Geography

Here student's can find a large array of definitions involved with geography.

• geography - The study of the Earth's surface, the connections between places, and the relationships between people and their environment.

• latitude lines- A series of imaginary lines, also called parallels, that circle the Earth parallel to the Equator; used to measure a distance north or south of the Equator in degrees.

• parallel - A line of latitude

• degrees* - A unit of measure used to determine absolute location; on globes and maps, lines of latitude and longitude are measured in degrees.

• minute* - 1/60 of a degree.

• Equator - An imaginary line that circles the globe at its widest point, dividing the Earth into two halves called hemispheres; used as a reference point from which north and south latitudes are measured.

• longitude lines - A series of imaginary lines, also called meridians, that run north and south, from one pole to the other; used to measure the distance east or west of the Prime Meridian in degrees.

• meridian - A line of longitude.

• Prime Meridian - The line of longitude that runs from the North Pole to the South Pole through Greenwich, England; it is designated 0° longitude and is the reference point from which lines of east and west longitude are measured.

• absolute location - The exact position of a place on Earth.

• relative location - The location of a place as described by the places near it.

• place* - A location's physical and human features.

• physical feature (characteristic) - The natural features of Earth, such as land formations or vegetation zones.

• human characteristic (feature) - Characteristics of a place that are related to people; these might include buildings or parks.

• human-environment interaction - How people affect their environment and how the environment affects them.

• movement* - Theme of geography that explains how people, goods, and ideas get from one place to another.

• region - An area with a unifying characteristic such as climate, land, population, or history.

• plain - A large area of flat or gently rolling land usually without many trees.

• scale - The size of an area on a map as compared with the area's actual size.

• distortion - A misrepresentation of the true shape; every map projection produces some distortion.

• compass rose - A map feature that usually shows the four cardinal directions.

• cardinal directions - The four main compass points: north, south, east, and west.

• intermediate directions* - The points of the compass that fall between north and east, north and west, south and east, and south and west (e.g., NE, NW, SE, and SW).

• key (legend) - The section of a map that explains the symbols for the map features.

• orbit - The path followed by an object in space as it moves around another, such as that of Earth as it moves around the sun.

• revolution - One complete orbit of the Earth around the sun; Earth completes one revolution every 365 ¼ days.

• axis - An imaginary line around which a planet turns.

• rotation - The spinning motion of the Earth, like a top on its axis; the Earth takes about 24 hours to rotate one time.

• earth-sun relationship* - The position of the Earth relative to the sun that helps to determine day and night, seasons, and time zones.

• low latitudes (tropics) - The region between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn.

• high latitudes (polar zones) - The regions between the Arctic Circle and the North Pole and the Antarctic Circle and the South Pole.

• middle latitudes (temperate zones) - The regions between the Tropic of Cancer and the Arctic Circle and the Tropic of Capricorn and the Antarctic Circle.

• plate tectonics - The theory that the Earth's crust is made of huge, slowly moving slabs of rock called plates.

• weathering - The breaking down of rocks by wind, rain, or ice.

• erosion - A process by which water, wind, or ice wears away landforms and carries the material to another place.

• atmosphere - The multilayered band of gases that surrounds the Earth.

• weather - The condition of the bottom layer of the Earth's atmosphere in one place over a short period of time.

• precipitation - All forms of water, such as rain, sleet, hail, and snow, that fall to the ground from the atmosphere.

• climate - The weather patterns that an area typically experiences over a long period of time.

• tundra - A region where temperatures are always cool or cold and where only certain plants, such as low grasses, can grow.

• vertical climate - The overall weather patterns of a region as influenced by elevation; the higher the elevation, the colder the climate.

• population - The people living in a particular region; especially, the total number of people in an area.

• population distribution - How a population is spread over an area.

• population density - The average number of people in a given area (often a square mile).

• birth rate - The number of live births each year, per 1,000 people.

• death rate - The number of deaths each year per 1,000 people.

• life expectancy - The average number of years a person is expected to live.

• standard of living - The material quality of life, often measured by education, housing, health care, and nutrition.

• migration - The movement of people from one country or region to another in order to make a new home.

• immigrant - A person who moves to a new country in order to settle there.

• push-pull theory - A theory of migration that says people migrate because certain things in their lives "push" them to leave, and certain things in a new place "pull" them.

• push factor* - A social, political, economic, or environmental force that drives people from a location.

• pull factor* - A social, political, economic, or environmental attraction to a new area that draws people from a previous location.

• urbanization - The growth of city populations caused by the movement of people to cities.

