World Geography Review
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483 terms
Terms | Definitions |
|---|---|
 human geography | the study of human impact on the environment |
| economic geography | the study of human economic activities and their relationship to the environment |
| absolute location | exact position on the earth's surface measured by longitude and latitude |
| formal region | an area defined by a common characteristic |
| functional region | an area defined by a central place and the surrounding area linked to it |
| perceptional region | an area defined by popular feelings and images |
| hydrosphere | watery regions of the earth including rivers, lakes, and oceans |
| lithosphere | the earth's crust |
| biosphere | the part of the earth that supports life |
| mantle | thick middle layer of the earth's crust; made of dense, hot rock |
| plate tectonics | describes the effects of continental drift and magma flow on the earth's physical features |
| subduction | mountain forming process that occurs when a sea plate dives beneath a continental plate |
| accretion | process of continent growth caused by sea plates slowly sliding beneath continental plates |
| spreading | sea plates pull apart forming rifts; magma flows to the surface to form undersea mountains and ridges. |
| folds | bends in layers of rock caused by plate movement |
| loess | fertile, yellow-gray soil deposited by winds |
| moraines | rocks and debris left when glaciers melt |
| desalination | turning saltwater into freshwater by removing the salt |
| aquifer | porous underground rock layer often saturated with water |
| continental shelf | part of a continental plate that extends underwater |
| Mount Everest | highest point on earth; located between Tibet and Nepal in South Asia |
| Dead Sea | lowest point on dry land; located in southwest Asia between Israel and Jordan |
| Mariana Trench | deepest depression on earth; located in the Pacific Ocean southwest of Guam |
| San Andreas Fault | California fault where the Pacific Plate and North American Plate slide against each other. |
| Ring of Fire | Zone of earthquake and volcanic activity surrounding the Pacific Ocean |
| permafrost | permanently frozen subsoil |
| smog | visible chemical haze in the atmosphere |
| chaparral | thickets of woody bushes and short trees common in Mediterranean climates |
| windward | side of a mountain range facing the wind |
| leeward | side of a mountain range facing away from the wind |
| rain shadow | dry area on the leeward side of a mountain range |
| natural vegetation | the plant life that grows in an area unchanged by human activity |
| prevailing winds | winds blowing in a constant direction over a particular global area |
| Coriolis effect | Earth's rotation causes prevailing winds to blow diagonally instead of along strict north-south or east-west lines. |
| doldrums | narrow, generally windless band along the equator |
| currents | cold and warm streams in the ocean |
| mid-latitudes | area between the Tropic of Cancer and the Arctic Circle in the Northern Hemisphere and between the Tropic of Capricorn and Antarctic Circle in the Southern Hemisphere |
| Tropic of Cancer | northernmost point on the Earth's surface to receive the sun's direct rays |
| Tropic of Capricorn | southernmost point of the Earth's surface to receive the sun's direct rays |
| 5 themes of geography | Location, place, human-environment interaction, region, and movement |
| low latitudes | the tropics; area between the Tropic of Capricorn and the Tropic of Cancer |
| high latitudes | areas of the world north of the Arctic Circle and South of the Antarctic Circle |
| Sahara | Earth's largest desert located in northern Africa with a size roughly equivilant to North America |
| natural increase | growth rate |
| doubling time | number of years it takes the earth's population to double in size |
| death rate | number of deaths per year for every 1000 people |
| birth rate | number of births per year for every 1000 people |
| free trade | removal of trade barriers so goods can flow freely among countries |
| developed countries | countries that have a great deal of technology and manufacturing |
| industrialization | spread of industry |
| population distribution | pattern of human settlement |
| population density | average number of people living on a square mile or square kilometer of land |
| oligarchy | any system of government in which a small group holds power |
| democracy | system of government in which leaders rule with consent of the citizens |
| traditional economy | a system in which tradition and custom determine economic activity |
| market economy | a system based on free enterprise, in which businesses are privately owned, and production and prices are determined by supply and demand |
