Largest sheet of falling waterVictoria Falls1,708 m wide, 108 m high
- Widest waterfallKhone Phapheng Fallsabout 10.8 km
- Highest tidesBay of Fundyup to about 16 m
Land and life
- Largest islandGreenland2,166,086 km²
- Largest hot desertSaharaabout 9.2 million km²
- Driest non-polar desertAtacama Desertabout 15 mm of rain a year
- Largest salt flatSalar de Uyuni10,582 km²
- Largest tropical rainforestAmazon rainforestabout 5.5 million km²
- Largest coral reef systemGreat Barrier Reefmore than 2,300 km long
- Largest deltaGanges deltaabout 105,000 km²
- Largest cave passageSon Doong Cave200 m high, 150 m wide
Borders and maps
- Most land neighboursChina and Russia14 each
- Longest coastlineCanada202,080 km
- Longest border between two countriesCanada and the United States8,891 km
- Landlocked countriesKazakhstanthe largest of 45 with no coast
- Doubly landlockedLiechtenstein and Uzbekistanonly two
- Countries inside one countryLesotho, San Marino, Vatican Citythree, Lesotho the largest
- Largest archipelagic countryIndonesia17,024 named islands
Capitals and clocks
- Highest capitalLa Paz, seat of governmentabout 3,640 m
- Lowest capitalBaku28 m below sea level
- Northernmost capitalReykjavík64°08′ N
- Southernmost capitalWellington41°17′ S
- Most time zonesFrance12
- Largest country on one clockChinaone zone in place of five
- Youngest countrySouth Sudan9 July 2011
- Oldest national flag still in useThe flag of Denmarkmore than six centuries
The New Seven Wonders of the World
- PetraMa'an Governorate, Jordan
- Great Wall of ChinaNorthern frontier, China
- Taj MahalAgra, India
- Machu PicchuCusco Region, Peru
- Chichén ItzáYucatán, Mexico
- ColosseumRome, Italy
- Christ the RedeemerRio de Janeiro, Brazil
The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World
- Great Pyramid of GizaGiza, Egypt
- Hanging Gardens of BabylonBabylon, Iraq
- Statue of Zeus at OlympiaOlympia, Greece
- Temple of Artemis at EphesusEphesus, Turkey
- Mausoleum at HalicarnassusHalicarnassus, today Bodrum, Turkey
- Colossus of RhodesRhodes, Greece
- Lighthouse of AlexandriaPharos island, Alexandria, Egypt
03How it was made
Everything was written from published references and checked against its sources, which are printed at the back.
Figures: the latest estimates available at the time of publication, each printed with its year.
Photographs: 2,261 images from Wikimedia Commons, Flickr, Unsplash, Pexels and NASA, all under licenses that allow printing. Each photographer and license is listed in the picture credits at the back of the book.
Maps: drawn from Natural Earth data, in the public domain. The maps are illustrative, and show Palestine within its historical borders.
Every number in this book comes from a trusted source, with its year printed beside it, because the world changes every day. Every photograph is licensed for print and credited to its author at the back of the book.
04Two languages
The book exists in two languages, Arabic and English, because it is meant for readers everywhere.
There is no need to read it from cover to cover. Open it at any page, and travel.
Faris Hamdan
A book for the whole family, and for anyone who wants to know the world.