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| From the Sanskrit Arya ("noble"), a name applied to ancient people who spoke an Indo-European language and who moved into northern India from the northwest. Although a language-related term, Aryan has assumed additional meanings, especially racial ones. |
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| The earth's envelope of gases that rest on the oceans and land surface and penetrates the open spaces within soils. |
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| New name for the western Pacific Rim where a significant regional realignment is now taking place. |
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| An autocratic government holds absolute power, rule is often by one person or a small group of persons who control the country by despotic means. |
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| The fragmentation of a region into smaller, often hostile political units |
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| Term meaning "neighborhood" in Spanish. Usually refers to an urban community in a Middle or South American city; also applied to low-income, inner-city concentrations of Hispanics in such southwestern U.S. cities as Los angeles |
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| A set of countries separating ideological or political adversaries. Asia, Afghanistan, Nepal, and Bhutan were parts of a buffer zone between British and Russian-Chinese imperial spheres. Thailand was a buffer state between British and French colonial domains in mainland Southeast Asia. |
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| an international syndicate formed to promote common interests in some economic sphere through the formulation of joint pricing policies and the limitation of market options for consumers. The OPEC is a classic example. |
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| The art and science of making maps, including data compilation, layout, and design. Also concerned with the interpretation of mapped patterns. |
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| The strict social segregation of people-specifically in India's Hindu society-on the basis of ancestry and occupation. |
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| Pronounced Kee. A low-lying small island usually composed of coral and sand. Often part of an island chain such as the Florida Keys or the Bahamas archipelago. |
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| personal qualities of certain leaders that enable them to capture and hold the popular imagination to secure the allegiance and even the devotion of the masses. |
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| the long-term conditions (over at least 30 years) of aggregate weather over a region, summarized by averages and measures of variability; a synthesis of the succession of weather events we have learned to expect at any given location. |
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| A word of some importance to geographers that means, literally, to be in contact with, adjoining, or adjacent. Sometimes we hear the continental (conterminous) US minus Alaska referred to as contiguous. Alaska is not contiguous to these "lower 48" states because Canada lies in between them. |
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| The slow movement of continents controlled by the processes associated with plate tectonics. |
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| The process of spreading and adoption of cultural element, from its place of origin across a wider area. |
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| A deciduous tree loses its leaves at the beginning of winter or start of the dry season. |
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| Alluvial lowland at the mouth of a river, formed when the river deposits its alluvial load on reaching the sea. Often triangular in shape-hence the use of the Greek letter whose symbol is a triangle. |
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| The interdisciplinary study of population-especially birth rates and death rates, growth patters, longevity, migration, and related characteristics. |
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| The process whereby regions within a state demand and gain political strength and growing autonomy at the expense of the central government |
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| Strictly speaking, this refers to the study of the many interrelationships between all forms of life and the natural environments in which they have evolved and continue to develop. The study of ecosystems focuses on the interactions between specific organisms in their environments. |
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| The habitable portions of the earth's surface where permanent human settlements have arisen. |
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| A person migrating away from a country or area; an out-migrant. |
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| A combination of gradational forces that shape the earth's surface landforms. Running water, wind action, and the force of moving ice combine to war away soil and rock. Human activities often speed erosional processes, such as through the destruction of natural vegetation, careless farming practices, and overgrazing by livestock. |
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| A cliff or steep slope; frequently marks the edge of a plateau. |
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| The widening mouth of a river as it reaches the sea. An estuary forms when the margin of the land has subsided somewhat (or as ocean levels rise following glaciations periods) and seawater has invaded the river's lowest portion. |
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| An economic and political union-currently including 27 Western and Eastern European nations-established in 1993. The EU is especially active in foreign and security issues, has a central European bank, and has adopted a common currency, the euro. (Some nation have opted not to use the euro, ex:UK and Denmark.) Its controlling bodies are elected/appointed by individual member citizens/governments. Member states maintain individual status and sovereignty. |
