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Geography 87
Chapter 9 & 10 Vocabulary
Term | Definition |
---|---|
Conquistador | Name for the Spanish explorers who claimed the land in the Americas for Spain |
Cultural Convergence | The contact and interaction of one culture with another |
Caudillo | A Latin American military dictator |
Pampas | A grasslands region in Argentina and Uruguay |
Cay | A small, low island or coral reef |
Coral | The rocklike skeletons of tiny sea animals |
Tropical Storm | A storm with winds of at least 39 miles (63 km) per hour |
Hurricane | A destructive tropical storm that forms over the Atlantic Ocean, usually in late summer and early fall, with winds of at least 74 miles (119 km) per hour |
El NiƱo | A warm ocean current off South America's northwestern coast that influences global weather patterns |
Canopy | The uppermost layer of a forest where tree branches meet |
Mestizo | A person of mixed European and Native American heritage |
Mulatto | A person of mixed African and European ancestry |
Market Economy | An economic system in which decisions about production, price, and other economic factors are determined by the law of supply and demand |
GDP per Capita | The total value of goods and services produced within a country in a year, divided by the country's total population |
Command Economy | An economic system that is controlled by a single central government |
Traditional Economy | An economic system in which families produce goods and services for their own use, with little surplus and exchange of goods; also known as a subsistence economy |
Plateau | An area of high, flat land |
Peninsula | A strip of land that juts out into an ocean |
Irrigation | The watering of farmland with water drawn from reservoirs or rivers |
Sinkhole | A hole formed when limestone is dissolved, causing the land above to collapse |
Hacienda | A large Spanish-owned estate in the Americas, often run as a farm or a cattle ranch |
Land Redistribution | A policy by which land is taken from those who own large amounts and redistributed to those who have little or none |
Ejido | Farmland owned collectively by members of a rural community |
Subsistence Farming | Farming that provides only enough fro the needs of a family or a village |
Latifundio | A large commercial farm owned by a private individual or a farming company |
Cash Crop | A farm crop grown for sale and profit |
Migrant Worker | A worker who travels from place to place, working where extra help is needed to cultivate or harvest crops |
NAFTA | North American Free Trade Agreement, which phased out trade barriers among the United States, Canada, and Mexico |
Maquiladora | A factory in Mexico, along the United States border, that assembles goods for export |