click below
click below
Normal Size Small Size show me how
Geography 90
Ch. 18-20 Vocabulary
Term | Definition |
---|---|
Domestication | The process of training and breeding animals for use by humans |
Communism | A system of government in which the government controls the means of production, determining what goods will be made, how much workers will be paid, and how much items will cost |
Eurasia | The name some geographers suggest should be used for the landmass of Europe and Asia |
Inland Sea | A sea that is almost completely surrounded by land |
Tundra | A dry treeless plain where temperatures are always cool or cold and only specialized plants can grow |
Taiga | Thinly scattered, coniferous forests found in Europe and Asia |
Steppe | A temperate grassland found in Europe and Asia |
Multiethnic | Composed of many ethnic groups |
Ethnic Group | People who share such things as culture, language, and religion |
Acid Rain | Rain whose high concentration of chemicals, usually from industrial pollution, pollutes water, kills plant and animal life, and eats away at the surface of stone and rock; a form of chemical weathering |
Infant Mortality | The number of children per 1,000 live births who die within the first year |
Maternal Mortality | The number of women who died due to pregnancy and childbirth complications per 100,000 live births |
Life Expectancy | The number of years an individual is expected to live as determined by statistics |
National Identity | A people's sense of what makes them a nation |
Ghetto | A section of a city in which a particular minority group is forced to live |
Holocaust | The execution of 6 million Jews in Nazi concentration camps during World War II |
Velvet Revolution | A revolution without bloodshed, which took place in Czechoslovakia during the late 1980s |
Privatization | The process of selling government-owned industries and businesses to private owners |
Collective Farm | A government-owned farm managed by workers who share the profits from their produce |
Balkanize | To break up into small, mutually hostile political units, as occurred in the Balkans after World War I |
Entrpreneur | A go-getter individual who starts and builds a business |
Multiplier Effect | The effect an investment has in multiplying related jobs throughout the economy |
Annex | To formally incorporate into a country or state the territory of another |
Diversify | To increase the variety of |
Chernozem | A rich topsoil found in the Russian steppes and other mid-latitude grasslands |
Permafrost | A layer of soil just below the earth's surface that stays permanently frozen |
Czar | An emperor of Russia |
Abdicate | To surrender one's office, throne, or authority |
Soviet | In the former Soviet Union, any one of various governing councils |
Command Economy | An economic system that is controlled by a single central government |
Glasnost | A policy of openness introduced in the Soviet Union in the late 1980s |
Perestroika | In the former Soviet Union, a policy of economic restructuring |
Ruble | The currency of Russia |
Black Market | The system of selling goods and services outside of official channels |