CFC 9th Grade Geography Vocabulary
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| Aboriginal people | people who migrated to Australia from Asia at least 40,000 years ago; the original settlers of the land. (p. 718)
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| absolute location | the exact place on earth where a geographic feature is found. (p. 6)
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| acculturation | the cultural change that occurs when individuals in a society accept or adopt an innovatio
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| acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) | a disease caused by the human immuno–deficiency virus, or HIV. (p. 465)
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| Aksum | an important trading capital from the first to the eighth centuries A.D. in what is now Ethiopia; it flourished due to its location near the Red Sea and the Indian Ocea
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| alluvial plain | land that is rich farmland, composed of clay, silt, sand, or gravel deposited by running water. (p. 553)
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| Amazon River | the second longest river in the world, and one of South America's three major river systems, running about 4,000 miles from west to east, and emptying into the Atlantic Ocea
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| Andes Mountains | a large system of mountain ranges located along the Pacific coast of Central and South America. (p. 201)
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| anti-Semitism | discrimination against Jewish people. (p. 315)
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| apartheid (uh•PAHRT•hyt) | a policy of complete separation of the races, instituted by the white minority government of South Africa in 1948. (p. 454)
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| Appalachian Mountains | one of two major mountain chains in the eastern United States and Canada, extending 1,600 miles from Newfoundland south to Alabama. (p. 119)
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| aqueduct | a structure that carries water over long distances. (p. 292)
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| aquifer | an underground layer of rock that stores water. (p. 421)
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| archipelago | a set of closely grouped islands. (pp. 553, 689)
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| ASEAN | the Association of Southeast Asian Nations,an alliance that promotes economic growth and peace in the regio
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| Ashanti | a people who live in what is now Ghana,in West Africa, and who are known for their artful weaving of colorful asasia, or kente cloth. (p. 444)
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| assimilation | a process whereby a minority group gradually gives up its own culture and adopts the culture of a majority group. (p. 728)
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| assimilation | a process whereby a minority group gradually gives up its own culture and adopts the culture of a majority group. (p. 728)
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| Aswan High Dam | a dam on the Nile River in Egypt, completed in 1970, which increased Egypt's farmable land by 50 percent and protected it from droughts and floods. (p. 426)
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| Atlantic Provinces | the provinces in Eastern Canada–Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland. (p. 166)
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| atmosphere | the layers of gases immediately surrounding the earth. (p. 28)
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| atoll | a ringlike coral island or string of small islands surrounding a lagoo
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| balkanization | the process of breaking up a region into small, mutually hostile units. (p. 311)
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| Baltic Republics | the countries of Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia, located on the eastern coast of the Baltic Sea. (p. 361)
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| Bantu migration | the movement of the Bantu peoples southward throughout Africa, spreading their language and culture, from around 500 B.C. to around A.D. 1000. (p. 448)
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| basic necessity | food, clothing, and shelter.(p. 593)
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| Benelux | the economic union of Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg. (p. 296)
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| Beringia | a land bridge thought to have connected what are now Siberia and Alaska. (p. 127)
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| Berlin Conference | a conference of 14 European nations held in 1884–1885 in Berlin, Germany, to establish rules for political control of Africa. (p. 432)
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| Berlin Wall | a wall erected by East Germany in 1961 to cut the capital of Berlin in two, and later dismantled in 1989. (p. 298)
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| Bikini Atoll | the isolated reef, located in the Marshall Islands of the central Pacific, that was the site of U.S. nuclear bomb tests, consequently contaminating the atoll with high levels of radiation and driving its inhabitants away. (p. 700)
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| biodiversity | the variety of organisms within an ecosystem. (p. 245)
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| biological weapon | a bacterium or virus that can be used to harm or kill people, animals, or plants. (p. 175)
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| biome | a regional ecosystem. (p. 65)(p. 133)
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| biosphere | all the parts of the earth where plants and animals live, including the atmosphere, the lithosphere, and the hydrosphere. (p. 28)
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| birthrate | the number of live births per total population, often expressed per thousand populatio
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| blizzard | a heavy snowstorm with winds of more than 35 miles per hour and reduced visibility of less than one-quarter mile. (p. 52)
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| Boxer Rebellion | an uprising in China in 1900,spurred by angry Chinese militants, or Boxers, over foreign control; several hundred Europeans, Christians, and Chinese died. (p. 636)
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| British Columbia | Canada's westernmost province, located within the Rocky Mountain range. (p. 169)
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| Buddhism | a religion that originated in India about 500 B.C. and spread to China, where it grew into a major religion by A.D. 400. (p. 638)
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| calypso | a style of music that began in Trinidad and combines musical elements from Africa, Spain, and the Caribbea
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| canopy | the area encompassing the tops of the trees in a rain forest, about 150 feet above ground. (p. 422)
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| Canadian Shield | a northern part of the interior lowlands that is a rocky, flat region covering nearly two million square miles and encircling Hudson Bay. (p. 119)
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| capoeira | a martial art and dance that developed in Brazil from Angolans who were taken there by the Portuguese from Africa. (p. 239)
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| Carnival | the most colorful feast day in Brazil.(p. 239)
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| carrying capacity | the number of organisms; a piece of land can support without negative effects. (p. 82)
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| Carthage | one of the great empires of ancient Africa, situated on a triangular peninsula on the Gulf of Tunis on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea.(p. 438)
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| cartographer | a mapmaker. (p. 10)
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| cash crop | a crop grown for direct sale,and not for use in a region, such as coffee, tea, and sugar in Africa. (p. 433)
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| caste system | the Aryan system of social classes in India and one of the cornerstones of Hinduism in which each person is born into a caste and can only move into a different caste through reincarnatio
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| Caucasus | a region that straddles the Caucasus Mountains and stretches between the Black and Caspian seas. (p. 385)
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| caudillo (kow • DEE • yoh) | a military dictator or political boss. (p. 249)
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| Central Asia | a region that includes the republics of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekista
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| central business district (CBD) | the core of a city, which is almost always based on commercial activity. (p. 89)
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| cerrado (seh • RAH • doh) | a savanna that has flat terrain and moderate rainfall, which make it suitable for farming. (p. 202)
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| Chang Jiang | (or Yangtze River) the longest river in Asia, flowing about 3,900 miles from Xizang (Tibet) to the East China Sea. (p. 621)
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| chaparral | the term, in some locations, for a biome of drought-resistant trees. (p. 66)
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| Chechnya | one of the republics that remains a part of Russia after the collapse of the Soviet Union despite independence movements and violent upheaval. (p. 386)
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| chemical weathering | a process that changes rock into a new substance through interactions among elements in the air or water and the minerals in the rock. (p. 43)
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| chernozem | black topsoil, one of the world's most fertile soils. (p. 345)
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| cholera | a treatable infectious disease that can be fatal and is caused by a lack of adequate sanitation and a clean water supply. (p. 465)
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| city | an area that is the center of business and culture and has a large populatio
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| city-state | an autonomous political unit made up of a city and its surrounding lands.(p. 289)
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| climate | the typical weather conditions at a particular location as observed over time. (p. 50)
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| coalition | an alliance. (p. 174)