| mixed economy | a system in which the government supports and regulates free enterprise through decisions that effect the marketplace |
| command economy | government owns or directs the means of production and controls the distribution of goods |
| language families | large groups of languages that share common roots |
| ethnic group | people who share a common language, history, place of origin, or a combination of these elements |
| culture regions | a region of the earth with common cultural characteristics |
| cultural diffusion | process of spreading new knowledge and skills from one culture to another |
| culture hearths | early centers of civilizations whose ideas and practices spread to surrounding areas |
| unitary system | a government that gives all the key powers to a national or central government |
| federal system | divides key powers between a national government and state or provincial governments |
| autocracy | a government in which power and authority to rule belongs to a single individual |
| divide | high point or ridge that determine the direction that rivers flow |
| headwaters | source of a river |
| fall line | boundary in the eastern US where the higher land of the Piedmont drops to the lower Atlantic coastal plain |
| timberline | elevation above which trees cannot grow |
| chinook | seasonal dry wind that blows down the Rockies in late winter and early spring |
| supercells | violent spring and summer thunderstorms that spawn tornadoes |
| hurricanes | large warm-water ocean storms with sustained winds greater than 74 mile an hour that form in the Atlantic Ocean from June to November |
| blizzard | a snowstorm with winds of more than 35 miles an hour, temperature below freezing, and visibility less than 500 feet for 3 hours or more. |
| Mount McKinley | highest point in North America at 20,320 feet; located in Alaska |
| Rocky Mountains | mountain range stretching from New Mexico to Alaska that was formed when geologic forces pushed slabs of rock upward |
| Great Plains | gently sloping land that appears flat stretching from the Rocky Mountains to the Mississippi River |
| Canadian Shield | core of rock centered on Hudson Bay and James Bay |
| Appalachian Mountains | North America's oldest mountains stretching from Alabama to Quebec |
| Greenland | world's largest island; about the size of Alaska and Texas combined |
| Continental Divide | in North America, waters to the east of the divide flow toward the Arctic or Atlantic Oceans and waters to the west flow toward the Pacific Ocean |
| Colorado River | river located in the western United States and flows through the Grand Canyon |
| Mackenzie River | river located in the western part of Canada's Northwest territories that flows into the Arctic Ocean |
| Mississippi River | longest river in North America; flows from headwaters in Minnesota into the Gulf of Mexico |
| Piedmont | an area of hilly terrain separating the Appalachians from the Atlantic Coastal Plain |
| St. Lawrence River | river that forms part of the border between the United States and Canada and flows from lake Ontario into the Gulf of St. Lawrence |
| Death Valley | desert area in the southern California that recorded the highest temperature in the US |
| Everglades | wetland and swamp area in southern Florida |
| Newfoundland | Canada's easternmost providence |
| Yukon Territory | territory in northwestern Canada bordering Alaska |
| Sunbelt | nickname for the milder climate regions in the American South and Southwest, including California |
| metropolitan area | a city with a population of at least 50,000 and its suburbs |
| megalopolis | a chain of closely linked metropolitan areas |
| republic | government in which people elect their own officials |
| dry farming | plowing and planting the land deeply to hold water in the soil |
| Constitution | a plan of government for the United States written in 1787 |
| cabinet | a special group of advisers to the president |
| dominion | a partially self-governing country with close ties to another country |
| Parliament (C) | Canada's law-making body made up of the Senate and the House of Commons |
| jazz | music form that developed in the United States in the early 1900's, blending African rhythms and European harmonies |
| socioeconomic status | level of income and education |
| Boswash | megalopolis stretching from Boston in the north to Washington DC in the south that includes New York City, Philadelphia, and Baltimore |
| Washington DC | planned city that is the capital of the US |
| Miami | Florida city located on the Atlantic coast in southern Florida |
| New Orleans | Louisiana city located on the Gulf of Mexico; in danger of flooding because it is situated below sea level |
| Houston | Texas city that is the fourth most populated city in the US |