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| A political framework wherein a (more powerful) central government represents the various entities (like states/provinces) within a nation-state. These share common interests, such as defense, foreign affairs, and the like. The various smaller entities retain their own identities and have their own laws, policies, and customs in certain spheres. |
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| Narrow, steep-sided, elongated, and inundated costal valley deepened by glacier ice that has since melted away, leaving the sea to penetrate. (most associated with Sweden and Finland) |
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| The successful recent development of higher yield, fast-growing varieties of rice and other cereals in certain developing countries. This led to increased production per unit area and a temporary narrowing of the gap between populations. |
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| Gross national product (GNP) |
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| The total value of all goods and services produced in a country during a given year. |
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| The political dominance of a country (or even a region) by another country. The former Soviet Union's postwar grip on Eastern Europe, which lasted from 1945-1990, was a classic example. |
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| Areas of the oceans away from land, beyond national jurisdiction, open and free for all to use. |
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| Literally, "country behind", a term that applies to a surrounding area served by an urban center. That center is the focus of goods and services, produced for its hinterland and is its dominant urban influence as well. In the case of a port city, the hinterland also includes the inland area whose trade flows through the port. |
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| A person migrating into a particular country or area; and in-migrant |
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| The drive toward the creation and expansion of a colonial empire and, once established, its perpetuation. |
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| A land bridge; a comparatively narrow link between larger bodies of land. Central America forms such a link between North and South America. |
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| Contrasting places in close proximity to one another. |
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| Lines of latitude are aligned east-west across the globe, from 0 degrees latitude at the equator to 90 degrees north and south latitude at the poles. Areas of low latitude, therefore, lie near the equator in the tropics; high latitudes are those in the north polar (Arctic) and south polar (Antarctic) regions. They are imaginary, human made lines. |
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| the protected or downwind side of a topographic barrier with respect to the winds that flow across it. |
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| Map lines at angular distance (0 degrees to 180 degrees) east or west as measured from the prime meridian (0 degrees) that passes through the Greenwich Observatory outside London, England. For much of its length in the mid-Pacific Ocean, the 180th is the international date line. |
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| Protectionist policy of European states during the sixteenth to the eighteenth centuries that promoted a state's economic position in the contest with other countries. The acquisition of gold and silver and the maintenance of a favorable trade balance (more exports than imports) were central to the policy. |
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| The root of this word is Latin for mixed; it means a person of mixed white and Amerindian ancestry. |
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| A change in residence intended to be permanent. |
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| The belief in, and worship of, a single god. |
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| Refers to the seasonal reversal of wind (and moisture) that flows in certain parts of the subtropics and lower-middle latitudes. The dry monsoon occurs during the cool season when dry offshore winds prevail. The wet monsson occurs in the hot summer months, which produce onshore winds that bring large amounts of rainfall. |
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| A person of mixed African (black) and European (white) ancestry. |
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| Legally a term encompassing all the citizens of a state, it also has other connotations. Most definitions now tend to refer to a group of tightly-knit people possessing bonds of language, ethnicity, religion, and other shared cultural attributes. |
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| by international agreement, the nautical mile--the standard measure at sea-- is 6076.12 feet in length, equivalent to approximately 1.15 statute miles (1.85 KM). |
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| An area, small or large, where the supply of water permits the transformation of the surrounding desert into a green cropland; the most important focus of human activity for miles around. It may also encompass a densely populated corridor along a major river where irrigation projects stabilize the water supply--as long the Nile in Egypt, which can be viewed as an elongated chain of oases. |
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| Occidental originates from the Latin for fall, or the "setting" of the sun in the west; occidental therefore means "western." (Europeans, etc.) |
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| The root of the word oriental is from the Latin for rise. Thus is has to do with the direction in which one sees the sun "rise"--the east; oriental therefore means "eastern". (Asians) |
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| A far-flung group of countries and parts of countries (extending clockwise on the map from New Zealand to Chile) sharing the following criteria: (1) they face the Pacific Ocean, (2) they evince relatively high levels of economic development, industrialization, and urbanization, (3) their imports and exports mainly move across Pacific waters. |