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| Cold War | the conflict between the United States and the Soviet Union after World War II, called "cold" because it never escalated into open warfare. (p. 363)
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| collective farm | an enormous farm in the Soviet Union on which a large team of laborers were gathered to work together during Joseph Stalin's reig
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| Columbian Exchange | the movement of plants, animals, and diseases between the Eastern and Western hemispheres during the age of exploratio
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| command economy | a type of economic system in which production of goods and services is determined by a central government, which usually owns the means of productio
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| commodity | an agricultural or mining product that can be sold. (p. 462)
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| communism | a system in which the government holds nearly all political power and the means of productio
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| confederation | a political union . (p. 156)
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| Confucianism | a movement based on he teachings of Confucius, a Chinese philosopher who lived about 500 B.C.;Confucius stressed the importance of education in an ordered society in which one respects one's elders and obeys the government. (p. 638)
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| coniferous | another word for needleleaf trees.(p. 66)
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| constitutional monarchy | a government in which the ruler's powers are limited by a constitution and the laws of a natio
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| continent | a landmass above water on the earth. (p. 27)
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| Continental Divide | the line of the highest points in North America that marks the separation between rivers flowing eastward and westward. (p. 120)
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| continental drift | the hypothesis that all continents were once joined into a supercontinent that split apart overmillions of years. (p. 29)
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| continentality | a region's distance from the moderating influence of the sea. (p. 350)
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| continental shelf | the earth's surface from the edge of a continent to the deep part of the ocean . (p. 36)
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| convection | the transfer of heat in the atmosphere by upward motion of the air. (p. 54)
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| copra | the dried meat of coconuts. (p. 714)
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| core | the earth's center, made up of iron and nickel; the inner core is solid, and the outer core is liquid. (p. 28)
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| crude oil | petroleum that has not been processed. (p. 497)
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| Crusades | a series of wars launched by European Christians in 1096 to capture the Holy Land (Palestine) from Muslims. (p. 291)
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| crust | the thin rock layer making up the earth's surface. (p. 28)
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| cultural crossroad | a place where various cultures cross paths. (p. 310)
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| cultural hearth | the heartland or place of origin of a major culture; a site of innovation from which basic ideas, materials, and technology diffuse to other cultures.(pp. 72, 222)
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| culture | the total of knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors shared by and passed on by members of a group. (p.71)
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| cyclone | a violent storm with fierce winds and heavy rain; the most extreme weather pattern of South Asia. (p. 558)
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| czar | the emperor of Russia prior to the Russian Revolution of 1917 and the subsequent creation of the Soviet Union in 1922. (p. 362)
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| dike | an earthen bank used to direct or prevent the passage of water. (p. 282)
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| Dead Sea | a landlocked salt lake between Israel and Jordan that is so salty that almost nothing can live in its waters; it is 1,349 feet below sea level, making it the lowest place on the exposed crust of the earth.(p. 489)
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| debt-for-nature swap | a debt-reducing deal wherein an organization agrees to pay off a certain amount of government debt in return for government protection of a certain portion of rain forest.(p. 247)
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| deciduous | a named characteristic of broadleaf trees, such as maple, oak, birch, and cottonwood. they change color and drop thier leaves in the fall(p. 66)
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| deforestation | the cutting down and clearing away of trees and forests.(p.246)
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| delta | a fan-like landform made of deposited sediment, left by a river that slows as it enters the ocea
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| democracy | a type of government in which citizens hold political power either directly or through elected representatives. (p. 83)
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| desalinization | the removal of salt from ocean water. (p. 496)
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| desertification | an expansion of dry conditions to moist areas that are next to deserts. (p. 424)
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| dialect | n. a version of a language that reflects changes in speech patterns due to class, region, or cultural changes.(p. 73)
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| dictatorship | a type of government in which an individual or a group holds complete political power. (p.83)
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| diffusion | the spread of ideas, inventions, or patterns of behavior to different societies. (p. 72)
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| distance decay | a term referring to the concept that increasing distances between places tend to reduce interactions among them. (p. 389)
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| diversify | to increase the variety of products in a country's economy; to promote manufacturing and other industries in order to achieve growth and stability. (p. 462)
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| Dome of the Rock | a shrine in Jerusalem, located on the Temple Mount, which houses the spot where Muslims believe Muhammad rose into heaven and where Jews believe Abraham prepared to sacrifice his son Isaac to God. (p. 511)
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| Dominion of Canada | the loose confederation of Ontario (Upper Canada), Quebec (Lower Canada), Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick, created by the British North America Act in 1867. (p. 156)
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| drainage basin | an area drained by a major river and itstributaries. (p.33)
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| drip irrigation | the practice of using small pipes that slowly drip water just above ground to conserve water to use for crops. (p. 496)
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| drought | a long period without rain or with very minimal rainfall. (p. 53)
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| dynasty | a series of rulers from the same family. (p. 635)
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| earthquake | a sometimes violent movement of the earth, produced when tectonic plates grind or slip when past each other at a fault. (p. 39)
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| economic system | the way people produce and exchange goods. (p. 91)
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| economic tiger | a country with rapid economic growth due to cheap labor, high technology, and aggressive exports. (p. 645)
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| economy | the production and exchange of goods and services among a group of people. (p. 91)
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| ecosystem | an interdependent community of plants and animals. (p. 65)
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| El Niño (el NEEN • yoh) | a weather pattern created by the warming of the waters off the west coast of South America, which pushes warm water and heavy rains toward the Americas and produces drought conditions in Australia and Asia.(p. 57)
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| entrepreneur | a person who starts and builds a business. (p. 575)
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| epicenter | the point on the earth's surface that corresponds to the location in the earth where an earthquake begins.(p. 39)
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| equator | the imaginary line that encircles the globe, dividing the earth into northern and southern halves. (p. 6)
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| equinox | each of the two days in a year on which day and night are equal in length; marks the beginning of spring and autumn. (p. 49)
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| erosion | the result of weathering on matter, created by the action of wind, water, ice, or gravity. (p. 43)
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| escarpment | a steep slope with a nearly flat plateau on top. (p. 417)
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| estuary | a broadened seaward end of a river, where the river's currents meet the ocean's tides. (p. 563)
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| ethnic cleansing | the policy of trying to eliminate an ethnic group.(p. 320) n.
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| ethnic group | a group of people who share language, customs, and a common heritage. (p. 71) n.
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| Euphrates River | a river of Southwest Asia, which supported several ancient civilizations and flows through parts of Turkey, Syria, and Iraq and empties into the Persian Gulf. (p. 489) n.
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| Eurasia | the combined continent of Europe and Asia. (p. 346) n.
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| euro | a common currency proposed by the European Union for its member nations. (p. 305) n.
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| European Environmental Agency | an agency that provides the European Union with reliable information about the environment. (p. 324) n.
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| Everglades | a large subtropical swampland in Florida of about 4,000 square miles. (p. 126) n.
