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Our world is a planet where human beings have formed many societies.

Nobody knows whether there are intelligent beings on other worlds. There are about one septillion (1024) worlds in the universe.

Authors sometimes invent new worlds. They use these worlds as the settings for their stories. Some authors invent worlds that have magic.

World literature
World literature is literature that is read by many people all over our world. World literature is different from national literature.

"I am more and more convinced that poetry is the universal possession of mankind, revealing itself everywhere and at all times in hundreds and hundreds of men. . . . I therefore like to look about me in foreign nations, and advise everyone to do the same. National literature is now a rather unmeaning term; the epoch of world literature is at hand. – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, 1827"

Worlds in literature


Creating a different world is a literary device used by authors to illustrate ideas. By placing the story in the setting of a different world, the author can change the way that things happen. For example, the author might imagine a world that has very little water or a world that has very little dry land. Deciding what a world looks like and how the world works is called world-building. Thinking about their world helps the author make good choices about what happens to the characters in the story. Some authors think about many details, such as what languages the characters speak and what the architecture is on the world.

Worlds in science fiction
Science fiction stories often use different worlds. Frank Herbert's famous Dune series focused on a world called Arrakis, which produced a very rare and very important spice.

Often a science-fiction story will involve multiple worlds. The Foundation series by Isaac Asimov was set in a galaxy with thousands of populated worlds. Asimov wrote the first books in the 1950s. In 1982, he published another book, called Foundation's Edge (ISBN 0385177259). The Star Wars movies had a several important worlds, and characters traveled between them. Some authors of science fiction worlds try to make them scrupulously obey the laws of physics.

Fantasy worlds
Fantasy worlds are fictional worlds that use magic. This magic may involve saying magic words, using magical objects, or performing magical rituals.

Languages in the world
The Egyptians used pictures to write their language. The pictures are called hieroglyphics. This is what they look like:

Once upon a time, Greek and Latin were spoken by most traders in the Western world. Before then, traders learned the languages of nearby cities. Ancient traders did not travel around the world.

Some languages are spoken in many parts of the world. These are called world languages. As of 2015, English is the most common world language. Previously, French was the most popular language in the West. Chinese was used by traders in all of East Asia for centuries. Arabic is common in the Middle East, Northern Africa, and other parts of the world.

World health
The World Health Organisation (French: Organisation mondiale de la santé ) is an international organisation for public health. It is part of the United Nations. The World Health Organisation began in 1948. Its goal is for everyone in the world to be healthy and safe. It studies public health and tells governments and other organisations how to help people become healthy.

The organisation counts the number of people with health problems. These health problems include influenza, HIV infection, and depression. It also counts the number of people who have other problems, such as dirty water, hunger, and violence.

Mental health is also important. People with mental health problems such as depression often die ten years early.

The World Bank is also interested in health. Poor health affects the economy of a country.

Poetry
This poem by John Donne mentions the world:

Her death hath taught us dearly that thou art Corrupt and mortal in thy purest part. Let no man say, the world itself being dead, 'Tis labour lost to have discovered The world's infirmities, since there is none Alive to study this dissection; For there's a kind of world remaining still, Though she which did inanimate and fill The world, be gone... The entire poem can be read at Wikisource.

Shape of our world
Our world is not a perfect sphere. It is slightly flattened.

This is the mathematical formula for measuring the flatness of a sphere:

$$\begin{align} f&=\frac{a-b}{a}. \end{align}$$

For our world, $f\,\!$ is approximately 0.3%. The Moon is rounder. For the Moon, $f\,\!$ is approximately 0.1%. Jupiter is flatter. For Jupiter, $f\,\!$ is approximately 6.5%.

Local planets
Our world is a planet. There are several types of planets in our solar system: These are the planets in our solar system:
 * Terrestrial planets
 * Giant planets
 * Gas giants
 * Ice giants
 * Four terrestrial planets
 * Mercury
 * Venus
 * Earth
 * One satellite, called the Moon
 * Mars
 * Two gas giants
 * Jupiter
 * Four large satellites
 * 63 other satellites
 * Saturn
 * 62 satellites. Some are very small.
 * Seven are large. The largest, called Titan, is larger than the planet Mercury.
 * Two ice giants
 * Uranus
 * Five satellites
 * 22 other satellites
 * Neptune
 * One satellite, called Triton