| Los Angeles | California city that is the second most populous city in the US |
| Vancouver | most populous city in the Canadian province of British Columbia |
| Ottowa | capital of Canada located in the province of Ontario |
| Detroit | Michigan city that is the center of the automobile industry in the US |
| Hudson Bay | inland sea in east-central Canada |
| Quebec | French-speaking province located in eastern Canada |
| Ontario | most populous Canadian province located in central Canada |
| Nova Scotia | Canadian province located on the Atlantic Coast |
| New Brunswick | eastern Canadian province bordering Maine |
| Nunavut | northern Canadian territory created as the homeland for the Inuit |
| Northwestern Territories | north-central Canadian territory between the Yukon and Nunavut |
| Texas | US state bordering Mexico that joined the US in 1845 |
| Alaska | territory purchased from Russia in 1867 that became the 49th state in 1959 |
| Hawaii | Pacific island chain annexed in 1898 and became the 50th state in 1959 |
| New Mexico | US state located along the border of Mexico between Texas and Arizona |
| Ohio | US state located on the southern Great Lakes between Indiana and Pennsylvania |
| post-industrial | places greater emphasis on services and high tech businesses than on heavy industry and manufacturing |
| commodities | goods produced for sale |
| retooling | converting old factories for use in new industries |
| pipelines | long networks of underground or aboveground pipes |
| monopoly | total control of an industry by one person or company |
| trade deficit | spending more more on imports than is earned on exports |
| trade surplus | earning more on exports than is spent on imports |
| clear-cutting | the process of cutting down entire forests when harvesting timber |
| eutrophication | the process by which a lake or other body of water becomes too rich in dissolved nutrients leading to plant growth that depletes oxygen |
| rust belt | area near the Great lakes where cities are in the process of retooling |
| Minnesota | located in the Midwest along the border with Canada |
| Seattle | Washington city that is the center of the high-tech industry on the Northwest |
| Research Triangle | North Carolina high-tech area located in and around the cities of Durham, Raleigh, and Chapel Hill |
| Pittsburgh | Pennsylvania city that retooled after the steel industry collapsed |
| Trans-Canada Highway | modern roadway crossing Canada from St, John's, Newfoundland to Victoria, British Columbia |
| NAFTA | an agreement between the United States, Canada, and Mexico to remove trade restrictions |
| Pentagon | Headquarters of the US Department of Defense in Washington DC |
| Sudbury | city in Canada deeply effected by acid rain |
| Banks Island | Canadian island affected by melting of polar ice |
| cordilleras | parallel chains or ranges of mountains |
| altiplano | the "high plain" area of Peru and Bolivia encircled by the Andes' high peaks |
| escarpment | steep high cliff or slope between higher and lower land surface |
| llanos | fertile green grassland of Columbia and Venezuela |
| pampas | fertile green grasslands of Argentina and Uruguay |
| gaucho | cowboys in South America |
| hydroelectric power | electricity generated from the energy of water |
| estuary | area where the tide meets a river current |
| canopy | top layer of the rain forest where the tops of tall trees form a continuous layer of leaves |
| tierra caliente | "hot land"; the lowest altitude zone of South American highlands climates between sea level and 2,500 feet |
| tierra templada | "temperate land"; middle altitude zone of South American highlands climates located between 2,500 feet and 6,500 feet |
| tierra fria | cold land; the lowest altitude zone of South America located between 6,500 feet and 10,000 feet |
| Amazon River | world's second longest river running through Brazil from the Andes to the Atlantic |
| Middle America | area of Latin America that includes Mexico and Central America |
| Central America | stretch of land linking North and South America occupied the the countries of Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama |
| West Indies | islands surrounding the Caribbean Sea |
| South America | largest landmass in Latin America, occupied by 13 countries |
| Sierra Madre | mountain range located in Mexico |
| Andes | world's largest mountain range; located in South America |
| Mexican Plateau | heavily populated area of central Mexico |
| Patagonia | hill and flatland region in southern Argentina |
| Mato Grosso Plateau | sparsely populated forest and grassland plateau in central Brazil |
| Brazil | largest country in Latin America; located in South America |
| Rio Grande | river that forms part of the border between the US and Mexico |
| Rio de la Plata | estuary in southern South America between Argentina and Uruguay |