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| export | a product or good that is sold from one economy to another. (p. 140)
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| Fang sculpture | carved boxes containing the skulls and bones of deceased ancestors, created by the Fang, who live in Gabon, southern Cameroon, and Equatorial Guinea. (p. 451)
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| fault | a fracture in the earth's crust.(p. 39)
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| folk art | handmade items, such as pottery, woodcarving, and traditional costumes, produced by rural people with traditional lifestyles, instead of by professional artists. (p. 314)
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| federal republic | a nation whose powers are divided among the federal, or national, government and various state and local governments. (p. 139)
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| feudalism | a political system prevailing in Europe from about the 9th to about the 15th centuries in which a king allowed nobles the use of his land in exchange for their military service and their protection of the land. (p. 297)
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| fertility rate | the average number of children a woman of childbearing years would have in her lifetime, if she had children at the current rate for her country. (p. 78)
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| First Nations | a group of Canada's Native American people. (p. 159)
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| fjord (fyawrd) | a long, narrow, deep inlet of the sea between steep slopes.(p. 273)
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| fossil water | water pumped from underground aquifers. (p. 496)
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| free enterprise | an economic system in which private individuals own most of the resources, technology, and businesses, and can operate them for profit with little control from the government. (p. 140)
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| Ganges River | river in South Asia; an important water resource flowing more than 1,500 miles from its source in a Himalayan glacier to the Bay of Bengal.(p. 560)
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| frontier | the free, open land in the American West that was available for settlement.(p. 137)
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| Gaza Strip | a territory along the Mediterranean Sea just northeast of the Sinai Peninsula; part of the land set aside for Palestinians, which was occupied by Israel in 1967. (p. 527)
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| Geographic Information System (GIS) | technology that uses digital map information to create a databank; different "data layers" can be combined to produce specialized maps. GIS allows geographers to analyze different aspects of a specific place to solve problems. (p. 13)
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| geography | the study of the distribution and interaction of physical and human features on the earth. (p.5)
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| glaciation | the changing of landforms by slowly moving glaciers. (p. 44)
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| glacier | a large, long-lasting mass of ice that moves because of gravity. (p.44)
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| global economy | the merging of regional economies in which nations become dependent on each other for goods and services. (p. 666)
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| global network | a worldwide interconnected group. (p. 173)
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| global warming | the buildup of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, preventing heat from escaping into space and causing rising temperatures and shifting weather patterns. (p. 246)
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| globe | a three-dimensional representation of the earth. (p. 10)
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| Gobi Desert | a desert located in northern China and southeast Mongolia, and a prime area for finding dinosaur fossils. (p.627)
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| Golan Heights | a hilly plateau overlooking the Jordan River and the Sea of Galilee; a strategic location that has been the site of conflict in Southwest Asia for decades.(p. 487)
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| Gorée Island | an island off the coast of Senegal that served as a major departure point for slaves during the slave trade.(p. 442)
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| Great Barrier Reef | a 1,250-mile chain of more than 2,500 reefs and islands along Australia's northeast coast, containing some 400 species of coral. (p. 692)
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| Great Game | a struggle between the British Empire and the Russian Empire for control of Central Asia in the 19th century. (p. 376)
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| Great Kanto Earthquake | an earthquake in 1923 in Japan that killed an estimated 140,000 people and left the city of Tokyo in ruins. (p. 662)
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| Great Lakes | a group of five freshwater lakes of central North America between the United States and Canada; the lakes are Huron,Ontario, Michigan, Erie, and Superior.(p. 121)
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| Great Plains | a vast grassland of central North America that is largely treeless and ascends to 4,000 feet above sea level.(p. 119)
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| Great Zimbabwe | a city established in what is now Zimbabwe by the Shona around 1000; it became the capital of a thriving gold-trading area. (p. 453)
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| greenhouse effect | the layer of gases released by the burning of coal and petroleum that traps solar energy, causing global temperature to increase. (p. 58)
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| Green Revolution | an agricultural program launched by scientists in the 1960s to develop higher-yielding grain varieties and improve food production by incorporating new farming techniques. (p. 569)
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| Gross Domestic Product (GDP) | the value of only goods and services produced within a country in a period of time. (p. 95)
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| Gross National Product (GNP) | the total value of all goon.ds and services produced by a country in a period of time.(p. 94)
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| ground water | the water held under the earth's surface, often in and around the pores of rock. (p. 33)
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| guest worker | a largely unskilled laborer, often an immigrant from South and East Asia, brought in to the oil-booming countries to fill job openings that the region's native peoples find culturally or economically unacceptable. (p. 525) n.
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| hemisphere | each half of the globe. (p. 6)
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| high islands | Pacific islands created by volcanoes. (p. 691)
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| Himalaya Mountains | a mountain range in South Asia that includes Mount Everest, the world's tallest mountain peak. (p. 551)
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| Hinduism | the dominant religion of India.(p. 560)
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| Holocaust | the Nazi program of mass murder of European Jews during World War II. (p. 298)
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| Huang He (hwahng huh) | a river in northern China, also called the Yellow River, that starts in the Kunlun Mountains and winds east for about 3,000 miles, emptying into the Yellow Sea. (p. 621)
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| human resources | the skills and talents of employed people. (p. 531)
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| humus | organic material in soil. (p. 45) hurricane
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| hydrologic cycle | the continuous circulation of water among the atmosphere, the oceans, and the earth. (p. 32)
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| hydrosphere | the waters comprising the earth's surface, including oceans, seas, rivers, lakes, and vapor in the atmosphere.(p. 28)
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| Ijsselmeer (EYE • suhl • mair) | a freshwater lake separated from the North Sea by a dike and bordered by polders. (p. 283)
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| illiteracy | the inability to read or write.(p. 593)
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| Inca | a member of the Quechen peoples of South America who built a civilization in the Andes Mountains in the 15th and 16th centuries. (p. 230)
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| Indochina | a French colony comprised of Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam; it won independence from France in 1954. (p. 707)
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| industrialization | the growth of industry in a country or a society. (p.730)