• rural area - An area with low population density such as a village or the countryside.

• urban area - An area with high population density, such as a city or town.

• suburban area* - A usually residential area close to a city.

• culture - Language, religious beliefs, values, customs, and other ways of life shared by a group of people.

• cultural traits (practice) - A behavioral characteristic of a group of people, such as a language, skill, or custom, passed from one generation to another.

• cultural product* - A tangible or intangible product of a cultural group.

• agriculture - Farming; includes growing crops and raising livestock.

• social structure - The ways in which people within a culture are organized into smaller groups; each smaller group has its own particular tasks.

• nuclear family - A family that includes parents or children.

• extended family - A family unit that may include parents, children, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and other relatives, often living with or near each other.

• economy - A system for producing, distributing, consuming, and owning goods, services, and wealth.

• producer - A person who makes products that are used by other people.

• consumer - A person who buys goods or services.

• goods - Products that are made; objects that can satisfy people's wants.

• services - Work done or duties performed for other people; actions capable of satisfying people's wants.

• want* - A psychological or physical desire that can be fulfilled through the consumption of goods and services.

• capital goods* - Human-made resources needed to produce goods or services such as machinery or tools.

• capitalism - An economic system in which people and privately owned companies own basic and non-basic businesses and industries.

• market economy* - An economic system in which people acting as buyers and sellers make the decisions about production and consumption; capitalism is a market economy.

• socialism - An economic system in which the government owns the basic industries, such as transportation and banking; non-basic industries are privately owned.

• mixed economy* - An economic system that combines the features of more than one economic system; socialism is an example of a mixed economy.

• communism - An economic system and theory of government in which all basic and non-basic industries are owned by a central government for the benefit of all citizens.

• command economy* - An economic system in which all decisions about production and consumption are made by a central government, as in communism.

• government - The system that establishes and enforces the laws and institutions of a society.

• direct democracy - A system of government in which the people participate directly in decision making.

• representative democracy (republic) - A system of government in which people elect representatives to run the affairs of the country.

• monarchy - A system of authoritarian government headed by a monarch - usually a king or queen - who inherits the throne by birth.

• constitutional monarchy - A government in which a king or queen is the head of state but has limited powers, such as the present government of the U.K.

• dictatorship* - A system of government in which the leader or leaders have complete power and cannot be held responsible to the will of the people.

• theocracy* - A system of government headed by one or more religious leaders who claim to rule by divine authority.

• country* - A unit of political space; the entire land area of a nation or state.

• nation* - A group of people bound together by a strong sense of shared values and cultural characteristics, including language, religion, and common history.

• cultural diffusion - The movement of customs and ideas from one culture to another.

• cultural perspective* - The complex set of meanings, attitudes, values, and ideas belonging to a cultural group.

• acculturation - The process of accepting, borrowing, and exchanging ideas and traits among cultures.

• natural resource - Any useful material found in the environment.

• raw material - A resource or material that is still in its natural state, before being processed or manufactured into a useful product.

• recyclable resource (flow resource) - A resource that cycles through natural processes in the environment; water, carbon, and nitrogen are recyclable resources.

• renewable resource - A natural resources that can be regenerated if used carefully, such as timber or fish.

• nonrenewable resource - A resource that cannot be replaced once it is used, like oil, coal, and minerals.

• fossil fuel - Any one of several nonrenewable resources such as coal, oil, or natural gas created from the remains of plants and animals.

• manufacturing - The process of turning raw materials into a finished product.

• human resource* - The talents and skills of a human or humans that contributes to the production of goods and services.

• developed nation - A country with a modern industrial society and a well developed economy.

• developing nation - A country with low industrial production, often lacking modern technology.

• commercial farming - Farming that is done by companies; commercial farms are large and use modern technology; also, the raising of crops and livestock for sale in outside markets.

• subsistence farming - Farming that provides only enough food and animals to meet the needs of a family or village.

• ecosystem - A community of living things and their environment; the elements of an ecosystem interact with one another.

• deforestation - The process of clearing land of forests or trees, usually to make room for farms and homes.

• social class* - A group of people within a society that possess the same socioeconomic status, often determined by occupation, education, income, manners, etc.

• middle class - A group of people that included traders, merchants and others who were economically between the poor and the very rich that emerged during the Renaissance.

• colonialism* - A system where one country extends its control over a foreign territory, especially for economic benefit.

• imperialism - The control by one country of the economic and political life of another country or region.

• nationalism - The feeling of pride in one's homeland; a group's identity as members of a nation.