| A | B |
|---|
| tributary | stream that flows into a larger stream or body of water |
| navigable | water that is deep and wide enough to sail ships through |
| deciduous | tree that loses its leaves |
| coniferous | needle-leaved trees with cones |
| taiga | thick forests in northern Russia |
| prairies | flat or rolling grasslands, usually with few trees |
| steppe | vast grassland in Russia without trees |
| tundra | vast treeless area in northern Russia; also a climate in northern Russia |
| fossil fuels | made of decayed plant and animal matter |
| hydroelectic power | electricity produces by water-driven turbines |
| loess | yellow-gray soil usually deposited by wind |
| empire | group of nations ruled by an emperor |
| Pax Romana | 200 years of Roman peace |
| feudalism | A political and economic system of Europe from the 9th to about the 15th century, based on the holding of all land and the resulting relation of lord to vassal and characterized by loyalty, legal and military service |
| Middle Ages | period of time in European history between the fall of the Roman Empire and the Renaissance |
| serf | A member of the lowest feudal class, attached to the land owned by a lord and required to perform labor in return for certain legal or customary rights |
| monarch | king or queen who inherits position |
| middle class | people neither at the top or the bottom of the social hieracrchy |
| Renaissance | the activity, spirit, or time of the great revival of art, literature, and learning in Europe beginning in the 14th century and extending to the 17th century, marking the transition from the medieval to the modern world |
| humanism | theory that emphasizes reason, scientific inquiry, and human fulfillment in the natural world and often rejects the importance of belief in God |
| revolution | a sudden, complete or marked change in something |
| Parliament | legislative body often elected |
| Scientific Revolution | the period of great advances in the sciences, roughly 1500-1700 |
| Industrial Revolution | economic and social changes that began about 1760 in England and later in other countries, characterized chiefly by the replacement of hand tools with power-driven machines, as the power loom and the steam engine |
| textiles | cloth; garments |
| imperialism | the policy of extending the rule or authority of an empire or nation over foreign countries, or of acquiring and holding colonies |
| alliance | a formal agreement or treaty between two or more nations to cooperate for specific purposes |
| colony | settlement |
| westernization | to convert to the customs of Western Europe and North America |
| czar | former emperor of Russia |
| dictator | person exercising absolute power, esp. a ruler who has absolute, unrestricted control in a government without inheriting the position |
| Cold War | rivalry after World War II between the Soviet Union and its satellites and the democratic countries of the Western world, under the leadership of the United States |
| cottage industry | the production, for sale, of goods at home, as the making of handicrafts by rural families |
| North Atlantic Current | ocean current moving towards the British Isles; source is the Gulf Steam and currents from Eastern Canada |
| French Revolution | the event at the end of the eighteenth century that ended the thousand-year rule of kings in France and established the nation as a republic |
| Russian Revolution | A revolution in Russia in 1917–1918, that overthrew the czar and brought the Communist party led by Lenin, to power |
| movable type | type from which text is printed directly in which each character is on a separate piece of metal |
