- aids: Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, caused by HIV 1 and HIV 2
- alluvial plains: land that is rich farmland, composed of silt, sand, or gravel deposited by running water
- aquifer: an underground layer of rock that stores water
- Archipelago: a set of closely grouped islands
- assimilation: when a culture gradually gives up on its own culture and adopts another culture
- atmosphere: the layers of grass immediately surounding the earth
- atoll: a rigidlike coral island or string of small islands surrounding a lagoon
- bikini atoll: the site of the u.s. nuclear bomb tests
- biological weapon: a bacterium or virus that can be used to harm r kill people, animals, or plants
- blizzard: a heavy snowstorm with winds of more than 35 miles per hour and reduced visibility of less than one-quartermile
- brahmaputra: a river that conectes with the ganges river
- calypso: a style of music that began in trindad and combines musical elements from africa, spain, and the carribean
- canopy: the area encompasing the tops of trees in a rain forrest, about 150 feet above ground
- capoeira: a martial art and dance that developed in Brazil
- carnival: the most colorful feast day in brazlil
- cerrado: a savvana that had flat terrain and mderate rainfall, which makes it suitable for farming
- cholera: a deseased caused by bad water
- climate: the typical weather conditions at a particular location observed over time
- coalition: an allience
- commodity: an agriculture or minning product that can be sold
- confucianism: it stressed the importance of edgucation in an ordered society in which one respects ones elders and obeys the government
- crust: a thin layer of rock making up the earth's surface
- cultural hearth: the heartland or place of origen of a major culture
- cyclone: a violent storm with vierce winds and heavy rains
- diversify: to increase the number of products in a country's economy
- dynasties: a series of rulers from the same family
- economic tiger: a country with rapid econmic growth due to cheap labor, high technology, and aggresive exports
- equator: the imaginary line that encircles the earth
- equinox: the two days a year that mark the beggining of spring and autum
- estuary: a broadend seaward end of a river, where the river's current meets the ocean tides
- ganges: a river in south asia; an important water reascource flowing more than 1,500 miles from its source
- Ghana: a country that swore in a new presedent in 2001
- global networking: the worldwide inter connecting group
- great barrier reef: a 1250 - mile chain of more than 2500 reefs and islands formed along australia's northeast coast
- hemisphere: each half of the globe
- high islands: pacific islands formed by volcanoes
- himalaya mountains: a mountain range in south asia that includes mount everest
- hinduism: the dominant religion in india
- hiv: Human Immunodefiency Virus;the disease that causes aids
- hurricane: a storm that forms over warm, tropical ocean water
- hydrosphere: the water comprising the earth's surface
- infrastructure: the basic support system needed to keep an economy going
- Kurds: an ethnic group in southwest asia that has occupied kurdistan, located in turkey, iraq, and iran
- latitude lines: the imaginary lines that run east and west across the earth
- lithosphere: the solid rock portion of the earth's surface
- longitude lines: the imaginary lines that run north and south along the earth
- low island: pacific islands made of coral reefs
- malaria: a desease carried by msquitos
- mantle: a rock layer about 1800 miles thick that is between the earths crust and earths core
- Mao Zedong: the leader of the communist in china who defeated the nationalist in 1949
- monsoons: a seasonal wind,especially in south asia
- mosque: an islamic place of worship , where muslims pray facing toward the holy city of Mecca
- Muhammad: the founder and a prophet of islam, who lived part of his lifein the city of Mecca
- oasis: a place where water from an equater has reached the surface
- oceana: the group of islands in the pacific including melanasia, micronesia, and polynesia
- one commodity country: a country thst relies on one principle export for much of its earnings
- OPEC: the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, a group established in 1960 by some oil- producing nations to coordinate policies on selling petroleum products
- outback: the dry, unpopulated inland region of australia
- outrigger canoe: a small ship used in lagoons of islands where pacific islanders settled
- pacific rim: an economic and social region including the country's surrounding the pacific ocean
- Palistine Liberation Organization: a grouped formed in the 1960's to regain the Arab land in Isreal for Palestinian Arabs
- panama canal: a ship canal cut through panama connecting the carribean sea with the pacific ocean
- precipitation: falling water droplets in the form of rain, sleet, snow, or hail
- prime meridian: the imaginary line at zero meridean used to measure longitude east to west
- reggae: music developed in jamaca in 1960's often dealling with social and cultural problems
- sahara: the largest desert in the world
- samba: Brazillian dance with african influences
- seoul: the largest city in south korea
- serengeti: an area of east africa, containing some of the best grasslands in the world
- Shi'ite: one of two main branches of islam
- shoguns: the general of the emperors army with the power of a military dictator
- smart growth: the efficient use and conservation of land and other rescources
- solstice: the two days that mark the beggining of summer and winter
- spheres of influence: a method o dividing forieghn control in china
- storm surge: high water level brought by a cyclone that swamps low lying areas
- sustainable community multiculturalism: a community where resedents can live and work in harmony with the enviroment
- taliban: a strickt Muslim group in Afghanistan that has imposed rigid rules on society
- taoism: a philosophy based on the book tao te ching and the teachings of lao-tzu
- terrorism: the use of force or violence against individuals to intimadating people into doing things
- theocratic: a form of government in which religous leaders control the government
- three kingdoms: the kingdoms of korea koguryo, paekche, and silla
- tornado: a powerful funnel-shaped column of spiraling air
- treaty of trdesillas: a treaty beetween spain and portugal in 1494 that gave portugul control over land that's present day Brazil
- tuberculosis: Infectious disease caused by the tubercle bacillus, Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Most commonly affects the respiratory system and causes inflammation and calcification of the system.
- typhoon: a tropical storm, like a hurricane, that occurs in the western pacific
- Uganda: a country that had reduced the amount of people with aids
- united provinces of central america: the name of central america after the region declard independence from mexico in1823
- urban sprawl: poorly planned development that spreads a city's population over a wider and wider geographic area
- voyaging canoe: a large ship developed by pacific islanders to sail the ocean
- Western Wall: for jews, the holiest side in Jeruselum
- Zionism: a movement that began in the 19th century to create and support a Jewish homeland in Palestine