Term | Definition |
cultural diffusion | the process by which people adopt the practices of their neighbors |
renaissane | the revival of art, literature,and learning that took place in Europe during the fourteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth centuries |
industrial revolution | the shift from human power to machine power |
summit | the highest point of a mountain or similar elevation |
prevailing westerlies | the constant flow of air from west to east in the temperate zones of the earth |
euro | the common currency used by member nations of the european union |
compulsory | required |
fertile | able to produce abundantly |
ore | A rocky material containing a valuable mineral |
tertiary | |
moor | broad, treeless, rolling land, often poorly drained and having patches of marsh and peat bog |
bog | an area of wet, spongy ground |
glen | a narrow valley |
peat | spongy material containing waterlogged and decaying mosses and plants, sometimes dried and used as fuel |
cultural divergence | the restriction of a culture from outside influences |
blight | a plant disease |
fjord | a narrow valley or inlet from the sea, originally carved out by an advancing glacier and filled by melting glacial ice |
geothermal energy | energy produced from the earths intense interior heat |
mixed econemy | a system combining diferent degrees of government regulation |
dialect | a variation of a spoken language that is unique to a region or community |
impressionism | a style of art where painters try to catch visual impressions made by color, light, and shadows |
nationalize | to bring a business under state control |
recession | an extended decline in business activity |
confederation | a system of government in which individual political units keep their sovereignty but give limited power to a central government |
reparation | money paid for war damages |
inflation | a sharp widespread rise in prices |
lignite | a soft brown coal |
dike | an embankment of earth and rock built to hold back water |
polder | an area of low-lying land that has been reclaimed from the sea |
decentralize | to transfer government power to smaller regions |
canton | a political division or state; one of the states in switzerland |
neutral | not taking sides in a war |
perishable good | a product that does not stay fresh for long |
strip mining | the process whereby miners strip away the surface of the earth to lay bare the mineral deposits |
navigable | deep and wide enough to allow the passing of ships |
dry farming | a farming technique that leaves land unplanted every few years in order to gather moisture |
sirocco | |
hub | a central point of concentrated activity and influence |
seismic activity | earthquakes and volcanic eruptions |
subsidence | a geological phenomenon in which the ground in an area sinks |
graben | a long, narrow area that has dropped between two faults |
inhabitable | able to support permenant residents |
tsunami | a huge wave caused primarily by a disturbance beneath the ocean, such as an earthquake or a volcanic eruption |