World Geography Final Exam Key Terms
The World Geography key terms for the 9th grade finals.
FINISHED! Have fun studying all 116 terms! =)
FINISHED! Have fun studying all 116 terms! =)
Terms
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- Shifting Farming
- A method in which farmers move every one to three years to find better soil
- Domesticate
- To take plants & animals from the wild & make them useful to people
- Dharma
- In Hinuism, it is a person's moral duty based on class distictions which guides his or her moral life
- Imports
- Resources or goods brought to one country from another
- Per Capita Income
- Average per year per person income
- Pogroms
- Organized persecution and massacre of the Russian Jews
- Gross Domestic Product (GDP)
- The value of the goods & services created in a country in a year
- Wat
- A religious temple
- Socialism
- Philosophy that called for ownership of all land & factories by peasants & workers
- Desertification
- The transformation of arable land into desert in the Sahel
- Nirvana
- The ultimate state of peace & insight toward which people strive (in Buddhism)
- Boomerang
- Slightly curved stick used for hunting
- Calligraphy
- The art of beautiful writing
- Free Port
- Port city such as Singapore where goods can be unloaded, sotred, & reshipped without payment of duties import & export
- Command Economy
- One in which the central government decides what will be manufactured & what the prices will be
- Middle Passage
- The name given to the terrible trip across the Atlantic by slave ships
- Monsoon
- Seasonal wind that brings in warm, moist air from the oceans in the summer & cold, dry air from inland in the winte
- Population Density
- Average number of people in a square mile
- Fauna
- Animal life of a region
- Ecosystem
- Community of living things that depend on each other for survival
- Lingua Franca
- Universal language (Swahili is the universal language spoken throughout much of East Africa)
- Petrochemicals
- Products derived from petroleum or natural gas to make fertilizers, medicines, plastics, & plants
- Savannas
- Tropical grasslands containing scattered trees
- Habitat
- Living area; an area with conditions suitable for certain plants or animals to live
- Pastoralism
- The raising & grazing of livestock
- Cyclone
- Storm marked by high winds & heavy rains
- Leach
- To wash away nutrients in the soil by heavy rains
- Artesian Water
- Underground water supply that is under enough pressure to rise into wells without being pumped
- Cuneiform
- Carving wedge-shaped symbols on wet clay tablets; the writing system of the Sumerians
- Black Market
- Illegal market where goods are sold at higher prices & are normally goods that cannot be obtained
- Marsupial
- Type of mammal, such as a kangaroo & a koala, that gives birth to offspring that mature in a pouch on the mother's abdomen
- Maritime
- Concerned with travel or shipping by sea
- Lichens
- Sturdy small plants that grow like a crust on rocks or tree trunks
- Alluvial Soil Deposit
- Rich soil made up of sand & mud, deposited by running water
- Continental Islands
- Islands made of rock that has risen from continental shelves on the ocean floor in contrast to those formed by volcaones (Examples: Papua New Guinea, New Caledonia, the Bismark Archipelago, and the Solomon Islands)
- OPEC
- Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries; formed by Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, & Venezuela
- Hieroglyphics
- A form of picture writing formed by the Egyptians
- Mantra
- Sacred word or phrase repeated in prayers or chants in Hinduism
- Geothermal
- Power generated from steam from volcanic hot water
- Longhouse
- In rural areas of Indonesia & Malaysia, a large building where people from several related families live
- Aquifer
- Underground layers of porous rock, gravel, or sand that contain water
- Oasis
- Places in the desert where water is present
- Dynasty
- A ruling house
- Monotheism
- The belief in one God
- Wattle
- Interwoven small trees to form a fence or a roof
- Lagoon
- At the center of the atoll there is shallow, often transparent water
- Pidgin English
- A blend of English and the native speech
- Consumer Goods
- Goods such as bikes, toys, shoes, etc. (Anything used by a CONSUMER)
- Ethnic Groups
- People with similar histories & cultures
- Clan
- Large groups of people related to each other; small tribal communities
- The Great Barrier Reef
- One of the world's most famous natural wonders, and it is made of coral
- Atheist
- A person who does not beleve in the one God--he creates his own
