Geography Vocab for Finals
Terms
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- non-renewable resources
- a resource that cannot be replaced once it is used; nonrenewable resources include fossil fuels such as coal and oil, and minerals such as iron, copper and gold
- low latitudes
- the region between the Topic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn
- rural
- having to do with the countryside
- cataract
- a rock-filled rapid
- life expectancy
- the number of years that a person may be expected, on average, to live
- civil rights movement
- a large group of people who worked together in the United States beginning in the 1960s to end the segregation of African Americans and support equal rights for all minorities
- climate
- the weather patterns that an area typically experiences over a long period of time
- savanna
- region of tall grasses
- geyser
- a hot spring that shoots scalding water into the air
- Cold War
- a period of great tension between the United States and the former Soviet Union, which lasted for more than 40 years after World War II
- Constitution
- the document written in 1787 and approved in 1789 that established three branches of American government and protected the rights of individual citizens
- homogeneous
- having similar members, in reference to a group
- secondary industries
- manufacturing businesses that take materials from primary industries and other secondary industries and make them into goods
- weathering
- the breaking down of rocks by wind, rain or ice
- commune
- a community in which land is held in common and where members live and work together
- peninsula
- land nearly surrounded by water
- muezzin
- a person who summons Muslims to pray by chanting
- urban
- having to do with the city
- isthmus
- narrow strip of land that has water on both sides and joins two larger bodies of land
- free enterprise
- an economic system in which individuals can start and run their own businesses
- meridian
- an imaginary line that circles the globe from north to south and runs through both the North and South poles; the lines of longitude on maps or globes are meridians
- erosion
- a process by which water, wind, or ice wears away landforms and carries the material to another place
- capitalism
- an economic system in which people and privately owned companies own both basic and nonbasic businesses and industries
- communism
- a theory of government in which property usch as farms and factories is owned by the government for the benefit of all citizens; a political system in which the central government controls all aspects of citizens' lives
- Mercator projection
- method of putting a map of the Earth onto a flat piece of paper
- diversify
- to add variety; to expand
- minaret
- a high tower attached to a mosque, with one or more balconies
- cash crop
- a crop raised to be sold for money on the world market
- dictatorship
- a government in which one person, a dictator, governs
- atoll
- a group of small coral islands in the shape of a ring that encloses a lagoon
- fiord
- a narrow bay or inlet from the sea bordered by steep cliffs
- primary industries
- the part of the economy that produces raw materials; examples include agriculture, fishing, mining and forestry
- Holocaust
- the execution of 6 million Jews by German Nazis during World War II
- oasis
- a fertile place in a desert where there is water and vegetation
- monsoon
- the winds that blow across East Asia at certain times of the year; in summer, they are very wet; in winter, they are generally dry unless they have crossed warm ocean currents
- renewable resources
- a natural resource that the environment continues to supply or replace as it is used; trees, water, and wind are renewable resources
- democracy
- government of the people, by the people
- culture
- language, religious beliefs, values, customs, and other ways of life shared by a group of people
- high latitudes
- the regions between the Arctic Circle and the North Pole and the Antarctic Circle and the South Pole
- Tropic of Cancer
- the northern boundary of the tropics or the band of Earth that receives the most direct light and heat energy from the sun; such a region lies on both sides of the Equator
- subsistence farming
- one who grows just enough food to support one's family
- latitude
- an imaginary line, also called a parallel, that circles the Earth parallel to the Equator; used to measure a distance north or south of the Equator in degrees
- arable land
- land that can produce crops
- Revolutionary War
- the war in which the American colonies won their independence from Britain, fought from 1775-1781
- plate tectonics
- the theory that the Earth's crust is made of huge, slowly moving slabs of rock called plates
- revolution
- a political movement in which people overthrow the existing government and set up another
- population density
- the average number of people living in an area
- taiga
- an enormous Russian forest covering more than four million square miles
- fossil fuel
- any one of several nonrenewable resources such as coal, oil, or natural gas, created from the remains of plants and animals
- Civil War
- the war between the northern and southern states in the United States, which began in 1861 and ended in 1865
- middle latitudes
- the regions between the Tropic of Cancer and the Arctic Circle and the Tropic of Capricorn and the Antarctic Circle
- escarpment
- a high, steep slope or cliff at the edge of a plateau or mountain range
- coral
- a rock-like substance formed from the skeletons of tiny sea animals
- segregate
- to set apart and force to use separate schools, housing, parks and so on because of race and religion
- Tropic of Capricorn
- the southern boundary of the tropics
- rift
- a deep crack in the Earth's surface
- Declaration of Independence
- the document written by Thomas Jefferson in 1776 that explained American colonists' reasons for rejecting British rule; representatives from each of the thirteen colonies showed their for independence by signing the document
- nomad
- a person who moves around to make a living, usually by herding animals, trading, hunting or gathering food
- dialect
- a version of a language found only in certain regions
- Louisiana Purchase
- the sale of land in 1803 by France to the United States; all the land between the Mississippi River and the eastern slope of the Rocky Mountains
- parallel
- in geography, any of the imaginary lines that circle Earth parallel to the Equator; a latitude line
- quaternary industries
- information technologies including industries that provide Internet services, computer software, cable and telephone
- longitude
- an imaginary line, also called a meridian, that runs north and south from one pole to another; used to measure a distance east or west of the Prime Meridian in degrees
- rotation
- the spinning motion of Earth, like a top on its axis; Earth takes about 24 hours to rotate one time
- steppe
- mostly treeless plains; in Russia, the steppes are grasslands of fertile soil suitable for farming