| Lake Titicaca | world's highest navigable lake; located in Bolivia |
| Amazon Basin | the area in which water drains into the Amazon River |
| Columbia | republic in northern South America |
| Venezuela | republic in northern South America |
| Argentina | republic in southern South America east of Chile |
| Uruguay | republic in southern South America between Argentina and Brazil |
| Atacama Desert | desert in Chile caused by the rain shadow effect of the Andes Mountains |
| patois | dialects that blend elements of indigenous, European, African, and Asian languages |
| megacities | cities with more than 10 million people |
| primate city | an urban area that dominates its countries economy, culture, and political affairs |
| glyphs | picture writing carved in stone |
| chinampas | floating islands made from large rafts covered with mud from the lake bottom; used by Aztec Indians as fertile cropland |
| quipu | a series of knotted cords of various colors and lengths used by Incas to keep financial records |
| viceroys | representative of a Spanish monarch appointed to enforce laws in colonial Latin America |
| caudillo | dictator |
| syncretism | a blending of beliefs and practices from different religions into a single faith |
| jai alai | a fast-paced game much like handball; played with a ball and a long curved basket strapped to the players wrist |
| Ecuador | republic in northwestern South America bordered by Columbia and Peru |
| Peru | republic in northwestern South America bordered by Ecuador, Columbia, Brazil, Bolivia, and Chile |
| Bolivia | landlocked republic in central South America bordered by Brazil, Paraguay, Argentina, Chile, and Peru |
| Guyana | republic in northern South America bordered by Venezuela, Surinam, and Brazil |
| Buenos Aires | capital of Argentina |
| Santiago | capital of Chile |
| Rio de Janeiro | large city on the southeast coast Brazil |
| Barbados | island nation with the highest population in the Carribean |
| Mexico | federal republic in North America bordered by the US, Guatemala, and Belize |
| Tikal | ancient Mayan city located in modern-day Guatemala |
| Tenochtitlan | capital of Aztec civilization located in present-day Mexico City |
| Cuzco | capital of Incan civilization located in present-day Peru |
| Haiti | Caribbean country located on the western side of the island of Hispaniola |
| Cuba | communist country in the Caribbean led by Fidel Castro since 1959 |
| Dominican Republic | Caribbean country located on the eastern side of the island of Hispaniola |
| Guatemala | Central American country south of Mexico |
| Brasilia | planned city that is the capital of Brazil |
| campesinos | rural farmers and workers |
| latifundia | large agricultural estates owned by wealthy families or corporations |
| minifundia | small plots of land intensively farmed by campesinos to feed their families |
| cash crops | crops produced in large quantities to be sold or traded |
| maquiladoras | Mexican manufacturing plants set up by foreign firms |
| sustainable development | technological and economic growth that does not deplete the human and natural resources of a given area |
| slash-and-burn farming | traditional farming method in which all plants and trees in an area are cut down and burned to add nutrients to the soil |
| reforestation | planting of young trees on land that has been stripped |
| shantytowns | makeshift communities on the edges of cities |
| Jamaica | Caribbean island nation south of Cuba |
| Honduras | Central American republic bordered by Guatemala, El Salvador, and Nicaragua |
| St. Kitts and Nevis | Caribbean island nation noted for refining sugar |
| Tijuana | Mexican city along the border with the United States near San Diego, CA |
| Pan-American Highway | road system stretching from northern Mexico to southern Chile |
| Trans-Amazonian Highway | Brazilian highway built to allow development of Amazon rain forest |
| Panama Canal | waterway contracted through the Republic of Panama to connect the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans |
| Sao Paulo | Brazilian city that has the world's 4th largest metropolitan area |
| Bogota | the capital of Brazil |
| Lima | the capital of Peru |
| Gulf of Fonseca | body of water south of El Salvador where Nicaragua, Honduras, and El Salvador compete for fishing rights |
| El Salvador | South American republic bordered by Guatemala and Honduras |
| dikes | large banks of stone and earth that hold back water |
| polders | low-lying areas from which seawater had been drained to create new farmland |
| glaciation | the process whereby glaciers form and spread |
| fjords | long, narrow, steep-sided inlets carved out by glaciers |
| foehns | dry winds that blow down from mountains into valleys and plains |
| mistral | a strong north wind from the Alps |
