| A | B |
|---|
| a seasonal wind | Monsoon |
| a long, narrow stretch of land that is surrounded by water on three sides | Peninsula |
| the weight of the atmosphere pressing down on any point of the surface of Earth | Atmospheric Pressure |
| the layer of air that surrounds Earth | Atmosphere |
| against the direction that the wind is blowing | Upwind |
| in the direction that the wind is blowing | Downwind |
| the precipitation that occurs when moist air rises up the side of a mountain. As the air rises, it cools down and releases most of its moisture as rain or snow | Orographic Effect |
| a dry area on the downwind side of a mountain | Rain Shadow |
| a city that is the governmental center of a country or region | Capital City |
| a severe storm with high winds that spiral around a calm center | Tropical Cyclones |
| an unusually long period in which little or no rain falls | Drought |
| dry, with little rainfall; also a climate or climate zone with hot, dry summers and cool, dry winters | Semiarid |
| water from rainfall that is not absorbed into the soil and instead flows into streams or lakes | Runoff |
| the process by which a liquid, such as water, turns into a vapor, or gas | Evaporation |
| an overcrowded, dirty area of a city where the housing is usually in very poor condition | Slums |
| the scattering of chemicals into clouds to bring about rain | Cloud Seeding |
| the use of technology to move, record, and process information. It includes computers, communication satellites, cell phones, and the Internet | Information Technology (IT) |
| to hire someone outside a company to do work that was once done inside the company. Information technology has made it possible to outsource jobs to businesses in other countries | Outsource |
| the ability of one country to produce a good or provide a service at a lower cost or more effectively than another country | Comparative Advantage |
| an area that uses the same clock time. Earth is divided into 24 of these. In each one, clocks are set to the area’s own hour and minute | Time Zones |
| all the people who are available for work, for example, in a country | Workforce |
| the average cost of basic necessities, such as food, clothing, and shelter, in a particular place or country | Cost of Living |
| the overall level of comfort and well-being of a group or a country | Standard of Living |
| a version of a language spoken in a specific area | Dialects |
| a group of people who share a common language | Linguistic Groups |
| unable to read or write | Illiterate |
| the loss of well-educated people such as doctors or engineers to another country | Brain Drain |
| investment by a person or company based in another country | Foreign Investment |
| a severe shortage of food that results in widespread hunger | Famine |
| a condition in which the population of a country does not grow but remains stable. This condition comes about when the birth rate plus immigration equals the death rate plus emigration | Zero Population Growth |
| the number of births in a year for every 1,000 people in a population | Birth Rate |
| the number of deaths in a year for every 1,000 people in a population | Death Rate |
| the annual rate of population growth. This percentage is calculated by subtracting the death rate from the birth rate. It does not include people moving into or out of a country | Rate of Natural Increase |
| the length of time it takes for a population to double | Doubling Time |
| - the using up of goods and services. This term is also used to describe the purchase and use of goods and services by consumers. | Consumption |
| electricity that is generated from the power of moving water | Hydroelectric Power |
| a resource that can’t be used up or that can be replaced as quickly as it is used up | Renewable Resource |
| a community of all the living things in an area and the environment in which they live | Ecosystem |
| the natural environment in which a plant or animal lives | Habitats |
| a line on Earth’s surface that results from a deep crack in the crust | Fault |
| a person who moves regularly in order to find work, especially in harvesting crops | Migrant Workers |
| a poorer country with a less advanced economy. In general, these countries are trying to increase their industries and improve life for their people | Developing Countries |
| the average age to which a person in a given population can expect to live. This varies from one country to another | Life Expectancy |
| the average number of people who live in a unit of area, such as a square mile. This measures how crowded an area is. | Population Density |
| land suitable for growing crops | Arable Land |
| where people live in a country, whether crowded together in cities or spread out across the countryside | Population Distribution |
| the population of a country divided by its total land area | Arithmetic Population Density |
| the population of a country divided by its arable land area | Physiologic Population Density |
| the amount of time spent traveling to and from work | Commute Time |
| a family made up of parents, children, grandparents, and sometimes more distant relatives | Extended Families |
| a family made up of parents and their children | Nuclear Families |
| building methods used to make structures safer during earthquakes | Earthquake-Resistant Construction Techniques |
| the creation of flat areas on mountain slopes for the purpose of farming | Terracing |
| a useful material that is found in nature, such as water, wood, coal, or oil | Natural Resources |
| the development of a global, or worldwide, society in which people, money, information, and goods flow fairly freely across national borders | Globalization |
| the flow of goods and services across national borders, with little or no government control | Free Trade |
| a tax on goods that cross country borders | Tariffs |
| a large company that has operations in more than one country | Multinational Corporations |
| a condition in which countries have strong economic ties and depend on each other for resources, technology, trade, and investment | Economic Interdependence |
| the way people or things are spread out over an area or a space; also the way resources, power, or goods are divided among people or groups | Distribution |
