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All World Geo Vocab
All World Geography vocabulary learned throughout the year
Term | Definition |
---|---|
Altiplano | Spanish for "high plain" a region in Peru and Bolivia encircled by the Andes peaks |
Archipelago | A group of islands |
Cay | A low bank or reef of coral, rock, or sand |
Canquistador | Spanish term for "conqueror" referring to soldiers who conquered Native Americans in Latin America |
Favela | Poor communities or slums in large cities |
Indigenous | Native to a place |
Isthmus | A narrow strip of land with sea on either side forming a link between two larger area of land |
Llanos | Grasslands of the Northern low latitudes of South America, that are good for farming, because of flooding |
Maquiladoras | Factories where parts made elsewhere are assembled into products. Mostly in Northern Mexico |
Mestizos | People of Native American and European descent |
Migrant worker | Someone who travels from place to place, working where extra help is needed (usually on a farm) |
Pampas | A plain of thick, fertile soil in the Andes that is great for growing crops |
Panama Canal | A man-made feature that cuts across the isthmus of Panama allowing ships to travel through from Atlantic to Pacific Oceans |
Apartheid | South African policy of strict racial segregation and discrimination |
Cataract | A large waterfall; areas of rivers that are broken by waterfalls and rapids |
Desertification | The loss of all vegetation, either naturally or by human intervention |
Drought | A long period of abnormally low rainfall, lasting up to several years |
Erg | A large, relatively flat area or desert covered with windswept sand and little to no vegetation |
Escarpment | A steep cliff that separates two levels of differing vegetations |
Imperialism | A policy by which a country increases its power by gaining control over other areas of the world |
Malnutrition | A disease caused by not having a healthy diet |
Rift Valley | A large split among a mountain system where earthquakes and volcanoes occur |
Sahel | A semiarid region that separates the Sahara Desert from the tropical rain forests |
Souks | Open air markets in North Africa |
Wadi | Dry riverbeds and gullies that hold waters after sudden downpours |
Watershed | An area or region drained by a river or large river system |
Arable | Land used or suitable for growing crops |
Autonomy | The right or condition of self-government |
Bazaar | A marketplace of shopping quarters commonly found throughout SouthWest Asia |
Desalination | The process of removing salt from water |
Embargo | An official ban on trade or other commercial activity with a country |
Partition | The action of state of dividing or being divided into parts |
Minaret | A tall, slender tower typically part of a mosque, with a balcony from which a muezzin calls Muslims to prayer |
Monotheism | The doctrine or belief that there is only one God |
Polytheism | The belief in or worship of more than one God |
Propaganda | Information, especially of a biased or misleading nature, used to promote or publicize a political cause or view point |
Secular | Denoting attitudes, activities, or other things that have no religious or spiritual basis |
Sect | A group of people with somewhat different religious beliefs from those of a larger group to which they belong |
Alluvial Plain | An area of fertile soil deposited by floodwaters |
Aquaculture | The raising and harvesting of fish or another marine life in controlled areas |
Atheism | The belief that there is no God |
Autonomous Region | An area within a country that has been given a limited degree of independence to govern itself |
Boycott | Refusing to buy or use certain goods |
Dynasty | Line of rulers from a single family |
Ecotourism | Touring natural environments such as rain, forests, and coral reefs |
Floating Markets | Found on rivers throughout South, Southeast, and East Asia; merchants connect their and customers shop by visiting individual boats |
Green Revolution | Using irrigation, fertilizers, and high yielding crops to increase crop yields |
Heterogeneous | A lack or similarities among cultures and people; A mixture of many different ethnicities |
Hindi | The dominant language spoken across India |
Homogeneous | Ethnic/culture groups that are similar or the same |
Loess | A fine-grained, yellow-brown silt that is carried by the wind |
Monsoon | The seasonal shift in the direction of prevailing winds of the Indian Ocean |
Pagoda | A many tiered tower; found predominantly where Hinduism and Buddhism are prevalent |
Proliferation | A rapid and often excessive spread or increase of nuclear weapons |