- Mandarin
- Most widely spoken Chinese dialect
- Coral
- Formed from the limestone skeletons of tiny sea animals
- Nomadic
- People who travel from place to place, never establishing permanent settlements
- Indigenous
- Native to a place; the original inhabitants--plant, animal, or human
- Strine
- Informal English spoken in Australia
- Sedentary Farming
- Farming conducted at permanent settlements
- Czar
- Supreme ruler of Russia; name taken from Roman caesars
- Mosque
- Houses of public worship
- Ethnic Groups
- Groups that share a common language, religion, ancestry, or a combination of such characteristics
- Escarpment
- Steep cliffs or slopes that separate the plateaus
- Cataracts
- Waterfalls
- Wadis
- Streambeds that are dry except during heavy rain
- Tundra
- Nothernmost vegetation zone; the soil beneath it is always frozen; diferent kinds of short plants (reeds, mosses, lichens)
- Taiga
- Coniferous forest just below the tundra--largest forest region in the world
- Mica
- Silicate material that typically splits into thinner sheats & is used in the manufacture of electrical equipment
- Chernozem
- The rick black topsoil found in the North European Plain, especially in Russia & Ukraine
- Shamanism
- Belief in a leader who can communicate with the spirits
- Extended Families
- Households made up of several generations: aunts, uncles, grandparents, as well as parents & children
- Bedouins
- Desert nomads
- Grazier
- A person who raises and herds sheep or cattle
- Prophet
- A messenger
- Permafrost
- a permanently frozen layer of soil beneath the ground
- Icon
- An intricate religious image, many are hundreds of years old that are worshiped by many people because of some "special power"
- Copra
- Dried meat of a coconut
- Commune
- Collective farming communities whose members share work & products
- Mutton
- Meat from a sheep
- Interdependent
- Relying on one another for goods & services
- Merchant Marine
- Ships that engage in commerce/trade
- Market Economy
- Economy in which businesses are privately owned & what people buy or do not buy decides what & how much is produced (SUPPLY & DEMAND)
- Arable Land
- Land suitable for growing crops or farming
- Ideogram
- A writing system of pictorial characters that each carry one meaning
- Homogenous
- Of the same ethnic group; share same language, customs, & ancestry
- Commercial Farming
- Farming organized as a business
- Muhammad
- The founder of the Muslim religion
- Delta
- A section of land at a river's mouth that looks like a Greek letter
- Crevass
- Huge deep crack that forms in the thick ice or snow
- Communism
- The teachings of Karl Marx implemented in Russia by Lenin which believed in the violent overthrow of the government to bring in socialism
- Desalination
- The removal of salt from seawater
- Cash Crops
- Crops grown for a profit
- Caste System
- The division of society into rigid groups based mainly on occupation; determines social standing, marriage, & other actions
- Station
- Australian term for a ranch or a large farm, some as large as 6,000 square miles
- Literacy Rate
- The ability to read & write
- Typhoon
- A violent hurricane
- Steppe
- Large grassland plain
- Karma
- In Hinduism, it is the sum of good & bad actions in one's present & past life leading to rewards or punishment
- Cereals
- Grains, such as barley, oats, or wheat that are used for foods
- Phosphate
- A chemical compound often used in fertilizers
- Endemic
- Describing plant or animal species native to a region
- Oral History
- The legends passed down orally from generation to generation
- Subsistence Farming
- Agriculture that provides just for the needs of a family or village
- Sickle
- Large curved knife with a handle used to cut grass or tall grains
- Culture Hearth
- Center from which ideas & traditions spread & where cultures developed
- Krill
- Tiny, shrimplike sea animals that live in the cold Antarctic oceans
- Subcontinent
- A landmass like a continent, only smaller
- Extinction
- Disappearance from the earth
- Quran
- The Muslim holy book
- Trading Partner
- Countries that buy & sell to each other
- Alluvial Plain
- When the seasonal rain strikes, the rivers overflow & the silt (alluvial soil) is deposited in the floodplain
- Atoll
- Coral growing along an underwater volcano, creating a ring-shaped island
- Cordillera
- A chain or range of mountains
- Flora
- Plant life of a region
- Reincarnated
- In Hinduism, it is being born repeatedly in different forms
- Serfs
- Laborers owned by the nobles and bound to the land who live in poverty & were treated like slaves