| A | B |
|---|
| acid rain | rain which has been made poisonous by industrial pollution |
| AIDS | a fatal condition spread by infected blood and certain body fluids |
| Alliance A | union of nations, which has been agreed by treaty for economic, political, or military purposes |
| Alluvium | loose material, such as silt, sand, and gravel carried by rivers |
| Alternative energy | sources of energy which can be renewed--including solar or wind power--and do not produce pollution |
| Apartheid | policy developed in South Africa of separating peoples by race--different races have different democratic rights |
| Aquaculture | cultivation of fish and shellfish in lakes, estuaries, rivers, or the sea |
| Archipelago | group of islands |
| Atoll | circular or horseshoe-shaped coral reef enclosing a shallow area of water |
| Bilingual | speak two languages |
| Biotechnology | use of living organisms in the manufacture of food, drugs, and other products |
| Buddhism | religion that began in India in about 500 BC based on principles that good or evil deeds can be rewarded in this life or other lives that follow |
| Cash crop | agricultureal produce grown for sale |
| Christianity | religion that began in the 1st century BC--believe in one God, follow the teachings of Jesus Christ, Son of God |
| Civil War | war between rival groups of people who live in the same country |
| Classical | art, architecture, or literature which originated in the time of the ancient Greeks and Romans |
| Colony | territory which belongs to another country; group of people living separately within a country |
| Communism | economic and political system of the 19th and 20th centuries in which farms, factories, and the goods they produce are owned by the state |
| Coniferous | trees or shrubs like pines and firs which have needles instead of leaves; most are evergreens |
| Conquistador | Spanish word for conqueror applied to Spanish explorers and invaders of Mexico and parts of South America in 16th century |
| Consumer goods | objects such as food, clothing, furniture, cars, televisions which are purchased by people for their personal and private use |
| Continental plates | huge interlocking plates which make up the Earth's surface |
| Continental shelf | edge of a landmass which forms a shallow, raised shelf in the sea |
| Cosmopolitan | influenced by foreign cultures |
| Cottage industry | manufacture of products by people in their own homes |
| Crude oil | oil in its original state, before it has been refined |
| Crusades | series of wars from the 11th to the 13th centuries in which Christians fought against non Christians |
| Cultural heritage | anything handed down from a country's past such as its traditions, art, and architecture |
| Currency | money of a particular country |
| Deforestation | cutting of trees for timber or clearing of forest for farmland |
| Democracy | political system in which everyone above a certain age has the right to vote for representatives in national and local governments |
| Desertification | creation of deserts either by changes in climate or by overgrazing, overpopulation, deforestation, or overcultivation |
| Developing world | parts of the world which are still undergoing the process of industrialization |
| Dictator | political leader who assumes absolute rule of a nation |
| Earthquake | trembling or more violent movement of the ground caused by seismic activity |
| Economy | organization of a country's finances, exports, imports, industry, agriculture, and services |
| Ecosystem | community of plants and animals dependent on each other and on the habitat in which they live |
| Electronics | use of electricity to produce signals that carry information and control devices such as telephones or computers |
| Emigrant | person who has moved from one country or region to settle in another country or region |
| Empire | large group of countries ruled by one person--an emperor |
| Equator | imaginary East-West line that circles the middle of the Earth at equal distance from the Poles |
| Estuary | mouth of a river, where the tide's salt water meets the frest water of the river |
| Ethnic deversity | people of several different cultures living in the same region |
| European Union (EU) or European Community (EC) | group of European countries linked togrther by treaty to promote trade, industry, and agriculture within a free-market economy |
| Exports | goods produced in a country but sold abroad |
| Fauna | animals of a region |
| Flora | plants of a region |
| Foreign debt | money owed by one country to the government, banks, or institutions of one or more other countries |
| Foreign exchange | money brought into a country from abroad, usually by the sale of exports, by service industries, or by tourism |
| Free-market economy | economy which is regulated by the price of goods bought and sold freely in national and international markets |
| Geothermal energy | electricity produced from hot rocks under the Earth's surface |
| Geyser | fountain of hot water or steam that erupts periodically as a result of underground streams coming into contact with hot rocks |
| Greenhouse effect | rise in the global temperature caused as heat is trapped in the atmosphere |
| Habitat | place or region where a certain animal or plant usually lives |
| Heavy industry | uses large amounts of energy and raw materials to produce goods such as machinery, ships, or locomotives |
| Hunter-gatherers | people who do not grow their own food, but obtain it by hunting it and gathering it from their environment |
| Hydroelectric power (HEP) | electricity produced by harnessing the force of falling water |
| ICBM (Intercontinental Ballistic Missile) | missile usually with a nuclear warhead that can be fired from one continent to land in another |
| Immigrant | person who has come to live in a country from another country or region |