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| Indus Valley civilization | the largest of the world's first civilizations in what is now Pakistan; this was a highly developed urban civilization, lasting from 2500 B.C. to about 1500 B.C (p. 573)
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| infant mortality rate | the number of deaths among infants under age one as measured per thousand live births. (p. 79)
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| infrastructure | the basic support systems needed to keep an economy going, including power, communications, transportation, water, sanitation, and education systems.(pp. 94, 177, 212)
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| innovation | taking existing elements of society and creating something new to meet a need. (p. 72)
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| Institutional Revolutionary Party(PRI) | the political party introduced in 1929 in Mexico that helped to introduce democracy and maintain political stability for much of the 20th century. (p. 218)
🗑
|
||||
| Islam | a monotheistic religion based on the teachings of the prophet Muhammad, and the biggest cultural and religious influence in North Africa. (pp. 439, 503)
🗑
|
||||
| Jakota Triangle | a zone of prosperity during the 1980s and early 1990s--Japan, South Korea, and Taiwa
🗑
|
||||
| Jordan River | a river that serves as a natural boundary between Israel and Jordan, flowing from the mountains of Lebanon with no outlet to the Mediterranean Sea. (p. 489)
🗑
|
||||
| junta (HOON • tah) | a government run by generals after amilitary takeover.(p. 249)
🗑
|
||||
| Kashmir | a region of northern India and Pakistan over which several destructive wars have been fought. (p. 574)
🗑
|
||||
| Khmer Empire | a powerful empire that lasted roughly from the 9th to the 15th centuries in what is now Cambodia. (p. 706)
🗑
|
||||
| King Leopold II | the Belgian king who opened up the African interior to European trade along the Congo River and by 1884 controlled the area known as the Congo Free State. (p. 449)
🗑
|
||||
| KLA (Kosovo Liberation Army) | a group that fought against Serbian attempts to control the region of Kosovo in the 1990s. (p. 321)
🗑
|
||||
| Kunlun Mountains | mountains located in the west of China that are the source of two of China's great rivers, the Huang He (Yellow) and the Chang Jiang (Yangtze). (p. 619)
🗑
|
||||
| Kurds | an ethnic group in Southwestern Asia that has occupied Kurdistan, located in Turkey, Iraq, and Iran, for about a thousand years, and who have been involved in clashes with these three countries over land claims for most of the 20th century. (p. 516)
🗑
|
||||
| landfill | a method of solid waste disposal in which refuse is buried between layers of dirt in order to fill in or reclaim low-lying ground.(p. 631)
🗑
|
||||
| landform | a naturally formed feature on the surface of the earth. (p. 33)
🗑
|
||||
| landlocked | having no outlet to the sea.(p. 84)
🗑
|
||||
| land reform | the process of breaking up large landholdings to attain a more balanced land distribution among farmers.(pp. 250, 569)
🗑
|
||||
| Land Rights Act of 1976 | a special law passed for Aboriginal rights in Australia giving Aboriginal people the right to claim land in the Northern Territory. (p. 728)
🗑
|
||||
| Landsat | a series of satellites that orbit more than 100 miles above the earth. Each satellite picks up data in an area 115 miles wide. (p. 12)
🗑
|
||||
| latitude (lines) | a set of imaginary lines that run parallel to the equator, and that are used in locating places north or south. The equator is labeled the zero-degree line for latitude. (p. 6)
🗑
|
||||
| lava | magma that has reached the earth's surface. (p. 40)
🗑
|
||||
| lithosphere | the solid rock portion of the earth's surface. (p. 28)
🗑
|
||||
| llanos (LAH • nohs) | a large, grassy, treeless area in South America, used for grazing and farming. (p. 202)
🗑
|
||||
| lock | a section of a waterway with closed gates where waterlevels are raised or lowered, through which ships pass.(p. 129)
🗑
|
||||
| loess (LOH • uhs) | wind-blown silt and clay sediment thatproduces very fertile soil.(p. 44)
🗑
|
||||
| longitude (lines) | a set of imaginary lines that go around the earth over the poles, dividing it east and west. The prime meridian is labeled the zero-degree line for longitude.(p. 6)
🗑
|
||||
| Louisiana Purchase | the territory, including the region between the Mississippi River and the Rocky Mountains, that the United States purchased from France in 1803.(p. 136)
🗑
|
||||
| low islands | Pacific islands made of coral reefs. (p. 691)
🗑
|
||||
| Mabo Case | in Australia, the law case that upheld Aboriginal Eddie Mabo's land claim by which the Court recognized that Aboriginal people had owned land before the British arrived. (p. 728)
🗑
|
||||
| Mackenzie River | Canada's longest river, which is part of a river system that flows across the Northwest Territories to the Arctic Ocea
🗑
|
||||
| magma | the molten rock material formed when solid rock in the earth's mantle or crust melts. (p. 28)
🗑
|
||||
| malaria | an infectious disease of the red blood cells, carried by mosquitoes, that is characterized by chills, fever, and sweating.(p. 466)
🗑
|
||||
| mandala | in Tibetan Buddhism, a geometric design that symbolizes the universe and aids in meditatio
🗑
|
||||
| mandala | a state organized as a ring of power around a central court, which often changed in size over time, and which was used instead of borders in early Southeast Asian states. (p. 705)
🗑
|
||||
| mantle | a rock layer about 1,800 miles thick that is between the earth's crust and the earth's core. (p. 28)
🗑
|
||||
| Maori | the first settlers of New Zealand, who had migrated from Polynesia more than 1,000 years ago. (p. 719)
🗑
|
||||
| Mao Zedong | the leader of the Communists in China who defeated the nationalists in 1949; he died in 1976. (p. 636)
🗑
|
||||
| map projection | a way of mapping the earth's surface that reduces distortion caused by converting three dimensions into two dimensions. (p. 10)
🗑
|
||||
| map | a two-dimensional graphic representation of selected parts of the earth's surface. (p. 10)
🗑
|
||||
| maquiladora | a factory in Mexico that assembles imported materials into finished goods for export. (p. 220)
🗑
|
||||
| market economy | a type of economic system in which production of goods and services is determined by the demand from consumers. Also called a demand economy or capitalism. (pp. 91, 313)
🗑
|
||||
| Massif Central (ma • SEEF sahn • trahl) | the uplands of France, which account for about one-sixth of French lands. (p. 275)
🗑
|
||||
| Mecca | the holiest city of Islam, located in Saudi Arabia, where people make pilgrimages to fulfill Islamic religious duty.(p. 503)
🗑
|
||||
| mechanical weathering | natural processes that break rock into smaller pieces. (p. 42)
🗑
|
||||
| megalopolis | a region in which several large cities and surrounding areas grow together. (p. 146)
🗑
|
||||
| Melanesia | a region in Oceania meaning "black islands."(p. 713)
🗑
|
||||
| Meseta (meh • SEH • tah) | the central plateau of Spain
🗑
|
||||
| Mesopotamia | a region in Southwest Asia between the Tigris and the Euphrates rivers, which was the location of some of the earliest civilizations in the world; part of the cultural hearth known as the Fertile Crescent. (p. 516)
🗑
|
||||
| métis (may • TEES) | a person of mixed French-Canadian and Native American ancestry. (p. 161)
🗑
|
||||
| metropolitan area | a functional area including a city and its surrounding suburbs and exurbs, linked economically.(pp. 87, 148)
🗑
|
||||
| microcredit | a small loan available to poor entrepreneurs, to help small businesses grow and raise living standards. (p. 575)
🗑
|
||||
| Micronesia | one of three regions in Oceania, meaning "tiny islands." (p.713)
🗑
|
||||
| Midwest | the region that contains the 12 states of the north-central United States.(p. 147)
🗑
|
||||
| migration | the movement of peoples within a country or region
🗑
|
||||
| Mississippi River | a major river that runs north-south almost the length of the United States, from Minnesota to the Gulf of Mexico, and is part of the longest river system on the continent. (p. 121)
🗑
|
||||
| mistral (MIHS • truhl) | a cold, dry wind from the north. (p. 279)
🗑
|
||||
| Mobutu Sese Seko | the leader of Zaire, which is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo, from its independence in the 1960s until 1997. He brought the country's businesses under national control,profited from the reorganization, and used the army to hold power. (p. 450
🗑
|
||||
| monarchy | a type of government in which a ruling family headed by a king or queen holds political power and may or may not share the power with citizen bodies.(p. 83)
🗑
|
||||
| monsoon | a seasonal wind, especially in South Asia. (p. 558)
🗑
|
||||
| moraine | a ridge or hill of rock carried and finally deposited by a glacier. (p. 44)
🗑
|
||||
| mortality rate | the number of deaths per thousand. (p. 79)
🗑
|
||||
| mosque | an Islamic place of worship,where Muslims pray facing toward the holy city of Mecca. (p. 504)
🗑
|
||||
| Mount Kilimanjaro | a volcano in Tanzania in Africa, also Africa's highest peak.(p. 417)
🗑
|
||||
| Mughal Empire | the Muslim empire established by the early 1500s over much of India, which brought with it new customs that sometimes conflicted with those of native Hindus. (p. 568)
🗑
|
||||
