click below
click below
Normal Size Small Size show me how
Chapter 15
North Africa
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Oasis | A fertile place in a dry desert area. |
| Irrigation | The process of redirecting water to crops through channels and ditches. |
| Nonrenewable | Cannot reproduce quickly enough to keep up with its use. |
| Petroleum | Raw materials used to produce oil. |
| Desertification | A gradual transformation from fertile to less productive land. |
| Silt | Fine particles of soil deposited along river banks. |
| Qanat | A human-made underground tunnel on the Iranian plateau, used for carrying water from the mountains. |
| Alluvial Plain | Flat area of land next to a stream of river that floods. |
| Arid | Very dry, having almost no rainfall. |
| Fault | Fractures in the earth's crust. |
| Cultural hearth | Center of civilization from which ideas and technology spread. |
| City-state | An independent state made up of a city and the territories depending on it. |
| Diffusion | Spreading out. |
| Cuneiform | The earliest known form of writing, from Sumeria. |
| Religious tolerance | The acceptance of difference religions to be practiced at the same time, without prejudice. |
| Monotheistic | Related to a religious belief in one god or deity. |
| Messiah | A leader or savior. |
| Agricultural revolution | A period in which humans began to grow crops instead of gathering plants. |
| Adherent | Follower of a religion, cause, or person. |
| Domesticate | To keep and use animals as a source of labor and food. |
| Sultan | A leader or ruler of the Ottoman Empire. |
| Pilgrimage | A religious journey. |
| Sarcophagus | Coffin. |
| Pyramid | A stone monument built as a tomb in ancient Egypt. |
| Hydroelectric power | A source of energy that uses flowing water to produce electricity. |
| Hieroglyphics | An ancient system of writing that uses pictures and symbols. |
| Dynasty | A series of rulers in the same family. |
| Tomb | A burial place. |
| Pharaoh | A king in Egypt. |
| Deity | A god or goddess. |
| Papyrus | A paper-like material invented in ancient Egypt. |
| Floodplain | The low-lying land nest to rivers, formed by sediment left by flooding. |