Water

Adriatic Sea

The long Mediterranean arm between Italy and the Balkans

Aegean Sea

The island-strewn sea where Greek civilization was born

Amazon River

The greatest river on Earth by volume, draining half a continent

Amur River

The border river of the Russian Far East and Manchuria

Angel Falls

The world's tallest waterfall, plunging nearly a kilometre from a Venezuelan tepui

Arabian Sea

The monsoon-driven sea linking Arabia, Africa, and India

Aral Sea

An endorheic saline lake that all but vanished within a lifetime

Arctic Ocean

The smallest and shallowest ocean, capped by sea ice

Atlantic Ocean

The world's second-largest ocean and great highway of history

Baltic Sea

Northern Europe's brackish, ice-fringed inland sea

Bay of Bengal

The world's largest bay and cradle of the deadliest cyclones

Bering Sea

The cold, fish-rich gateway between Asia and the Americas

Black Sea

A vast, near-landlocked sea with a lifeless deep

Brahmaputra

The mighty trans-Himalayan river, partner of the Ganges

Caribbean Sea

The tropical sea of pirates, coral, and a thousand islands

Caspian Sea

The world's largest enclosed body of water, a salty inland sea fed by the Volga

Colorado River

Carver of the Grand Canyon, hardest-working river of the American West

Congo River

The deepest river on Earth, draining the heart of Africa

Coral Sea

The South Pacific sea that holds the Great Barrier Reef

Danube

Europe's second river, flowing through ten countries

Dead Sea

A hypersaline lake at the lowest point on Earth's land surface

Euphrates

The longer river of Mesopotamia, cradle of cities

Ganges

India's sacred river, holiest waters of Hinduism

Great Barrier Reef

The largest living structure on Earth, a 2,300-kilometre coral system off Australia

Great Bear Lake

The largest lake lying entirely within Canada

Guanabara Bay (Harbor of Rio de Janeiro)

The granite-ringed bay that gave Rio de Janeiro its name and its setting

Gulf of Mexico

North America's great basin of oil, hurricanes, and shrimp

Gullfoss

Iceland's thundering Golden Falls, plunging in two stages into a rugged canyon

Iguazu Falls

A vast chain of hundreds of waterfalls on the Argentina-Brazil border

Indian Ocean

The world's third-largest and warmest ocean

Indus River

Cradle of an ancient civilization, lifeline of Pakistan

Kaieteur Falls

The world's most powerful single-drop waterfall, deep in the rainforest of Guyana

Lake Baikal

The world's deepest, oldest, and most voluminous lake

Lake Balkhash

The Central Asian lake that is half fresh and half salt

Lake Eyre

Australia's largest lake, a salt pan that floods only rarely

Lake Geneva

The great crescent lake of the Alps, shared by Switzerland and France

Lake Huron

The Great Lake of Georgian Bay and the world's largest freshwater island

Lake Ladoga

The largest lake in Europe, beside Saint Petersburg

Lake Malawi

The African rift lake with more fish species than any other

Lake Michigan

The largest lake lying entirely within one country

Lake Nicaragua

The largest lake in Central America, home to freshwater sharks

Lake Superior

The largest freshwater lake on Earth by surface area

Lake Tanganyika

The world's longest freshwater lake and second deepest

Lake Titicaca

The highest navigable lake in the world, high in the Andes

Lake Victoria

Africa's largest lake and a source of the Nile

Lena River

The great river of eastern Siberia, frozen highway to the Arctic

Loch Ness

Scotland's deep, dark loch and home of a legend

Mediterranean Sea

The cradle sea of Western civilization, locked between three continents

Mekong River

Southeast Asia's lifeline, from the Tibetan Plateau to the sea

Mesoamerican Barrier Reef

The largest reef in the Americas, arcing along four Caribbean nations

Mississippi River

North America's great central artery, from Minnesota to the Gulf

Murray River

Australia's longest river, lifeline of a parched continent

Niagara Falls

Thundering falls on the US-Canada border, famed for sheer volume rather than height

Niger River

West Africa's great river, looping through the desert's edge

Nile

The world's longest river, lifeblood of ancient Egypt

North Sea

Europe's stormy shelf sea of fishermen and oil rigs

Pacific Ocean

Earth's largest and deepest ocean

Parana River

South America's second river, the heart of the Rio de la Plata basin

Persian Gulf

The shallow, oil-laden sea at the heart of the Middle East

Red Sea

A young ocean in the making, splitting Africa from Arabia

Red Sea Coral Reef

Heat-resistant reefs lining 2,000 kilometres of one of the world's warmest seas

Rhine

The Rhine, Europe's busiest waterway from the Alps to the sea

Sea of Japan

A deep marginal sea cradled between Asia and the Japanese archipelago

South China Sea

Asia's contested crossroads of shipping and reefs

Southern Ocean

The youngest-named ocean, encircling Antarctica

Sutherland Falls

New Zealand's tallest waterfall, a three-tiered cascade from a glacial lake in Fiordland

