Unit 1-4 Vocabulary
Absolute Location: the exact position of a place on the earth’s surface.
Accretion: a slow process, in which a sea plate slides under a continental plate, creating debris that causes content to grow outwards.
Acid Disposition: wet or dry air born acid that fall to the earth.
Acid Rain: precipitation carrying large amounts of dissolved acids which damages buildings. forests, crops, and killing wildlife.
Altiplano: Spanish for “high plain,” a region in Peru and Bolivia encircled by the Andes Peaks.
Amendment: in U.S. history, official changes made to the Constitution.
Aquifer: underground water-bearing layers of porous rock, sand gravel.
Atmosphere: a layer of gases surrounding the earth.
Autocracy: government in which a single individual possesses the power and authority to rule.
Avalanche: mass of ice, snow, or rock that slides down a mountainside.
Axis: an imaginary line that runs through the center of the earth between the North and South Poles.
Bilingual: speaking or using of two languages.
Bill Of Rights: the first 10 amendments made to the United States Constitution.
Biologist: scientist who studies plant and animal life.
Biosphere: the part of the earth where life exists.
Birthrate: the number of births per year for every 1,000 people
Blizzard: a snowstorm with winds more than 35 miles per hour, temperatures below freezing, and visibility less than 500 feet for 3 hours or more.
Cabinet: heads of U.S. departments that advise the president.
Campesino: farm workers; generally, people who live and work in rural areas.
Canopy: Top layer of a rain forest, where the tops of tall trees forms a continues layer of leaves.
Cartography: the science of mapmaking.
Cash Crop: a farm crop grown to be sold or traded rather than be used by the farm’s family.
Caudillo: a Latin American political leader from the late 1800s on, often a military dictatorship.
Chaparral: type of vegetation made up of dense forest of shrubs and short trees, common in Mediterranean climates.
Chinampas: floating Farming Island made by the Aztecs.
Chinook: seasonal warm winds that blows down the Rockies in late winter and early spring.
City-State: in ancient Greece, independent community consisting of a city and the surrounding lands.
Clear-Cutting: cutting down a whole forest when removing timber.
Climate: weather patterns typical for an area over a long period of time.
Cold War: the power struggle between the Soviet Union and the United States after World War II
Collective Farming: under communism, a large, state-owned farm on which farmers received wages plus a share of products and profits; also called a kolkhoz
Command Economy: is an economic system in which economic decisions about production and distribution are made by some central authority.
Commodity: goods produced for sale.
Communism: society based on equality in which workers would control industrial production.
Condensation: the process of water vapor changing into liquid when warm air cools.
Coniferous: trees such as evergreens that have cones and needle-shaped leaves, and keep their foliage throughout the winter.
Conquistadors: Spanish term for “Conqueror,” referring to solders who conquered the Native Americans in Latin America.
Constitution: plan of government made for the United States in 1787.
Continental Drift: the theory that the continents were once joined and then slowly drifted apart.
Continental Shelf: the part of the continent that extends under water.
Cordillera: parallel chains or ranges of mountains.
Coriolis Effect: an effect that causes prevailing winds to blow diagonally rather than along the strict north-south or east-west lines.
Crusades: series of religious wars (A.D. 1100-1300) in which European Christians tried to retake Palestine from Muslim rule.
Culture Diffusion: the spread of new knowledge and skills from one culture to another.
Culture Hearth: a center where cultures developed and from which ideas and traditions spread outward.
Culture Region: division of the earth based on a variety of factors, including government, social groups, economic systems, language, or religion.
Current: cold or warm stream of seawater that flows in the oceans, generally in a circular pattern.
Death Rate: the number of deaths per year for every 1,000 people
Deciduous: trees, usually broad leave such as oak and maple, which lose their leaves in autumn.
Deforestation: the loss or destruction of forests, mainly for logging or farming.
Democracy: any system of government, in which leaders rule with the people consent
Desalination: the removal of salt from seawater to make it usable for drinking and farming.
Developed Country: is a country that has a great deal of technology and manufacturing.
Developing Country: a country in the process of becoming industrialized.
Dialect: local form of a language used in a particular place or by a certain group.
Dike: large banks of earth and stone that holds back water.