Reincarnation | Rebirth as another living being until overcoming personal weakness and earthy desires |
Subcontinent | A large, distinct landmass that is joined to a continent |
Terraces Fields Farming | Agricultural practice where a hilly section of land is leveled so that it can be used for growing crops |
Tsunami | A huge wave triggered by an earthquake that gets larger as it approaches the coast |
Typhoon | A tropical storm in the region of the Indian or Western Pacific Oceans |
Bolshevik Revolution | A revolution that took place in Russia in 1917 which destroyed the empire and created the USSR |
Chernozem | Rich, black topsoil found in Northern European plain, especially in Russia and the Ukraine |
Coup d'etat | A violent overthrow of the government |
Communsim | An economic system built on the idea that all property should belong to the community or state, not private individuals |
Czar | Ruler of Russia until the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution |
Devolution | When a strong, central government surrenders its powers to more local authorities |
Permafrost | A layer permanently frozen ground that lies beneath the surface soil and rocks |
Steppe | Dry grasslands found primarily in Kazakhstan and Central Asia |
Taiga | Russian term for the vast subarctic forest, mostly evergreens, that covers much of Russia and Siberia |
Yurt | A round tent with a domed roof, covered with heavy, waterproof wool felt or animal skins |
Chancellor | The head of the government in some European countries, such as Germany |
City States | Independent community consisting of a city and the surrounding lands |
Constitutional Monarchy | Type of government with a king or queen as a head of state and parliament as law-making branch |
Ethnic Cleansing | The mass expulsion or killing of members of an unwanted ethnic or religious group in a society |
Maastricht Treaty | An agreement made in 1992 by the countries of the European Union to create a single economic market and the Euro |
Multilingual | Ability to speak two or more languages |
North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) | A military organization created to protest Western Europe from the USSR |
Nordic | An English word for the northern countries of Norway, Finland, Sweden, Denmark, and Iceland |
Polder | A low-lying are from which sea water has been drained to create new farmland |
Renaissance | A 300-year period of renewed interest in classical learning and the arts, beginning in the 1300's |
Slavs | The main people to settle in what is now Russia, Ukraine, and Eastern parts of Central and Southern Europe |
Annexed | To take control of territory |
Bilingual nation | A country wil two official languages |
Continental divide | An imaginary line through the Rocky Mountains which separates two sets of rivers (Eastward and Westward flowing rivers). |
Contiguous | Connected to |
Cordillera | A region of parallel mountain systems |
Maquiladoras | A factory in Mexico run by a foreign company and exporting its products to the country of that company |
North American Free Trade Agreedment (NAFTA) | An agreedment among USA, Canada, and Mexico designed to remove tariff barriers between the three countries |
Provinces | Administrative units that are similar to states |
Separatists | A group of people who want to break away from control by a dominant group |
Aborignial | The first people of Australia. They generally lived a hunter-gatherer lifestyle |
Antarctic Treaty | An agreement signed by 12 countries in 1959 that states that Antarctica should only be used for scientific research and peaceful purposes |
Archipelago | A group of islands clustered together or closely scattered across an area |
Continental Island | An island that lies on a continental shelf and was once connected to a larger continental landmass |
Eucalyptus | An evergreen tree that is native to Australia with stiff, pleasant-smelling leaves |
Ice Sheet | A thick layer of ice and compressed snow that forms a solid crust over and area of land |
Ice Shelf | Is a thick slab of ice that is attached to a coastline but floats on the ocean |
MIRAB (migration, remittances, aid, and bureaucracy) Economies | These island countries are not able to fully support the needs of their own people with their own resources and labor. |
Maori | The first humans to live on the islands of New Zealand and believed to have traveled from Polynesian islands between 800 A.D. and 1300 A.D. |
Outback | Rural and isolated parts of the Central Lowlands |
Wayfinding | A method of navigation that relies on careful observation of the natural world. For many thousands of years, humans have charted courses across the open ocean by watching the sun, the stars, and the movement of ocean currents |