| siroccos | high, dry winds from North Africa |
| North Sea | an arm of the Atlantic Ocean extending between Great Britain and the European continent |
| Iberian Peninsula | peninsula in southwestern Europe that is home to Spain and Portugal |
| Pyrenees | mountain range on the border between Spain and France |
| Mount Vesuvius | active volcano in the Apennine Mountains near Naples, Italy |
| Balkan Peninsula | peninsula in southeastern Europe bordered on the west by the Adriatic Sea |
| Danube | river in central and southeastern Europe that flows from Germany to the Black Sea |
| Iceland | island located just south of the Arctic Circle in the Atlantic Ocean |
| Sicily | island located in the Mediterranean Sea off the southwestern tip of Italy |
| Crete | island located in the Mediterranean Sea southeast of Greece |
| Alps | central European mountain range separating Italy from Switzerland and Austria |
| Rhine | river in western Europe that flows into the North Sea |
| Po | river in northern Italy that flows in the Adriatic Sea |
| North European Plain | plain that extends from western Europe to Russia and includes most of European Russia |
| Gulf Stream | ocean current in the Atlantic that brings warm water to the coast of western Europe |
| North Atlantic Drift | northern extension of the Gulf Stream in the North Sea and along the coast of Norway |
| ethnic cleansing | the expelling from a country of killing of rival ethnic groups |
| city-states | in Ancient Greece, an independent community consisting of a city and the surrounding lands |
| Middle Ages | period between ancient and modern times |
| feudalism | a system in which monarchs or lords gave land to nobles in exchange for pledges of loyalty |
| Crusades | a series of brutal religious wars in which Europeans tried to take Palestine from its Muslim rulers |
| Renaissance | in Europe, a 300 year period of renewed interest in the classical arts, beginning in the 1300's |
| Reformation | religious movement that began in Europe in the 1400's leading to the establishment of Protestant churches |
| Enlightenment | a movement during the 1700s that emphasized the importance of reason and questioning traditions and values |
| industrial capitalism | an economic system in which business leaders use profits to expand their companies |
| communism | society based on equality in which workers would control industrial production; philosophy based on Karl Marx's ideas that called for a violent overthrow of government and creation of a new society by workers |
| reparations | payment for damages |
| Holocaust | the mass killing of more than 6 million European Jews and others by Germany's Nazi leaders |
| Cold War | a power struggle between the communist and non-communist world |
| European Union (EU) | an organization whose goal was to unite Europe so goods, services, and workers could move freely among member countries |
| Good Friday Peace Agreement | paved the way for Protestant and Roman Catholic communities to share political power |
| romanticism | artistic style that focused on emotions, stirring historical events, and the erotic |
| realism | artistic style that focused on accurately depicting the details of everyday life |
| impressionists | artists in the late 1800s who tired to show the natural appearance of objects with dabs or strokes of color |
| welfare states | countries in which the government assumes major responsibility for people's welfare in areas such as health and education |
| Sweden | northern European country on the eastern side of the Scandinavian Peninsula |
| Belgium | country in northwestern Europe between the Netherlands and France |
| Bosnia-Herzegovina | country in eastern Europe between Yugoslavia and Croatia |
| Kosovo | Serb-ruled territory in eastern Europe that experienced ethnic cleansing |
| Germany | country in north central Europe that has the largest population of any country in Europe |
| Czech Republic | country in central Europe south of Germany and Poland |
| Poland | country in eastern Europe along the Baltic Sean |
| Naples | city located in southwestern Italy |
| Constantinople | city in Turkey that was the capital of the Byzantine Empire; now Istanbul |
| Ukraine | eastern European country along the Black Sea west of Russia |
| Maastricht Treaty | a 1992 treaty that formed the European Union |
| light industry | manufacturing aimed at producing consumer goods, such as making textiles and processing food. |
| mixed farming | raising several kinds of crops and livestock on the same farm |
| farm cooperatives | organizations in which farmers share in growing and selling products to reduce costs and raise profits |
| collective farms | under communism, large, state-owned farms on which farmers received wages plus a share of products and profits |