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| An outbreak of a disease that spreads world-wide. (black death) |
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| A vast, singular landmass consisting of most of the areas of the present continents (including the America, Eurasia, Africa, Australia, and Antarctica) which existed until near the end of the Mesozoic era when plate divergence and continental drift broke it apart. The northern segment of this Pangaean supercontinuent is called Laurasia, the "southern" part Gondwana. |
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| A comparatively narrow, finger-like stretch of land extending from the main landmass into the sea. (florida or korea) |
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| Term used in Middle and South America to identify people who often live in serfdom to a wealthy landowner; landless peasants in continuous indebtedness. |
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| Capita means individual, Income, production, or some other measure is often given per individual. |
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| A journey to a place of great religious significance by an individual or by a group of people (Mecca for muslims) |
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| Plates are bonded portions of the earth's mantle and crust, averaging 60 miles (100 km) in thickness. More than a dozen such plates exist, most of continental proportions, and they are in motion. Where they meet one slides under the other, crumpling the surface crust and producing significant volcanic and earthquake activity. A major mountain-building force. |
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| The idea that migration flows are simultaneously stimulated by conditions in the source area, which tend to drive people away, and by the perceived attractiveness of the destination. |
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| Vertical difference between the highest and lowest elevations within a particular area |
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| Tropical grassland containing widely spaced trees |
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| Representation of a real-world phenomenon at a certain level of reduction or generalization. In cartography, the ratio of map distance to ground distance; indicated on a map as bar graph, representative fraction, and/or verbal statement. |
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| relationship between a large landowner and farmers on the land wherein the farmers pay rent for the land they farm by giving the landlord a share of the annual harvest |
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| Cultivation of crops in recently cut nd burned tropical forest clearings, soon to be abandoned in favor of newly cleared nearby forest land. Also known as slash-and-burn agriculture. |
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| A politically organized territory that is administered by a sovereign government and is recognized by a significant portion of the international community. A state must also contain a permanent resident population, and organized economy, and a functioning internal circulation system. |
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| Semiarid grassland; short-grass prairie. Also, the name given to the semiarid climate type. |
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| Existing on the minimum necessities to sustain life; spending most of one's time in pursuit of survival. |
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| The transformation of a hillside or mountain slope into a step-like sequence of horizontal fields for intensive cultivation. |
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| A state whose government is under the control of a ruler who is deemed to be divinely guided or under the control of a group of religious leaders. The opposite of the theocratic state is the secular state. |
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| The increasing nearness of places that occurs as modern transportation breakthroughs progressively reduce the time-distance between them. The trip by boat from New York to San Francisco before the Civil War took months. After 1870, the transcontinental railroad cut the travel time to less than two weeks; by 1930, trains made the journey in three days. After 1945, propeller planes made the trip in about 12 hours; and by 1960, non-stop jet planes achieved today's travel time of five hours. |
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| Cultural borrowing that occurs when different cultures of approximately equal complexity and technological level come into close contact. In acculturation, by contrast, an indigenous society's culture is modified by contact with a technologically superior society. |
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| A seismic (earthquake-generated) sea wave that can attain gigantic proportions and cause coastal devastation. |
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| Urban (metropolitan) area |
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| The entire build-up, non-rural area and its population, including the most recently constructed suburban appendages. Provides a better picture of the dimensions and population of such an area that the delimited municipality (central city) that forms its heart. |
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| When precipitation falls on the soil, some o the water is drawn downward through the pores in the soil and rock under the force of gravity. Below the surface it reahces a level where it can do no further; there it joins water that already saturates the rock completely. This water that "stands" underground is groundwater, and the upper level of the zone of saturation is the water table. |
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| the exposed, upwind side of a topographic barrier that faces the winds that flow across it. |
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| the exposed, upwind side of a topographic barrier that faces the winds that flow across it. |
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