| Incentives | something that arrouses or encourages people to greater efforts |
| Inflation | rate at which a country's prices increase |
| Informal economy | economy in which people buy and sell from each other, not through shops or markets |
| Infrastructure | buildings, transportation, and communication links that enable goods to be produced and then moved around within a country |
| Irrigation | system of watering dry areas pumping the water through pipes or ditches |
| Islam | religion founded in the Middle East in 7th century AD by Mohammed |
| Islamic fundamentalist | person who strictly follows the rules and beliefs of Islam contained in the Koran |
| Isthmus | narrow piece of land surrounded on two sides by water |
| Labor intensive | an activity that requires large amounts of work or large numbers of workers to accomplish it |
| Lent | period of time lasting 40 days observed by Christians during which they fast and prepare for the festival of Easter |
| Lignite | woody or brown coal |
| Living standards | quality of life in a country usually measured by income, material possessions, and levels of education and health care |
| Malnutrition | prolonged lack of adequate food |
| Market gardening | farms and small holdings growing fruit and vegetables for sale |
| Megalopolis | very large or continuous urgan area in which several large towns or cities have joined as their urban areas have spread |
| Metropolis | major city, often the capital |
| Militarized zone | area occupied by armed military forces |
| Multinational company | company which has branches, or factories in several countries |
| Nationalists | groups of people united in their wish for independence from a government or from foreign rule |
| Neutral country | country which refrains from taking part in international conflicts |
| Nomad | person who does not settle in one place for any length of time but moves in search of hunting or grazing land |
| Oil shale | flaky rock containing oil |
| Pastoralist | person who makes a living from grazing livestock |
| Peat | decomposed vegetation found in bogs |
| Peninsula | strip of land surrounded on three sides by water |
| Permafrost | permanently frozen ground; surface thaws in summer but water cannot drain away |
| Pharmaceuticals | manufacture of medicinal drugs |
| Plantation | large farm on which only one crop is usually grown |
| Plate margin | an area where two continental plates meet |
| Polar regions | regions around the North and South Poles |
| Poles, the | term applied to the North and South Poles |
| Prairie | Spanish/American term for a large area of grassland |
| Privatization | state-owned activities and companies are taken over by private firms |
| Protestant | member of one of the main Christian religions founded in the 16th century by those who did not agree with all aspects of the Roman Catholic Church |
| Quota | maximum quantity imposed on the number of goods produced, imported, or exported by a country |
| Rain forest | dense forest found in hot and humid equatorial regions |
| Raw materials | substances in a natural or unrefined state used in the manufacture of goods |
| Refugees | people who flee their own country or region because of political, religious or racial persecution |
| Republic | the form of government in a country that has no monarch. The head of state is usually a president, like the President of the USA. |
| Reservation | an area of land set aside for occupation by specific people, plants, or animals. |
| Revenue | money paid to a government, like taxes. |
| Roman Catholic | a Christian who accepts the Pope as his/her spiritual leader |
| Rural | in or belonging to the countryside |
| Savannah | tropical grasslands wehre an annual dry season |
| Seismic activity | tremors and shocks in the Earth's crust usually caused by the movement of plates along a fault |
| Service industry | an industry that supplies services, such as banking, rather than producing manufactured goods |
| Silt | small particles, finer than sand, often carried by water and deposited on riverbanks, at river mouths, and harbors |
| Socialism | political system in which the economy is owned and controlled by the state and not by private companies or indivuduals |
| soviet bloc | all those countries which were ruled directly or indirectly by the communist government of the former USSR |
| staple crop | the main crop grown in a region |
| staple food | the basic part of a diet, such as rice or bread |
| Steppes | an extensive, grass-covered and virtually treeless plain, such as those found in Siberia |
| Stock Exchange | a place where people buy and sell government bonds, currency, stocks, and financial shares in large private companies |
| Strategic | carefully planned or well placed from a military point of view |
| Subarctic | the climate in polar regions |
| Technological | the application of science through the use of machines |
| Temperate | the mild, variable climate found in areas between the tropics and cold polar regions |
| Tropic of Cancer, Capricorn | two imaginary lines of latitude drawn on the Earth's surgace above and below the Equator, The hottest parts of the world are between these two lines |
| Tropics | an area between the Equator and the tropics of Cancer and Capricorn that has heavy rainfall, high temperatures, and lacks any clear seasonal variation |
| Tundra | vegetation found in areas within the Arctic Circle, such as dwarf bushes, very short grasses, mosses, and lichens |
| United Nations (UN) | an association of countries established to work together to prevent wars and to supply aid, advice, and research on an international basis |
| Urban area | town, city, or extensive built-up area |
| West | those countries in Europe and North America with free-market economies and democratic governments |
| Western | the economic, cultural, and political values shared by countries belonging to the West |