Divide: a high point or ridge that determines river flow.
Doldrums: a frequently windless area near the equator.
Dominion: a partially self-governing country with close ties to another country.
Doubling Time: the number of years it takes a population to double in size
Dry Farming: farming method used in dry regions in which the land is plowed and planted deeply to hold water in the soil.
Ecosystem: the complex community of interdependent living things in a given environment.
El Niňo: a periodic reversal of the oceans currents and water temperatures in the mid-pacific region.
Enlightenment: a movement during the 1700’s, emphasizing the importance of reason and questioning traditional values
Environmentalist: a person who is actively concerned with the quality and protection of the environment.
Equinox: one of two days (about March 21 and September 23) on which the sun is directly above the Equator, making day and night equal in length.
Erosion: wearing away of the earth’s surface by wind, water flow, and glaciers.
Escarpment: steep cliff or slope between a higher and lower land surface.
Estuary: an area where the tide meets the river current.
Ethnic Cleansing: the expelling from a country or killing of rival ethnic groups.
Ethnic Group: group of people who share common ancestry, language, religion, customs, or combination of such characteristics
European Union (EU): an organization whose goal is to unite all of Europe so that goods, services and workers can move freely among member countries.
Eutrophication: process by which a body of water becomes rich in dissolved nutrients, leading to plant growth that depletes oxygen
Evaporation: process of converting into vapor
Export: commodities sent from one country to another for purposes of trade.
Extended Family: a household made up of several generations of family members.
Fall Line: a boundary in the eastern United States where the higher land of the Piedmont drop lowers to the Atlantic coastal plain.
Farm Cooperative: an origination in which farmers share in growing and selling farm production.
Federal System: form of government in which powers in which powers are divided between the national government and the state or provincial government
Feudalism: in medieval Europe and Japan, system of Government in which powerful lords gave land to nobles in return for pledges of loyalty.
Fishery: areas (fresh water or saltwater) in which fish or sea animals are caught.
Fjord: long, steep-sided glacial valley filled by sea water.
Foehn: dry winds for that blow from leeward sides of mountains, sometimes meeting snow causing avalanches; terms used mainly in Europe.
Fold: a bend in a layer of rock, sometimes caused by plate movement.
Formal Region: a region defined by a common characteristic, such as production of a product.
Free Trade: the removal of trade barriers so that goods flow freely between countries
Functional Region: a central point and the surrounding territory linked to it.
Futbol: Spanish term for Soccer.
Gaucho: the cowhands of Argentina and Uruguay.
Genetically Modified Food: a food whose genes have been altered to make them grow bigger or faster or more resistance to pests.
Geographic Information Systems (GIS): computer tools for processing and organizing details and satellite images with other pieces of information. Water Cycle:
Glaciation: the process whereby glaciers form and spread.
Glacier: large body of ice that moves across the earth.
Global Warming: gradual warming of the earth and its atmosphere that may be caused in part by pollution and an increase in the greenhouse effect.
Glyph: picture writing carved in stone.
Good Friday Peace Agreement: paved the way for Protestant and Roman Catholic communities to share political power in Northern Ireland.
Greenhouse Effect: the capacity of certain gases in the atmosphere to trap heat, thereby warming the earth.
Greenhouse Effect: the capacity of certain gases in the atmosphere to trap heat, thereby arming the earth.
Grid System: pattern formed as the lines of latitude and longitude across one another.
Groundwater: water within the earth that supplies wells and springs.
Headwaters: the source of river water.
Heavy Industry: the manufacturing of machinery and equipment needed for factories and mines.
Hemisphere: half of a sphere or globe, as in the earths Northern and Southern Hemisphere.
Holocaust: the mass killing of 6 million Jews by Germany’s Nazi leaders during World War II
Human Geography: also called cultural geography; the study of human activities and their relationship to the cultural and physical environments
Human-Environment Interaction: the study of the interrelationship between people and their physical environment.
Hurricane: a large, powerful windstorm that forms over warm ocean waters.
Hydroelectric Power: electrical energy produced by falling waters.
Hydrosphere: the water area of the earth, including oceans, lakes, rivers and other bodies of water.