| Muhammad | the founder and a prophet of Islam, who lived part of his life in the city of Mecca. (p. 503)
🗑
|
||||
| multinational | a corporation that engages in business worldwide. (p. 142)
🗑
|
||||
| Mutapa Empire | a state founded in the 15th century by a man named Mutota and that extended throughout all of present-day Zimbabwe except the eastern part. (p. 453)
🗑
|
||||
| Nagorno-Karabakh | the mountainous area of Azerbaijan, fought over by Armenia and Azerbaija
🗑
|
||||
| nation | a group of people with a common culture living in a territory and having a strong sense of unity. (p. 83)
🗑
|
||||
| nationalism | the belief that people should be loyal to their nation, the people with whom they share land, culture, and history. (p. 297)
🗑
|
||||
| nation-state | the name of a territory when a nation and a state occupy the same territory. (p. 83) .n
🗑
|
||||
| natural resource | a material on or in the earth, such as a tree, fish, or coal, that has economic value. (p. 93)
🗑
|
||||
| needleleaf | characteristic of trees like pine, fir, and cedar, found in northern regions of North America. (p. 66)
🗑
|
||||
| Nelson Mandela | one of the leaders of the African National Congress who led a struggle to end apartheid and was elected president in 1994 in the first all-race election in South Africa. (p. 454)
🗑
|
||||
| New England | the six northern states in the Northeast United States--Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut. (p. 145)
🗑
|
||||
| Niger delta | delta of the Niger River and an area of Nigeria with rich oil deposits. (p. 424)
🗑
|
||||
| Nile River | the world's longest river, flowing over 4,000 miles through the Sudan Basin into Uganda, Sudan, and Egypt. (p. 416)
🗑
|
||||
| nomad | a person with no permanent home who moves according to the seasons from place to place in search of food, water, and grazing land.(pp. 127, 378)
🗑
|
||||
| nonviolent resistance | a movement that uses all means of protest except violence.(p. 568)
🗑
|
||||
| Nordic countries | countries of northern Europe, including Denmark, Finland,Iceland, Norway, and Swede
🗑
|
||||
| NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement) | an important trade agreement creating a huge zone of cooperation on trade and economic issues in North America. (p. 220)
🗑
|
||||
| North Atlantic Drift | a current of warm water from the Tropics. (p. 278)
🗑
|
||||
| Nunavut | one of Canada's territories and home to many of Canada's Inuit; it was carved out of the eastern half of the Northwest Territories in 1999. (p. 169)
🗑
|
||||
| oasis | a place where water from an aquifer has reached the surface; it supports vegetation and wildlife.(pp. 421, 492)
🗑
|
||||
| Oceania | the group of islands in the Pacific, including Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. (p. 690)
🗑
|
||||
| Olduvai Gorge | a site of fossil beds in northern Tanzania, containing the most continuous known record of humanity over the past 2 million years, including fossils from 65 hominids. (p. 431)
🗑
|
||||
| oligarchy (AHL • ih • GAHR • kee) | a government run by a few persons or a small group. (p. 249)
🗑
|
||||
| "one-commodity" country | a country that relies on one principal export for much of its earnings. (p. 462)
🗑
|
||||
| Ontario | one of Canada's Core Provinces. (p. 167)
🗑
|
||||
| OPEC | the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, a group established in 1960 by some oil-producing nations to coordinate policies on selling petroleum products. (p. 505)
🗑
|
||||
| Orinoco River | a river mainly in Venezuela and part of South America's northernmost river system. (p. 202)
🗑
|
||||
| outback | the dry, unpopulated inland region of Australia. (p. 697)
🗑
|
||||
| outrigger canoe | a small ship used in the lagoons of islands where Pacific Islanders settled. (p. 699)
🗑
|
||||
| ozone | a chemical created when burning fossil fuels react with sunlight; a form of oxyge
🗑
|
||||
| Pacific Rim | an economic and social region including the countries surrounding the Pacific Ocean, extending clockwise from New Zealand in the western Pacific to Chile in the eastern Pacific and including the west coast of the United States. (p. 645)
🗑
|
||||
| pakehas | a Maori term for white people, for the New Zealanders of European descent. (p. 722)
🗑
|
||||
| Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) | a group formed in the 1960s to regain the Arab land in Israel for Palestinian Arabs. (p. 513)
🗑
|
||||
| Palestinians | a displaced group of Arabs who lived or still live in the area formerly called Palestine and now called Israel. (p. 527)
🗑
|
||||
| pampas (PAHM*puhs) | a vast area of grassland and rich soil in south- central South America. (p. 202)
🗑
|
||||
| Panama Canal | a ship canal cut through Panama connecting the Caribbean Sea with the Pacific Ocea
🗑
|
||||
| pandemic | a disease affecting a large population over a wide geographic area. (p. 435)
🗑
|
||||
| Paraná River | a river in central South America and one of its three major river systems, originating in the highlands of southern Brazil, travelling about 3,000 miles south and west. (p. 203)
🗑
|
||||
| parliament | a representative lawmaking body whose members are elected or appointed and in which legislative and executive functions are combined. (pp. 158, 303)
🗑
|
||||
| parliamentary government | a system where legislative and executive functions are combined in a legislature called a parliament. (p. 158)
🗑
|
||||
| particulate | a very small particle of liquid or solid matter. (p. 324)
🗑
|
||||
| partition | separation; division into two or more territorial units having separate political status. (p. 574)
🗑
|
||||
| pastoral lease | in Australia, a huge chunk of land still owned by the government; ranchers take out leases, renting the land from the government. (p. 729)
🗑
|
||||
| PCB | an industrial compound that accumulates in animal tissue and can cause harmful effects and birth defects; PCBs were banned in the United States in1977. (p. 631)
🗑
|
||||
| peat | partially decayed plant matter found in bogs. (p. 277)
🗑
|
||||
| penal colony | a place to send prisoners. (p. 718) n
🗑
|
||||
| per capita income | the average amount of money earned by each person in a political unit. (p. 94)
🗑
|
||||
| permafrost | permanently frozen ground. (pp. 63, 123)
🗑
|
||||
| polder | land that is reclaimed from the sea or other body of water by diking and drainage. (p. 282)
🗑
|
||||
| Polynesia | one of three regions in Oceania, meaning "many islands." (p. 713)
🗑
|
||||
| population density | the average number of people who live in a measurable area, reached by dividing the number of inhabitants in an area by the amount of land they occupy. (p. 81)
🗑
|
||||
| population pyramid | a graphic device that shows gender and age distribution of a populatio
🗑
|
||||
| postindustrial economy | an economic phase in which manufacturing no longer plays a dominant role. (p. 142)
🗑
|
||||
| Prairie Provinces | in Canada, the provinces west of Ontario and Quebec--Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta. (p. 168)
🗑
|
||||
| precipitation | falling water droplets in the form of rain, sleet, snow, or hail. (p. 50)
🗑
|
||||
| prevailing westerlies | winds that blow from west to east. (p. 124)
🗑
|
||||
| prime meridian | the imaginary line at zero meridian used to measure longitude east to west, and dividing the earth's east and west halves; also called the Greenwich Meridian because it passes through Greenwich, England. (p. 6)
🗑
|
||||
| prime minister | the head of a government; the majority party's leader in parliament. (p. 158)
🗑
|
||||
| privatization | the selling of government-owned business to private citizens. (p. 388)
🗑
|
||||
| province | a political unit. (p. 156)
🗑
|
||||
| pull factor | a factor that draws or attracts people to another locatio
🗑
|
||||
| push factor | a factor that causes people to leave their homelands and migrate to another regio
🗑
|
||||
| Pyongyang | the largest city in North Korea with more than 2.5 million people. (p. 650)
🗑
|
||||
| Qin Ling Mountains | mountains in southeastern and east-central China; they divide the northern part of China from the southern part. (p. 619)
🗑
|
||||
| Quebec | one of Canada's Core Provinces. (p. 167)
🗑
|
||||
| Quechua (KEHCH • wuh) | the language of the Inca Empire, now spoken in the Andes highlands. (p. 231)
🗑
|
||||
| rai | a kind of popular Algerian music developed in the 1920s by poor urban children that is fast-paced with danceable rhythms; was sometimes used as a form of rebellion to expose political unhappiness. (p. 440)
🗑
|
||||
| rain forest | a forest region located in the Tropical Zone with a heavy concentration of different species of broadleaf trees. (pp. 66, 207)
🗑
|
||||
| rain shadow | the land on the leeward side of hills or mountains that gets little rain from the descending dry air. (p. 51)
🗑
|
||||
| raj | the period of British rule in India, which lasted for nearly 200 years, from 1857 to 1947. (p. 568)
🗑
|
||||
| Ramadan | an Islamic practice of month-long fasting from sunup to sundow
🗑
|
||||
| rate of natural increase | also called population growth rate--the rate at which population is growing, found by subtracting the mortality rate from the birthrate. (p. 79)
🗑
|
||||
| recession | n. an extended period of decline in general business activity. (p. 667)
🗑
|
||||
| Red Army | n. the name of the Soviet Union's military. (p. 371)
🗑
|
||||
| refinery | n. a place where crude oil is converted into useful products. (p. 497)
🗑
|
||||
