- Acid Rain: a type of polluted rain, produced when acids from smokestacks combine with water vapor, that can harm lakes, forests, and human health
- Alps: a mojor mountain systerm of central europe
- Bavaria: a state in southern Germany
- Cantons: a largely self-governing state within a country, as in Switzerland
- City-States: a self governing city and its surrounding area
- Confederation: a group of states joined together for a common purpose
- Cosmopolitan: having many foreign influences
- Danube: one of Germany's major rivers
- Dikes: a wall built to keep water out of a low-lying area
- EU: an economic association, made up of several European countries, whose ultimate goal is for Europe to be a unified economic region
- Frankfort: the main city of Germany's Rhineland region
- Hamburg: a major seaport on the Elbe river in northwestern Germany
- Loire: a river in central France
- Lyons: a large city on the Rhone River in eastern France
- marseilles: a busy seaport on the Medditeranean sea
- Munich: a major city and manufacturing center of southern Germany
- paris: the capital of France
- Polders: a low-land area that has been drained of water
- Primate City: a city that ranks first in a nation in terms of population and economy
- Pyrenees: a mountain range along the border of France and Spain
- Rhine: a major river in western Europe that flows through Germany into the North Sea in the Netherlands
- Seine: a river that flows through Paris in northern France