Hypothesis: a scientific explanation for an event
Immigration: the movement of people into one country to another.
Impressionist: artistic style that developed in Europe in the late 1800’s and tried to show the show natural appearance of objects with jabs or strokes of color.
Indigenous: Native to a place.
Industrial Capitalism: an economic in which business leaders use profit to expand their companies.
Industrialization: transformation from an agricultural society to one based on industry.
Jai Alai: traditional hand-ball type game popular with Mexicans and Cubans.
Jazz: musical form that developed in the United States in the early 1900’s, blending African rhythms and European harmonies.
Language family: group of related languages that have all developed from one earlier language
Latifundia: in Latin America, larger agricultural estates owned by families or corporation.
Leeward: facing away from the direction from which the wind is blowing
Light Industry: manufacturing aimed at making consumer goods such as textiles or food processing rather than heavy machinery.
Literacy Rate: the percentage of people in a given place that can read or write.
Lithosphere: surface land areas of the earth’s crust, including continents and ocean basins.
Llano: fertile plains in inland areas of Columbia and Venezuela.
Location: a specific place on the earth.
Loess: fine, yellowish-brown topsoil made up of particles of silt and clay, usually carried by the wind.
Maastricht Treaty: a 1992 meeting of European governments in Maastricht, the Netherlands, that formed the European Union.
Magma: molten rock that is pushed up from the earth’s mantle.
Malnutrition: faulty or inadequate nutrition.
Mantel: thick middle layer of the earth’s interior structure, consisting of dense, hot rock.
Maquiladora: in Mexico, manufacturing plants set up by foreign firms.
Market Economy: an economic system based on free enterprise, in which businesses are privately owned, and production and prices are determined by supply and demand
Megacity: a “super-city” that is made up of several large and small cities such as the area between Boston and Washington.
Megalopolis: a “super-city” that is made of several large and small cities such as the area between Boston and Washington.
Melt water: water formed by melting snow and ice.
Meteorology: the study of water and weather forecasting.
Metropolitan Area: region that includes a central city and it surrounding suburbs.
Middle Ages: the period of European history from about A.D. 500 to about 1500 A.D.
Migration: the movement of people from place to place.
Culture: the way of life of a group of people who share beliefs are similar customs.
Minifundia: in Latin America, small farms that produce food chiefly for family use.
Mistral: strong northerly wind from Alps that can bring cold air to southern France.
Mixed Economy: an economy in which the government supports and regulates enterprise through decisions that affect the market place.
Mixed Farming: raising several kinds of crops and livestock on the same farm.
Mixed Forest: forest with both coniferous and deciduous trees
Mobility: ability to move from one place to another.
Monopoly: total control of a type of industry by one person or one company.
Moraine: piles of rocky debris left by melting glaciers.
Mosaic: picture or design made up with small pieces of colored stone, glass, shells of tiles.
Movement: ongoing movement of people, goods, and ideas.
Mural: wall painting.
Native American: North American’s first immigrants who probably moved into the region from Asia thousands of years ago.
Natural Increase: the growth rate of a population; the difference between birthrate and death rate.
Natural Resource: substance from the earth that is not made by people but can be used by them.
Natural Vegetation: plant life that grows in a certain area if people have not changed the environment.
North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA): trade agreements made in the 1994 by Canada, the United States, and Mexico
Oasis: small area in a desert where water and vegetation are found.
Oligarchy: system of government in which a small group holds power
Organic Farming: the use of natural substances rather than chemical fertilizers and pesticides to enrich the soil and grow crops.
Pampa: grassy, treeless plains of South America.
Parliament: in Canada, national legislature made up of Senate and the House of Commons
Patios: dialects that blend elements of indigenous, European, African, and Asian languages.
Patriotism: love and devotion for one’s country.
Perceptual Region: a region defined by popular feelings and images rather than by objective data.
Permafrost: permanently frozen layer of soil beneath the earth’s surface of the ground.
Physical Geography: the studies of Earth’s physical features.
Pipeline: a long network of underground and aboveground pipes.
Place: a particular space with physical and human meaning
Plate Tectonics: the terms scientists use to describe the activities of continental drift and magma flow which create many of Earth’s physical features.