| state farms | under communism, a state-owned farm managed by government officials |
| acid rain | precipitation carrying large amounts of dissolved acids which damages buildings, forests, and crops, and kills wildlife |
| meltwater | water formed by melting snow and ice |
| acid deposition | wet or dry acid pollution that falls to the ground |
| heavy industry | the manufacture of machinery or industrial equipment |
| Ruhr | river in Germany that is the center of heavy industry |
| Denmark | country in northern Europe that is between the North and Baltic Seas |
| Romania | country in eastern Europe along the Black Sea south of Ukraine |
| Mediterranean Sea | sea enclosed by Europe, Africa, and Asia |
| Strait of Gibraltar | narrow strait connecting the Mediterranean Sea and Atlantic Ocean |
| Carpathian Mountains | mountain range in eastern Europe running from Slovakia to Romania |
| chernozem | rich, black soil that supports the production of wheat, barley, rye, oats, and other crops |
| tundra | a vast, treeless plain in cold northern climate characterized by permafrost and small, low plants. |
| taiga | Russian term for the subarctic forest belt that covers two-firth of Russian and extends into much of Siberia |
| steppe | wide, grassy plains of Eurasia, also, similar semi-arid climates elsewhere |
| Caucasus Mountains | mountain range between the Black Sea and Caspian Sea |
| Central Siberian Plateau | tableland area in Siberia |
| West Siberian Plain | flatland between the Ural Mountains and the Central Siberian Plateau |
| Caspian Sea | world's largest inland body of water located between Europe and Asia |
| Volga River | river located in European Russia that includes canals connecting Moscow to the Baltic, Black, and Caspian Seas |
| Siberia | name given to the large area of land in north-central Asia |
| Bering Sea | northern extension of the Pacific Ocean separating northeastern Asia from Alaska |
| Ural Mountains | mountain range in eastern Russia that is the traditional boundary between European and Asian Russia |
| Verkoyhansk Range | mountain range in northeastern Russia just east of the Lena River |
| Ob River | river located in western Russia |
| nationalities | large, distinct ethnic groups within a country |
| sovereignty | self-rule |
| czars | supreme rulers who ruled Russia until 1917 |
| serfs | virtually enslaved laborers bound to the land and under the control of nobility |
| Russification | policy which required everyone to speak Russian and practice Eastern Orthodox Christianity |
| socialism | political philosophy in which the government owns the means of production |
| Bolsheviks | a revolutionary group in Russia led by Lenin |
| satellites | country controlled by another, notably Eastern European countries controlled by the Soviet Union |
| Cold War | the struggle between the United States and the Soviet Union for world influence and power |
| perestroika | policy of economic restructuring in the Soviet Union while Mikhail Gorbachev ruled |
| glasnost | policy of greater political openness in the Soviet Union while Mikhail Gorbachev ruled |
| patriarch | spiritual leader of the Russian church |
| pogroms | organized persecution and massacres of Jews in Russia |
| intelligentsia | intellectual elite |
| socialist realism | realistic style of art and literature that glorified Soviet ideals and goals |
| Baltic Sea | an extension of the Atlantic Ocean in northern Europe that is connected with the North Sea |
| Black Sea | sea located between Europe and Asia north of Turkey |
| St. Petersburg | city that is Russia's window on the west and served as the capital until 1922. |
| Moscow | Russian city that served as the capital of the Soviet Union |
| Josef Stalin | Soviet leader who transformed the Soviet Union into an industrial giant but killed and imprisoned millions |
| Mikhail Gorbachev | Soviet leader who began the reform policies of perestroika and glasnost |
| Boris Yeltsin | first leader of Russia after the Soviet Union ceased to exist |
| Lake Baikal | largest freshwater lake in Russia, located in southern Siberia |
| Leo Tolstoy | Russian author who wrote War and Peace |
| Fyodor Dostoyevsky | Russian author who wrote Crime and Punishment |
| Alexander Solzhenitsyn | Russian writer expelled from Russia for writing about the horror of the labor camps |
| consumer goods | good needed for everyday life |
| black market | illegal trade in which scarce or illegal goods are sold at prices higher than those set by the government |
| privatization | a change to private ownership |
| kolkhozes | small farms worked by farmers who shared, to a degree, in the farm's production and profits |
| sovkhozes | large farms run like factories, with workers receiving wages |
| Siberia | large area of land in north central Asia |
| Vladivostok | Russian port city on the Pacific coast |