| Reformation | n. a movement in Western Europe beginning in 1517, when many Christians broke away from the Catholic Church and started Protestant churches; this led to mutual hostility and religious wars that tore apart Europe. (p. 297)
🗑
|
||||
| reggae | n. a style of music that developed in Jamaica in the 1960s and is rooted in African, Caribbean, and American music, often dealing with social problems and religion. (p. 227)
🗑
|
||||
| relative location | n. describes a place in relation to other places around it. (p. 6)
🗑
|
||||
| relief | n. the difference in elevation of a landform from the lowest point to the highest point. (p. 36)
🗑
|
||||
| religion | n. the belief in a supernatural power or powers that are regarded as the creators and maintainers of the universe, as well as the system of beliefs itself. (p. 75)
🗑
|
||||
| Renaissance | n. a time of renewed interest in learning and the arts that lasted from the 14th through 16th centuries; it began in the Italian city- states and spread north to all of Europe. (p. 291)
🗑
|
||||
| representative democracy | n. a government in which the people rule through elected representatives. (p. 139)
🗑
|
||||
| republic | n. a government in which citizens elect representatives to rule on their behalf. (p. 290)
🗑
|
||||
| reserve | n. public land set aside for native peoples by the government.(p. 162)
🗑
|
||||
| Richter scale | n. a way to measure information collected by seismographs to determine the relative strength of an earthquake. (p. 40)
🗑
|
||||
| rift valley | n. a long, thin valley created by the moving apart of the continental plates, present in East Africa, stretching over 4,000 miles from Jordan in Southwest Asia to Mozambique in Southern Africa. (p. 416)
🗑
|
||||
| Ring of Fire | n. the chain of volcanoes that lines the Pacific Rim. (pp. 41, 661)
🗑
|
||||
| Rocky Mountains | n. a major mountain system of the United States and Canada, extending 3,000 miles from Alaska south to New Mexico. (p. 119)
🗑
|
||||
| Rub al Khali | n. also known as the Empty Quarter; one of the largest sandy deserts in the world, covering about 250,000 square miles; located on the Arabian Peninsula. (p. 491)
🗑
|
||||
| Russian Revolution | n. the revolt of 1917, in which the Russian Communist Party, led by V. I. Lenin, took control of the government from the czars. (p. 363)
🗑
|
||||
| runoff | n. rainfall not absorbed by soil, which can carry pesticides and fertilizers from fields into rivers, endangering the food chain. (p. 353)
🗑
|
||||
| Sahara Desert | n. the largest desert in the world, stretching 3,000 miles across the African continent, from the Atlantic Ocean to the Red Sea, and measuring 1,200 miles from north to south. (p. 420)
🗑
|
||||
| Sahel | n. a narrow band of dry grassland, running east to west on the southern edge of the Sahara, that is used for farming and herding. (p. 424)
🗑
|
||||
| St. Lawrence Seaway . | n. North America's most important deepwater ship route, connecting the Great Lakes to the Atlantic Ocean by way of the St. Lawrence River. (p. 129)
🗑
|
||||
| St. Petersburg | n. the old capital of Russia, established by Peter the Great, who moved it there from Moscow because St. Petersburg provided direct access by sea to Western Europe. (p. 362)
🗑
|
||||
| salt flat | n. flat land made of chemical salts that remain after winds evaporate the moisture in the soil. (p. 492)
🗑
|
||||
| samba | n. a Brazilian dance with African influences. (p. 239)
🗑
|
||||
| samurai | n. a professional soldier in Japan who served the interests of landowners and clan chiefs. (p. 651)
🗑
|
||||
| satellite nation | n. a nation dominated by another country.(p. 312)
🗑
|
||||
| savanna | n. the term for the flat, grassy, mostly treeless plains in the tropical grassland region. (p. 66)
🗑
|
||||
| seawork | n. a structure used to control the sea's destructive impact on human life. (p. 283)
🗑
|
||||
| sectionalism | n. when people place their loyalty to their region, or section, above loyalty to the nation. (p. 136)
🗑
|
||||
| sediment | n. small pieces of rock produced by weathering processes. (p. 42)
🗑
|
||||
| seismograph (SYZ • muh • graf) | n. a device that measures the size of the waves created by an earthquake. (p. 39)
🗑
|
||||
| Seoul | n. the largest city in South Korea, with a population of more than ten million people. (p. 650)
🗑
|
||||
| Serengeti | n. an area of East Africa, containing some of the best grasslands in the world and many grazing animals. (p. 422)
🗑
|
||||
| service industry | n. any kind of economic activity that produces a service rather than a product. (p. 142)
🗑
|
||||
| Sherpa | n. a person of Tibetan ancestry in Nepal, who serves as the traditional mountain guide of the Mount Everest region. (p. 582)
🗑
|
||||
| Shi'ite | n. one of the two main branches of Islam including most Iranians and some populations of Iraq and Afghanistan. (p. 517)
🗑
|
||||
| shogun | n. the general of the emperor's army with the powers of a military dictator, a position created by the Japanese emperor in 1192 after a struggle between two powerful clans. (p. 651)
🗑
|
||||
| Siberia | n. a region of central and eastern Russia, stretching from the Ural Mountains to the Pacific Ocean, known for its mineral resources and for being a place of political exile. (p. 349)
🗑
|
||||
| Siddhartha Gautama | n. the founder of Buddhism and known as the Buddha, born in southern Nepal in the sixth century B.C. (p. 582)
🗑
|
||||
| Silicon Glen | n. the section of Scotland between Glasgow and Edinburgh, named for its high concentration of high-tech companies. (p. 305)
🗑
|
||||
| Silk Road | n. the 4,000-mile route between China and the Mediterranean Sea, named for the costly silk acquired in China.(p. 375)
🗑
|
||||
| silt | n. loose sedimentary material containing very small rock particles, formed by river deposits and very fertile. (p. 426)
🗑
|
||||
| Sinhalese | n. an Indo-Aryan people who crossed the strait separating India and Sri Lanka in the sixth century B.C. and who created an advanced civilization there, adopting Buddhism. (p. 584)
🗑
|
||||
| sirocco (suh • RAHK • oh) | a hot, steady south wind that blows from North Africa across the Mediterranean Sea into southern Europe, mostly in spring. (p. 279)
🗑
|
||||
| slash-and-burn | a way of clearing fields for planting by cutting trees, brush, and grasses and burning them. (p. 210)
🗑
|
||||
| smart growth | the efficient use and conservation of land and other resources.(p. 178)
🗑
|
||||
| smog | a brown haze that occurs when gases released by burning fossil fuels react with sunlight. (p. 324)
🗑
|
||||
| society | a group that shares a geographic region, a common language, and a sense of identity and culture. (p. 71)
🗑
|
||||
| soil | the loose mixture of weathered rock, organic matter, air, and water that supports plant growth. (p. 45)
🗑
|
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| solar system | consists of the sun and nine known planets, as well as other celestial bodies that orbit the su
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| solstice | either of two times of year when the sun's rays shine directly overhead at noon at the furthest points north or south, and that mark the beginning of summer and winter; in the Northern Hemisphere, the summer solstice is the longest day and the winter sols
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| South, the | a region that covers about one-fourth of the land area of the United States and contains more than one-third of its populatio
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| South Slav | a person who migrated from Poland or Russia and settled in the Balkan Peninsula around 500. (p. 319)
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| Spanish conquest | the conquering of the Native Americans by the Spanish. (p. 217)
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| sphere of influence | a method of dividing foreign control in China, after the country was forced to sign a series of treaties granting special privileges to the Europeans. China was partitioned for control by Britain, France, Germany, and Russia, among others. (p. 636)
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| state | a political term describing an independent unit that occupies a specific territory and has full control of its internal and external affairs. (p. 83)
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| stateless nation | a nation of people that does not have a territory to legally occupy, like the Palestinians, Kurds, and Basques. (p. 526)
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| stateless society | one in which people use lineages, or families whose members are descended from a common ancestor, to govern themselves. (p. 443)
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| steppe | the term used for the temperate grassland region in the Northern Hemisphere. (p. 66)
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| Stolen Generation | in Australia, what Aboriginal people today call the 100,000 mixed-raced children who were taken by the government and given to white families to promote assimilatio
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| storm surge | high water level brought by a cyclone that swamps low-lying areas. (p. 562)
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| strategic commodity | a resource so important that nations will go to war to ensure its steady supply. (p. 529)