Polder: low-laying areas from which seawater has been drained to create new farmlands.
Pollution: the existence of impure, unclean, or poisonous substances in the air, water, or land
Population Density: the average number of people in a square mile or square kilometer
Population Distribution: the pattern of population in a country, a continent, or the world
Post-Industrial: an economy with less emphasis on heavy industry and manufacturing and more emphasis on services and technology.
Prairie: an inland grassland area
Precipitation: moisture that falls to earth’s surface as rain, sleet, hail. Or snow
Prevailing Wind: wind in a region that blows in a fairly constant directional pattern.
Primate City: a city that dominates a countries economy, culture, and government, and which the population is concentrated usually the capital.
Quipu: knotted cords of various lengths and colors used by the Inca to keep financial records.
Rain Shadow: dry area found on the lee ward area of a mountain range.
Realism: Artistic style portraying everyday life that developed in Europe during the mid-1800s.
Reforestation: replanting young trees or seeds on lands where trees have been cut down or destroyed.
Reformation: religious movement that began in Germany in the 1400’s, leading to the establishment to the Protestants church.
Refugee: one how flees his or her home for safety.
Region: places united by specific characteristics
Relative Location: location in relation to other places.
Renaissance: in Europe, a 300-year period of renewed interest in classical learning and arts, beginning in the 1300’s.
Reparations: a payment for damages
Republic: form of government without a monarch in which the people elect their officials.
Retooling: converting old factories for use in new industries.
Revolution: in astronomy, the earths yearly trip around the sun, taking 365 1/4th days.
Romanticism: artistic style emphasizing individual emotions that developed in Europe in the late 1700s and early 1800s as a reaction to industrialization.
Service Industry: a business that provides a service instead of making goods.
Shantytown: makeshift communities of the edge of cities.
Sirocco: hot desert wind that can blow air and dust from North Africa to Western Europe’s Mediterranean coast.
Slash-and-Burn Farming: traditional farming method in which all trees in the area are cut down and burned to add nutrients to the soil.
Smog: haze caused by the interaction of ultraviolet solar radiation with chemical fumes from automobile exhaust and other pollution sources.
Socioeconomic Status: level of income and education.
Solstice: one of two days (about June 21 and December 22) on which the sun’s rays strike directly on the Tropic of Cancer or tropic of Capricorn, marking the beginning of summer and Winter.
Spreading: a process by which new land is created when sea plates pull apart and magma wells up between the plates.
State Farming: under communism, a state-owned farm managed by state officials.
Subduction: a process by which mountains can form as sea plates dive beneath continental plates.
Suburb: outlying communities around a city.
Sunbelt: mild climate region, southern United States
Supercells: violent thunderstorms that can spawn tornadoes.
Sustainable Development: technological and economic growth that does not deplete the human and natural resources of a given area.
Syncretism: a blending or beliefs and practices from deferent religions in to one faith.
Tariff: a tax on imports and exports.
Temperature: degree of hotness or coldness measured on a set scale, such as Fahrenheit, Celsius.
Tierra Caliente: Spanish term for “hot land”; the lowest altitude zone of Latin American High land climates.
Tierra Fria: Spanish term for “cold land”; the highest altitude zone of Latin American High land climates.
Tierra Templada: Spanish term for “temperate land”; the middle altitude zone of Latin American High land climates.
Timberline: elevation above which it is too cold for trees to grow.
Trade Deficit: spending more money on imports than what is made from exports.
Trade Surplus: earning more money from exports than spending on imports.
Traditional Economy: a system in which tradition and custom control all economic activities; exists in only a few parts of the world today.
Tributary: smaller river or stream that feeds into a larger river.
Underground Railroad: an informational network of safe houses, in the United States, that helped thousands of enslaved people escaped to freedom
Unitary System: a government in which all key powers are given to the national or central government
Urbanization: the movement of people from rural areas into cities.
Viceroy: represented of their Spanish monarch appointed to enforce law in colonial Latin America.
Weather: condition of the atmosphere in one place during a short period of time.
Welfare State: nation in which the government assumes major responsibility for the people’s welfare in areas such as health and education.
Windward: facing in the direction from which the wind is blowing