| Kamchatka | a region of Siberia in eastern Russia |
| Lake Baikal | largest freshwater lake in Russia located in southern Siberia |
| Chernobyl | Russian town contaminated by radiation after a fire in a nuclear reactor |
| alluvial soil | rich soil made up of sand and mud deposited by moving water |
| wadis | a streambed in the desert that is dry except during heavy rain |
| kums | dune-covered deserts in central Asia |
| phosphate | chemical used in fertilizers |
| oasis | place in the desert where underground water surfaces |
| pastoralism | the razing and grazing of livestock |
| cereals | food grains |
| Red Sea | sea separating Africa from the Arabian Peninsula |
| Persian Gulf | an extension of the Arabian Sea between Iran and Saudi Arabia |
| Arabian Sea | part of the Indian Ocean between India and the Arabian Ocean |
| Sinai Peninsula | peninsula in northwestern Egypt between the Gulf of Suez and Gulf of Aqaba |
| Anatolia | a plateau located between the Mediterranean Sea and the Black Sea now occupied by Turkey |
| Dead Sea | a salt lake located between Israel and Jordan that is the lowest lake in the world |
| Aral Sea | inland sea between Khazakhstan and Uzbekistan |
| Nile River | world's longest river that empties into the Mediterranean Sea |
| Tigris River | river in southeast Asia that flows through Turkey and Iraq and joins the Euphrates River |
| Euphrates River | river that flows through Syria and Iraq and joins with the Tigris River |
| Atlas Mountains | Africa's longest mountain range located in morocco and Algeria |
| Caucasus Mountains | mountain range between the Black Sea and Caspian Sea |
| Rub'al Khali | "the Empty Quarter"; desert region in the southern Arabian peninsula |
| infrastructure | basic urban necessities like streets and utilities |
| Fertile Crescent | rich, agricultural region of the Tigris and Euphrates River Valley |
| qanat | underground canal constructed by the Persians |
| nationalism | the belief in the right of an ethnic culture to have its own independent country |
| nationalized | placed under government control |
| embargo | ban on trade |
| ziggurats | Sumerian mud-brick temples shaped like pyramids |
| Arabs | Semitic people of the Arabian Peninsula; Arabic-speaking people |
| Muslims | followers of the religion Islam |
| Arabian peninsula | peninsula in southwestern Asia |
| Maghreb | 16 countries in which Arabs live; "the west" in Arabic |
| Israelites | members of the Hebrew people descended from Jacob |
| Palestinians | Arabs living in the territory in which Israel was established |
| Anatolia | Asian part of Turkey |
| Ottoman Turks | Turkish group who built the ottoman Empire |
| Israel | country in western Asia |
| Turkey | country in western Asia and southeastern Europe |
| Caucasus Area | area next to the Caucasus Mountains in western Asia |
| Iran | country in western Asia bordered by Iraq and Afghanistan |
| Afghanistan | country on the eastern border of Iran |
| Aryans | Indo-European people who migrated into the Middle East from southern Russia about 1000 BC |
| Bedouins | nomadic Arabs |
| Armenia | country in western Asia that became an independent republic after the Soviet Union dissolved |
| Soviet Union | a communist union of countries that dissolved in 1991 |
| Georgia | country in western Asia that became an independent republic after the Soviet Union dissolved |
| Central Asian Republics | countries in central Asia that consist of Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan |
| Kurds | people who live in the border areas of Turkey, Iraq, Iran, Syria, and the Caucasian republics and have no country of their own |
| Golan Heights | Syrian area that Israel conquered in the 1967 Arab-Israeli War that is a source of water |
| Jordan River | major river in Israel that carries water south |
| Tehran | capital of Iran |
| Cairo | capital of Egypt |
| Istanbul | capital of Turkey |
| Persian Empire | an empire which extended from the Nile River and the Aegean Sea to Central Asia in the 500s BC |
| Samarqand | ancient city located in present-day Uzbekistan |
| Mongols | nomadic peoples of Asia |
| Ghengis Khan | leader of the Mongols in the late 1100s |
| Jerusalem | capital of Israel |
| Makkah | Islam's holiest city in the Arabian Peninsula |
| West Bank | an area west of the Jordan River, between Israel and Jordan |
| Gaza Strip | a territory bordered on the south by Egypt, on the west by the Mediterranean Sea, and on the north and east by Israel |
| Taliban | radical Muslim group who gained control of Afghanistan in the 1990s and were responsible for many human rights violations |
| Osama bin Laden | terrorist and Saudi exile |
| Northern Alliance | a group of Afghan rebels who gained control of the Taliban in 2001 |
| Saddam Hussein | Iraq's dictator who was overthrown in 2003 |