Tasman Sea

The stormy stretch of ocean dividing Australia and New Zealand

The Asia–Europe Route via Suez

The main artery between Asian factories and European ports, through Malacca, the Red Sea, and the Suez Canal

The Bab-el-Mandeb

The Gate of Grief between Yemen and the Horn of Africa, southern door of the Red Sea and the Suez route

The Bering Strait

The 82-kilometer gap between Russia and Alaska, where Asia meets America and today faces tomorrow

The Bosphorus

The strait that splits Istanbul between Europe and Asia and is the Black Sea's only door to the oceans

The Cape of Good Hope Route

The long way around Africa between Asia and Europe, revived by the Red Sea crisis and the 2026 Iran war

The Corinth Canal

The narrow, sheer-walled cut across the Isthmus of Corinth that links the Ionian and Aegean sides of Greece

The Danish Straits

The three channels through the Danish islands that are the Baltic Sea's only sea routes to the North Sea and the Atlantic

The Dardanelles

The narrow Turkish strait between Europe and Asia that links the Sea of Marmara with the Aegean and the Mediterranean

The Drake Passage

The wild 800-kilometer gap between Cape Horn and Antarctica, the roughest crossing on Earth

The English Channel

La Manche to the French — the narrow sea between Britain and France and the world's busiest shipping lane

The Grand Canal of China

The world's longest artificial waterway, linking Beijing with Hangzhou and the Yellow River with the Yangtze

The Kiel Canal

Germany's shortcut across the base of the Jutland Peninsula, linking the North Sea to the Baltic

The Lombok Strait

The deep Indonesian channel between Bali and Lombok that takes supertankers too deep-laden for the Strait of Malacca

The Maritime Silk Road

The monsoon sea lanes from China to India, Arabia, and East Africa, and the name of China's 21st-century port initiative

The Mozambique Channel

The broad arm of the Indian Ocean between Mozambique and Madagascar on the shipping lanes around the Cape of Good Hope

The Northern Sea Route

Russia's Arctic shortcut between Europe and East Asia, open for a few months a year behind nuclear icebreakers

The Northwest Passage

The ice-bound sea route through Canada's Arctic islands, a centuries-old dream and an unresolved legal question

The Panama Canal

The rain-fed staircase of locks that lifts ships across the Isthmus of Panama between the Atlantic and the Pacific

The Silk Road

The overland web of caravan routes that linked China with Central Asia, Persia, and the Mediterranean for some 1,500 years

The Spice Route

The sea trade in pepper, cloves, nutmeg, and cinnamon that drew Europe into Asia and remade the world map

The Strait of Gibraltar

The 14-kilometer gap between Europe and Africa that is the Mediterranean's only natural link to the Atlantic

The Strait of Hormuz

The narrow outlet of the Persian Gulf, through which about a fifth of the world's oil passed in 2025

The Strait of Magellan

The winding channel through Chilean Patagonia that links the Atlantic and the Pacific north of Tierra del Fuego

The Strait of Malacca

The long channel between Sumatra and the Malay Peninsula, the world's busiest oil chokepoint

The Suez Canal

Egypt's sea-level shortcut between the Mediterranean and the Red Sea, still recovering from the Red Sea crisis

The Sunda Strait

The volcanic strait between Java and Sumatra, home of Krakatoa and one of Indonesia's busiest ferry crossings

The Taiwan Strait

The busy, closely watched channel between mainland China and Taiwan

The Trans-Pacific Shipping Lanes

The great-circle sea lanes between East Asia and North America, barometer of U.S.–China trade and tariffs

The Transatlantic Shipping Lanes

The oldest of the great ocean trades, linking Europe's ports with North America across the North Atlantic

Tigris

The swifter river of Mesopotamia, past Baghdad and Mosul

Tugela Falls

A towering tiered cascade in South Africa's Drakensberg, among the tallest on Earth

Victoria Falls

The largest sheet of falling water on Earth, where the Zambezi plunges into a chasm

Volga River

Europe's longest river and the soul of Russia

Yangtze

Asia's longest river, the spine of China

Yellow River

China's muddy mother river, cradle of Chinese civilization

Yenisei

The mightiest river to reach the Arctic, splitting Siberia in two

Zambezi River

Africa's fourth river, master of Victoria Falls