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Vocab Unit 1-3
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Absolute Location | The exact location of a place on the Earth's surface. |
| Aquifer | Underground water bearing layers of porous rock, sand, or gravel. |
| Atmosphere | Thin layer of gases that surrounds the Earth. |
| Aztec | Indigenous group; conquered other groups before Spanish came 1519. |
| Biosphere | The part of the Earth where life exists. |
| Brain Drain | The loss of highly educated and skilled workers to other countries. |
| Canadian Shield | Extensive region making up much of northern and central Canada underlain by Precambrian rocks that have been eroded. |
| Climate | Weather patterns typical for an area over a long period of time. |
| Colombian Exchange | Widespread transfer of plants, animals, culture, human populations, technological, diseases, and ideas. |
| Command Economy | A system of resource management in which decisions about production and distribution of goods and services are made by central authority. |
| Coniferous | Referring to vegetation having cones and needle shaped leaves, including many evergreens, that keep their foliage throughout the winter. |
| Continental Shelf | Part of a continent that extends underneath the ocean. |
| Cottage Industry | A business that employs workers in their homes. |
| Culture Hearth | A center where cultures developed and from which ideas and traditions spread outward. |
| Deciduous | Falling off/shed seasonally/periodically; trees such as oak and maples which lose their leaves in autumn. |
| Demographic Transition Model | The model that uses birthrates and death rates to show how populations in countries/regions change over time. |
| Desalination | The removal of salt from seawater to make it usable for drinking and farming. |
| Desert | Warm climate; less than 10 inches dry air. |
| Divide | A high point/ridge that determines the direction rivers flow. |
| Dominion | A partially self-governing country w/ close ties to another country; a largely self-governing country w/in the British Empire. |
| Elevation | The height of a land surface above the level of the sea. |
| Emigrate | To leave one's own country to settle permanently in another. |
| Equinox | One of two days (about Mar. 21 & Sept. 23) on which the sun is directly above the Equator, making day and night = in length. |
| Erosion | The movement of weathered rock and material by wind, water, and glaciers; the weathering away of soil. |
| Federal System | Form of gov't. and state/provincial gov't. |
| Formal Region | A region defined by a common characteristic, such as production of a product. |
| Free Enterprise | A system in which private individuals/groups have the right to own property/businesses and make a profit w/ limited gov't. |
| Free Trade Zone | An area of a country in which trade restrictions do not apply. |
| Functional Region | A central place and the surrounding territory linked to it. |
| Globalization | The expansion of economic, political, and cultural processes to the point that they become global in scale and impact. |
| Great Circle Route | An imaginary line that follows the curve of the Earth and represents the shortest distance between two points. |
| Great Plains | In the middle of US; prairies, steppes, and grasslands. |
| Greenhouse | The capacity of certain gases i the atmosphere to trap heat, thereby warming the Earth. |
| Gross Domestic Product | The value of goods and services produced w/in a country in a yr. |
| Hydroelectricity | Electrical energy generated by failing water. |
| Hydrosphere | The watery areas of the Earth, including oceans, lakes, rivers, and other bodies of water. |
| Inuit | A member of the Arctic native peoples of North Americ;a; once known as Eskimo. |
| Isthmus | A narrow strip of land connecting two larger land areas. |
| Leeward | Being in/facing the direction toward which the wind is blowing. |
| Lithosphere | Uppermost layer of the Earth that includes the crust, continents, and ocean basins. |
| Llanos | Fertile grasslands found in inland areas of Colombia and Venezuela. |
| Loyalists | An America colonist who remained loyal to the British gov't. |
| Map Projection | A mathematical formula used to represent the curved surface of the Earth on the flat surface of a map. |
| Maquiladora | In Mexico, a manufacturing plant owned by a foreign; a manufacturing plant owned by a foreign company. |
| Maya | Indigenous group builds stone buildings. |
| Mestizo | Refers to people of mixed indigenous and European descent. |
| Migration | The movement of people from place to place. |
| Mixed Economy | A system of resource management in which the gov't. supports and regulates enterprise through decisions that affect the marketplace. |
| Monarchy | A form of autocracy w/ a heredity king/queen exercising supreme power. |
| Pampas | Grassy, treeless plains of southern South America. |
| Patagonia | Sparsely population southern end of South America. |
| Perceptual Region | A region defined by popular feelings and images rather than by objective data. |
| Permafrost | Permanently frozen layer of soil beneath the surface of the ground. |
| Plate Tectonics | The term scientists use to describe the activities of continental drift and magma flow, which create many of Earth's physical features. |
| Population Density | The avg. of people living on a sq. mi./sq. km. of land. |
| Population Pyramid | A diagram that shows the distribution of a population. |
| Rain Shadow Effect | Result of a process by which dry areas develop on the leeward sides of mt. ranges. |
| Relative Location | Location in relation to other places. |
| Relief | The variation in elevation across an area of Earth's land. |
| Ring of Fire | Active volcanoes and earthquakes; tectonic plates colliding. |
| Secondary Economic Activity | Processing raw materials. |
| Separatism | The breaking away of one pt. of a country to create a separate, independent country. |
| Solstice | One of two days (about June 21 & Dec. 22) on which the sun's rays strike directly on the Tropic of Capricorn, marking the beginnings of summer/winter. |
| St. Lawrence Seaway | System of locks, canals, channels, connects Atlantic Oceans, |
| Steppe | Wide, grassy plains of Eurasia; also, similar semi arid grassy areas elsewhere. |
| Subduction | Process by which oceanic plates, often causing mt. to form on land. |
| Suburb | An outlying district of a city; residential. |
| Sunbelt | A mild, climate region in the southern and southwestern portions of the US. |
| Theocracy | System of gov't. in which officials are regarded as divinely inspired. |
| Tierra Caliente | Hot Earth |
| Tierra Fria | Cold Earth |
| Tierra Templada | Temperate Earth |
| Traditional Economy | A system in which tradition and custom control all economic activity; exists in only a few pt.s of the world. |
| Tropical Wet | 80 degrees; abundant biodiversity. |
| Urbanization | The relocation of people from rural areas to urban areas. |
| Vertical Climate Zone | A climate zone that occurs as elevation increases, with its own natural vegetation and crops. |
| Water Cycle | Regular movement of Earth's water from ocean to air to ground and back to the ocean. |
| Weather | Condition of the atmosphere in one place during a short pd. of time. |
| Weathering | Chemical/physical process that break down rocks into smaller pieces. |
| Windward | Being in/facing the direction from which the wind is blowing. |
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