- amazon river: the second longest river in the world and one of its three major river systems, running about 4,000 miles from west to east and emptying into the atlantic ocean
- andes mountains: south american continent are part of a chain of mountain ranges.
- anti-semitism: discrimination against jewish people
- apartheid: a policy a complete seperation ofthe races, instituted by the white minority government of south africa.
- aqueducts: structures that carried water for long distance and muslim mosques, places of worship
- aquifers: stores ground water
- Ashanti: people who live in what is now called Ghana, in west africa, and who are known fro their artful weaving and colorful asasia, or kente cloth.
- balkanization: the process of a region breaking up into small, mutually hostile units
- bantu migration: the movement of the bantu peoples southward throghout africa, spreading their language and culture, from around 500 b.c. to around A.D 1000
- basin: depressions
- Berlin conference: a conference of 14 european nations held in 1884-1885 in berlin, germany, to establish rules for political control of africa
- Berlin wall: a wall erected by east Geramany in 1961 to cut the capital of berlin in 2, and later dismantled in 1989
- calypso: music began in trindad
- canopy: uppermost layer of branches about 150 feet above the ground
- capoeira: martial are and dacne that developed in brazil from african origins
- carnival: the most colorful feast dsy in brazil
- carthage: one of the great empires of ancient africa, situated on a triangular peninsula on the gulf of tunis on the coast of the mediterranean sea.
- cash crops: a crop grown for direct fale and not for use in a region
- cerrado: savannaa with flat terrain with moderate rainfall that make them suitable for farming
- chernozem: black earth
- city-state: a political unit made up of a city and its surrounding lands.
- continentality: regions distance from the moderating influence of the sea
- crusades: a series of wars to take palestine form the muslims
- cultural crossroads: place where various cultures cross paths.
- cultural health: place from which important ideas spread
- desertification: an expansion of dry conditions into moist areas that are next to the deserts
- dikes: earthen banks
- escarpment: steep slope with a nearly flat plateau on top.
- fang sculpture: carved boxes containing the skulls and bones of deceased ancestors, created by the fang, who live in gabon,southern cameroon, and equatorial Guinea.
- fjords: steep u-shped valleys that connect to the sea and that filled with seawater after glaciers melted.
- folk art: produced by rural people with traditional lifestyles instead of by professional artists.
- Goree island: an island off the coast of senegal that served as a major departure point for slaves during the slave trade.
- great zimbabwe: a city established in what is how zimbabwe by the shona around 1000, it became the capital of a thriving gold-trading area.
- Holocaust: the Nazi program of mass murder of european jews during world war 2
- ijsselmeer: salt lake river but then turned into a fresh lake
- inca: descendants of people who came across a land bridge form siberia to alaska and eventually crossed the isthmus of panama into south america
- informal economy: takes place out side official channels, without benefits or protection for workers
- infrastructure: the basic support systems needed to keep an economy going, including power, communication, transportations, water, sanitation, and education systems
- islam: a monotheistic religion based on the teachings of prophet muhammad, and the biggest cultural and religious influence in North africa.
- llanos: a large, grassy, treeless are in south america, used fro grazing and farming
- maquiladoras: factories in mexico taht assemble imported materials into finsihed products that are then exported.
- market economy: industries make the goods consumers want to buy
- Masai: 2 ehtnic group in east africa
- massif central: one sixth of french lands are located in the uplands
- mercosur: economic common market that began in the southern cone of south america in 1996
- meseta: mountains of brittany in france, and the central plateau of spain
- mestizo: population of mixed spanish and native american heritage
- mistral: cold, dry wind from the north
- mutapa empire: the muslim empire established by the early 1500s over much of indian, which brought with it new customs that sometimes conflicted with those of native hindus.
- NAFTA: the important trade agreement that created a huge zone of cooperation on trade and economic issues
- nationalism: the belief that poeple should be loyal to their nation, the people wiht whom they share land , culture, and history
- Nelson mandella: one of the leaders of the africian national congress who led a struggle to end apartheid and was elected 4 president in 1994 in the first all-race election in south africa.
- nile river: longest river in the world, and flows more then 4,000 miles through uganda, sudan and into egypt
- Nordic countries: Denmark, Finland, iceland, Norway, and Sweden
- orinocco river: a river mainly in venezuela and part of south americas northernmost river system.
- pampas: areas of grasslands and rich soil. found in uraguy and argentina
- panama canal: a ship canal cut through panama connecting the caribbean sea with the pacific ocean
- pandemic: an uncontrollable outbreak of a disease affecting a large population over a wide geographic area
- parana river: a river in central south america and one of its three major ribver systems, originating in the highlands of southern brazil traveling about 3,000 miles south and west.
- parliament: representative law making body whose members are elected or appointed.
- peat: partially decayed plant matter found in bogs
- polder: land that is reclaimed by diking and draining
- PRI: it helped influence democracy and maintain political stability for much of the 20th centurey
- pull factors: a factor that draws or attracts people to another location
- push factors: a factor that causes people to leave their homelands and migrate to another region
- quechua: language of the inca
- rai: is a kind of music developed in the 1920s by poor urban children.
- rain forest: are dense forest made up of differernt species of trees
- reformation: a period when many christians broke away from the catholic church and started protestant to fight religoius wars that tore europe apart.
- reggae: music developed in jamaica
- renaissance: in the italian city-states and was a time of renwed interest in learning and the arts that lasted from the 14th centure to the 16h
- republic: a government in which citizens elect representatives to rule in their name.
- rift valleys: long, thin valleys
- runoff: rainfall not absorbed by soil that runs into streams and rivers.
- samba: a brazilain dance with african influences
- satellite nations: nations dominated by another country
- seaworks: structures that are used to control the sea's destructive impact on human life
- serengeti plain: in the northern Tanzani. dry climate and hard soil prevent the growth of trees but perfect for growing grass.
- silicon glen: section of scotland between glasgow and edinburgh
- silt: sediment on farmland
- sirocco: hot, steady south wind that blows from north africa across the mediterranean sea into southern europe
- slash and burn: a way of clearing fields for planting by cutting trees, brush, and grasses and burning them.
- spanish conquest: the rich fabric of native life in mexico was torn apart
- stateless society: is one in which people rely on family lineages to govern themselves, rather than an elected government ro monarch.
- taiga: nearly continuous belt of evergreen conferous forests across the northern hemisphere, in the north america and eurasia
- tenochtitlan: the site today of mexico city
- terpen: dikes and high earthen platforms
- terraced farming: an ancient technique fro growing crops on hillsides or mountain slopes, using step-like horizontal fields cut into the slopes
- treaty of tordesillas: important role in the colonizatino of south america by spain and portugal
- uplands: hill or very low mountains that my also contain ancient mountain ranges
- zuider zee: an arm of the north sea and now ia fresh water lake