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| subcontinent | a landmass that is like a continent, only smaller, such as South Asia, which is called the Indian subcontinent. (p. 551)
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| subsistence activity | an activity in which a family produces only the food, clothing, and shelter they themselves need. (p. 714)
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| suburb | a political unit or community touching the borders of the central city or touching other suburbs that touch the city. (pp. 87, 138)
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| Sultan | a ruler of a Muslim country. (p. 585)
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| summer monsoon | the season when winds blow from the southwest across the Indian Ocean toward South Asia, from June through September, with winds stirring up powerful storms and causing severe flooding. N.
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| Sunni | one of the two main branches of Islam, comprising about 83 percent of all Muslims, including those in Turkey, Iraq, and Afghanista
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| supra | Georgian (Russian) term for dinner party, with many dishes and courses, toasts, and short speeches. (p. 374)
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| sustainable community | a community where residents can live and work in harmony with the environment. (p. 178)
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| sweatshop | a workplace where people work long hours for low pay under poor conditions to enrich manufacturers. (p. 667)
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| taiga | a nearly continuous belt of evergreen coniferous forests across the Northern Hemisphere, in North America and Eurasia. (p. 351)
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| Taklimakan Desert | a desert located in western China between the Tian Shan and Kunlun mountains. (p. 627)
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| Taliban | a strict Muslim group in Afghanistan that has imposed rigid rules on society, including prescribed clothing styles for both men and women, restrictions on the appearance of women in public places, and regulations on television, music, and videos. (p. 519)
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| Tamil | a Dravidian Hindu, who arrived in Sri Lanka in the fourth century, settling in the north while the Sinhalese moved further south. (p. 584)
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| Taoism | a philosophy based on the book Tao Te Ching and the teachings of Lao-Tzu, who lived in China in the sixth century B.C. and believed in preserving and restoring harmony in the individual, with nature, and in the universe, with little interference from the
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| taro | a tropical Asian plant with a starchy root, which can be eaten as a boiled vegetable or made into breads, puddings, or a paste called poi. (p. 715)
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| tectonic plate | an enormous moving shelf that forms the earth's crust. (p. 37)
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| Tenochtitlan (teh • NOH • tee • TLAHN) | the ancient Azteccapital, site of Mexico City today. (p. 217)
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| terpen | high earthen platforms used in seaworks. (p. 283)
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| terraced farming | an ancient technique for growing crops on hillsides or mountain slopes, using step-like horizontal fields cut into the slopes. (p. 211)
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| terrorism | the use of, or threatened use of, force or violence against individuals or property for the purpose of intimidating or causing fear for political or social ends. (p. 173)
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| theocratic | a form of government in which religious leaders control the government, relying on religious law and consultation with religious scholars.(p. 504)
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| Three Gorges Dam | a dam begun in the late 20th century on the Chang Jiang in China, to help control flooding, generate power, and allow ships to sail farther into China. (p. 628)
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| Three Kingdoms | the kingdoms formed in the peninsula of Korea by A.D. 300-- Koguryo in the northeast, Paekche in the southwest, and Silla in the southeast. (p. 647)
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| Tigris River | one of the most important rivers of Southwest Asia; it supported several ancient river valley civilizations, and flows through parts of Turkey, Syria, and Iraq. (p.489)
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| tornado | a powerful funnel-shaped column of spiraling air. (p. 51)
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| topographic map | a general reference map; a representation of natural and man-made features on the earth. (p. 11)
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| topography | the combined characteristics of landforms and their distribution in a regio
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| Transcaucasia | a region that consists of the republics of Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia; located between the Caucasus Mountains and the borders of Turkey and Ira
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| Trans-Siberian Railroad | a railroad that would the eventually link Moscow to the Pacific port of Vladivostok; built between 1891 and 1903. (p. 355)
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| Treaty of Tordesillas | a treaty between Spain and Portugal in 1494 that gave Portugal controlover the land that is present-day Brazil. (p. 236)
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| Treaty of Waitangi | the treaty signed by the British and Maori in 1840 giving Britain control over New Zealand. (p. 719)
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| tsunami (tsu • NAH • mee) | a giant ocean wave, caused by an underwater earthquake or volcanic eruption, with great destructive power. (pp. 40, 662)
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| tuberculosis | a respiratory infection spread by human contact, which often accompanies AIDS. (p. 466)
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| tundra | the flat treeless lands forming a ringaround the Arctic Ocean; the climate region of the Arctic Ocea
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| typhoon | a tropical storm, like a hurricane, that occurs in the western Pacific. (pp. 51, 625)
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| USSR | the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, or Soviet Union, formed in 1922 by the Communists and officially dissolved in 1991. (p. 363)
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| UNICEF (United Nations Children's Fund) | an international watchdog and relief organization for childre
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| United Provinces of Central America | the name of Central America after the region declared independence from Mexico in 1823. (p. 223)
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| upland | a hill or very low mountain that may also contain mesas and high plateaus. (p. 275)
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| Ural Mountains | the mountain ranges that separate the Northern European and West Siberian plains and used as the dividing line between Europe and Asia. (p. 346)
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| urban geography | the study of how people use space in cities. (p. 87)
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| urbanization | the dramatic rise in the number of cities and the changes in lifestyle that result. (p. 88)
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| urban sprawl | poorly planned development that spreads a city's population over a widerand wider geographic area. (p. 176)
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| Vietnam War | (1954–1975) the military conflict resulting from American involvement in South Vietnam to prevent its takeover by Communist North Vietnam. (p. 707)
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| volcano | a natural event, formed when magma, gases, and water from the lower part of the crust or mantle collect in underground chambers and eventually erupt and pour out of cracks in the earth's surface. (p. 40)
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| voyaging canoe | a large ship developed by Pacific Islanders to sail the ocea
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| wadi | a riverbed that remains dry except during the rainy seasons. (p. 488)
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| water table | the level at which rock is saturated. (p. 33)
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| weather | the condition of the atmosphere at a particular location and time. (p. 50)
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| weathering | physical and chemical processes that change the characteristics of rock on or near the earth's surface, occurring slowly over many years. (p. 42)
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| West | North American region, consisting of 13 states, that stretches from the Great Plains to the Pacific Ocean and includes Alaska to the north and Hawaii in the Pacific. (p. 148)