| Qatar | a small country located on the Arabian Peninsula |
| United Arab Emirates | country located on the Arabian Peninsula |
| arable | suitable for farming |
| petrochemicals | products derived from petroleum of natural gas |
| gross domestic product (GOP) | the value of goods and services produced in a country in a year |
| hajj | pilgrimage that Muslims take |
| Saudi Arabia | country in southwest Asia on the Arabian Peninsula |
| Israel | country in southwest Asia located by the Mediterranean Sea |
| Kuwait | country located in southwest Asia between Iraq and Saudi Arabia |
| Morocco | country located in North Africa |
| Istanbul | Capital of Turkey |
| Strait of Tiran | between the Gulf of Aqaba and the Red Sea |
| Strait of Hormuz | linking the Persian Gulf with the Arabian Sea |
| Suez Canal | human-made waterway lying between the Sinai Peninsula and the rest of Eqypt |
| Baku | Azerbaijan's capital |
| Tripoli | capital of Libya |
| Aswan High Dam | located in Egypt, completed in 1970 |
| Dead Sea | located between the border of Jordan and Israel |
| Elburz Mountains | located in Iran |
| Aral Sea | located between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan |
| cataracts | towering waterfalls |
| rift valley | a large crack in the earth's surface caused by shifting tectonic plates |
| leach | dissolve and carry away |
| savanna | tropical grassland scattered with trees |
| harmattan | northeast trade wind |
| Ruwenzori Mountains | divide Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo |
| Drakensberg Range | mountains in South Africa and Lesotho |
| Great Rift Valley | a natural wonder in the southeastern part of Africa |
| Cape of Good Hope | southern tip of Africa |
| Lake Tanganyika | one of the deepest and longest freshwater lakes in the world; located in East Africa |
| Lake Victoria | largest lake in Africa |
| Niger River | main artery in western Africa that originates in Guinea |
| Zambezi River | located in south-central Africa and meets the ocean in a Delta |
| Serengeti Plain | one of the world's largest savanna plains; located in Tanzania |
| Tanzania | country in the eastern part of Africa where the Serengeti is located |
| Sahel | the northern steppe of Africa |
| Namib Desert | located along the Atlantic coast of Namibia |
| Kalahari Desert | located in eastern Namibia, Botswana, and part of South Africa |
| service centers | convenient business locations for rural dwellers |
| apartheid | separation of races |
| universal suffrage | voting rights for all adult citizens |
| mass culture | popular culture promoted by the media |
| lingua franca | common language |
| extended families | households made up of several generations |
| clans | large groups of people descended from a common ancestor |
| nuclear family | made up of husband, wife, and children |
| Nigeria | most populous Africa country |
| Rwanda | one of Africa's most populous countries south of the Sahara |
| Namibia | less populated country of southwest Africa |
| Zimbabwe | country in southeast Africa |
| Lagos | largest country in the region south of the Sahara, located in Zimbabwe |
| Accra | large city in Ghana |
| Kinshasa | on the southern bank of the Congo River in the Democratic Republic of the Congo |
| Nairobi | inland city of Kenya |
| Johannesberg | city in South Africa |
| Kush | ancient kingdom in present-day Sudan |
| Axum | a powerful trading empire in northern Ethiopia |
| Ghana (A) | present-day Ghana is named after this ancient trading kingdom |
| Kumbi | capital of Ancient Ghana |
| Mali | trading empire that succeeded Ghana |
| Sognhai | trading empire that succeeded Ghana |
| Timbuktu | wealthy city of Mali |
| Eritrea | small country located in East Africa |
| Madagascar | an island off East Africa |
| Tanzania | country in Eastern Africa |
| Dar es Salaam | major city in Tanzania |
| shifting farming | a method in which farmers move every one to three years to find better soil |
| sedentary farming | farming conducted at permanent settlements |
| commercial farming | farms producing crops on a large scale |
| conservation farming | a land-management technique that helps protect farmland |
| Zambia | a country in south central Africa |
| Kampala | capital of Uganda |
| Somalia | country in East Africa that juts into the Indian Ocean |
| Ethiopia | country in East Africa that juts into the Indian Ocean (2) |
| Djibouti | country in East Africa that juts into the Indian Ocean (3) |
| Sahel | region of West Africa |
| Sudan | country in East Africa |
| Eritrea | country in East Africa that juts into the Red Sea |
| Tigray | northern Ethiopian province |
| Ivory Coast | named Cote d'lvoire in French, this country is located in west Africa |
| Madagascar | island county in East Africa |
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