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| geography | The study of the earth's landforms, its plants and animals, its climates, and the relationship of people to their natural environment. |
| absolute location | The location of a place on the earth as indicated by its latitude and longitude. |
| relative location | Where a place is in relation to another place (for example, Calvert County is just to the south of Washington, D. C.) |
| compass rose | The symbol on the map that shows which way north is on a map. |
| cardinal directions | The four major directions on a compas--north, south, east, and west. |
| intermediate directions | The directions halfway between the cardinal directions--northeast, northwest, southeast, and southwest. |
| map symbols | A symbol is anything that stands for something else. Map symbols may include dots, squares, circles, triangles, lines, letters and numbers. Small drawings may also be use. The map key or legend will explain what each symbol stands for. |
| legend/key | Explains the symbols used on a map. |
| scale | The part of a map that will tell you how much smaller map distances are than real distances. For example, a map may be drawn so that every inch on the map is equal to 1,000 miles on the earth's surface. |
| elevation | Height above sea level. |
| latitude/parallels | A line on a map or globe that extends east and west and shows the distance from the equator. |
| longitude/meridian | A line on a map or globe that extends north and south and shows the distance from the prime meridian. |
| hemisphere | Half of the earth. The Northern and Southern hemispheres of the earth are divided by the equator. The Eastern and Western hemispheres are divided by the prime meridian. |
| Equator | An imaginary line that circles the globe at its widest point. |
| Prime Meridian | An imaginary line of longitude that runs from the North Pole to the South Pole through Greenwich, England. |
| Bay | A body of water that is partly enclosed by land (and is usually smaller than a gulf). |
| Canyon | A deep valley with very steep sides - often carved from the Earth by a river. |
| Dune | a hill or a ridge made of sand. They are shaped by the wind, and change all the time. |
| Mountain | A very tall high, natural place on Earth - higher than a hill. |
| Plain | Flat lands that have only small changes in elevation. |
| Island | A piece of land that is surrounded by water. |
| Isthmus | A narrow strip of land connecting two larger landmasses. It has water on two sides. |
| Peninsula | A body of land that is surrounded by water on three sides. |
| Swamp | A type of freshwater wetland that has spongy, muddy land and a lot of water. |
| Gulf | A part of the ocean (or sea) that is partly surrounded by land (it is usually larger than a bay). |
| Plateau | A large, flat area of land that is higher than the surrounding land. |
| delta | A low, watery land formed at the mouth of a river. |
| desert | A very dry area. |
| Strait | A narrow body of water that connects two larger bodies of water. |
| archipelago | A group or a chain of islands clustered together in a sea or ocean. |
| cave | A large hole in the ground or in the side of a hill or mountain. |
| valley | A low place between mountains. |