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| West Bank | in Israel, a strip of land on the west side of the Jordan River, originally controlled by Jordan, which is part of the land set aside for Arab Palestinians. (p. 527)
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| Western Wall | for Jews, the holiest site in Jerusalem; the only remaining portion of the Second Temple, built in 538 B.C. and destroyed in A.D. 70 by the Romans. (p. 510)
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| Wik Case | in Australia, the court ruled in this case that Aboriginal people could claim land held under a pastoral lease. (p. 729)
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| winter monsoon | the season when dry winds blow from the northeast across the Himalaya Mountains toward the sea from October through February, sometimes causing drought. (p. 597)
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| Xi Jiang (shee JYAHNG) | also called the WestRiver; the river that flows eastward through southeast China and joins the Pearl River (ZhuJiang) to flow into the South China Sea, formingan estuary between Hong Kong and Macao.(p. 621)
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| yurt | a tent of Central Asia's nomads. (p. 379)
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| Zionism | a movement that began in the 19th century to create and support a Jewish homeland in Palestine. (p. 511)
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| Zuider Zee (ZEYE • duhr zay) | former inlet of the North Sea in the Netherlands. (p. 283)
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| Map Ledgend | lists the symbols used on the map, including any special colors or shading, and identifies what each symol represents.
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| Map Title | decribes the information the map presents
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| Map Scale | used to show how much the map has been reduced
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| Compass Rose | shows where the four basic directions - north, south, east, and west - are found on the map. If no compass rose then you should assume that north is at the top of the map
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| Physical Map | shows the major physial features of an area, such as rivers, mountains, veetation and elevation (hight above sea level)
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| Political maps | show the polictical boundaries between countries or states.
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| Thematic maps | show information relating to a specific theme, such as the spread of religion, trade routes, or the industrial growth of a nation
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| Population density maps | show where people live in a specific area
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| hinterlands | The remote or less developed parts of a country; back country: the land lying behind a coastal region. an area or sphere of influence in the unoccupied interior claimed by the state possessing the coast.
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| geomorphology | the study of the characteristics, origin, and development of landforms
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| Tropical Rainforest | hot and humid rainforest 60 to 100 inches of rainfall; thick forest and jungle areas; home ot may animal and plant species
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| Peninsula | a narrow strip of land projecting into a sea or lake from the mainland
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| Regions | Geogrphers divide earth's surface into distinct regions, each has its own characteristics; can be based on either physical or huaman characteristics
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| Physical region | defined by its common landforms, soils, climae, vegetaion or animal life
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| formal region | lcear boundaries and is usuall definied by a single characteristic
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| perceptual region | a region in which pople percieve, or see, the characteristics of the region in the same way
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| grasslands | exist where climate is drier and not enough reinfall for large amounts of trees, grasses dominate these areas
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| siesmic activity | refers to earthquakes and volcanoes
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|
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| La Nina | opossite of El Nino, heavier than usual rains to Southeast Asia
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| Acid Rain | many air pollutants like sulfur dioxide turn into acids in the air, the get washed out of the air when it rains.
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| renewable resources | resources that can rene hemselves aftger a period of time i.e. trees
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|
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| non-renewable resources | resources that can only be used once i.e. oil and coal
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|
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| GIS | Graphic Information Systems; merge information form satellites and land-based sources
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|
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| Agriculture | farming, the growing of food
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|
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| Climate Change | burning of fossil fuels increades amounts of carbon dioxide in atmosphere leading to greenhouse effect
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| Sikhism | combines both Hindu and Muslim beliefs inclulding reincarnation, one God, meditation. Goal is to build a close and loving relationship with God, men do not cut their hair.
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|
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| Judaism | first religion to assert the existence of one God. Began 4000 years ago along ehr Mediterranean is present-day Iksrael, Lebanon, and Jordan
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|
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| Christianity | began about 2,000 ears ago, based on the teaching of Jesus
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| stock | a share of a business that an investor can buy; if the company does well, so does the investor
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||||
| untouchable | a person born into a group considered so unclean that it fell outside the caste system altogether
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| caste | a social class that Indians were born into and remained in for life
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| entrepreneur | a person who starts his or her own business
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| starboard | the right side of a ship or aircraft when it’s facing forward
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| emigrate | leave to live in another country: to leave a place, especially a native country, to go and live elsewhere
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| subsistence Agriculture | the kind of agriculture practiced most widely in the world, especially inless developed countries, where the family grows only enough to feed themselves.
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|
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| Commerical Indusry | the production of manufactured goods in market economic system
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| standard of living | the level of development in a country, measured by factors such as the amount of personal income and levels of education
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|
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| Cottage Industry | a small-scale production of goods for sale in markets, often products made in the home or "cottage"
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|
Review the information in the table. When you are ready to quiz yourself you can hide individual columns or the entire table. Then you can click on the empty cells to reveal the answer. Try to recall what will be displayed before clicking the empty cell.
To hide a column, click on the column name.
To hide the entire table, click on the "Hide All" button.
You may also shuffle the rows of the table by clicking on the "Shuffle" button.
Or sort by any of the columns using the down arrow next to any column heading.
If you know all the data on any row, you can temporarily remove it by tapping the trash can to the right of the row.
To hide a column, click on the column name.
To hide the entire table, click on the "Hide All" button.
You may also shuffle the rows of the table by clicking on the "Shuffle" button.
Or sort by any of the columns using the down arrow next to any column heading.
If you know all the data on any row, you can temporarily remove it by tapping the trash can to the right of the row.
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dmorey
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