A World of Words: Human Geography - High School

Review these human geography terms and learn all about the human forces that shape and are shaped by the natural world.You'll explore immigration and emigration, colonialism, development and urbanization, demography, globalization, and much more. Expand the boundaries of your vocabulary with this list!
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. acculturation
    the adoption of the behavior patterns of one's surroundings
  2. agribusiness
    a large-scale farming enterprise
  3. air pollution
    pollution of the atmosphere
  4. animism
    the doctrine that all natural objects have souls
  5. annexation
    the act of acquiring something by conquest or occupation
  6. apartheid
    a social policy of racial segregation
  7. assimilation
    the process of absorbing one cultural group into another
  8. asylum
    a shelter from danger or hardship
  9. autonomy
    political independence
  10. balance of power
    an equilibrium of power between nations
  11. Balkanize
    divide a territory into small, hostile states
  12. biodiversity
    the variety of plant and animal life in a habitat
  13. biomass
    the total amount of living matter in a given unit area
  14. birth rate
    the number of babies born during a specific period within a population
  15. bloc
    a group united for a particular purpose
  16. boundary
    a line determining the limits of an area
  17. brain drain
    depletion or loss of intellectual and technical personnel
  18. buffer state
    a neutral country situated between two rival powers
  19. capital
    a seat of government
  20. cartography
    the making of maps and charts
  21. caste
    a social class separated by distinctions of hereditary rank
  22. census
    a periodic count of the population
  23. cereal
    grass whose starchy grains are used as food: wheat
  24. chlorofluorocarbon
    a fluorocarbon with chlorine
  25. city-state
    an independent nation comprised of a single town
  26. cohort
    a group of people having approximately the same age
  27. colonialism
    exploitation by a stronger country of a weaker one
  28. colonization
    the act of settling a group of people in a new place
  29. colony
    a geographical area controlled by a distant country
  30. combine
    harvester that threshes grain while moving across the field
  31. concentration
    the spatial property of being crowded together
  32. confederation
    a union of political organizations
  33. connectivity
    the property of being connected or the degree to which something has connections
  34. conservation
    careful management of the environment and natural resources
  35. cosmogony
    the branch of astrophysics that studies the origin and evolution and structure of the universe
  36. cottage industry
    a small-scale business that can be run at home
  37. creole
    a mother tongue created by contact between two languages
  38. crop
    a cultivated plant that is grown commercially
  39. cultivation
    production of food by preparing the land to grow crops
  40. culture
    all the knowledge and values shared by a society
  41. custom
    a specific practice of long standing
  42. daylight-savings time
    time during which clocks are set one hour ahead of local standard time; widely adopted during summer to provide extra daylight in the evenings
  43. decolonization
    the action of changing from colonial to independent status
  44. delimitation
    a line that indicates a boundary
  45. demarcation
    the boundary of a specific area
  46. demilitarized zone
    a zone from which military forces or operations or installations are prohibited
  47. demographic
    a statistic characterizing human populations
  48. demography
    the study of the characteristics of human populations
  49. denomination
    a group of religious congregations with its own organization
  50. density
    the spatial property of being crowded together
  51. deportation
    the expulsion of a non-citizen from a country
  52. desertification
    a gradual transformation into arid, uninhabitable land
  53. development
    making some area of land or water more profitable or useful
  54. devolution
    the process of declining from a higher to a lower level
  55. dialect
    the usage or vocabulary characteristic of a group of people
  56. diaspora
    the dispersion of something that was originally localized
  57. diffusion
    spread of social institutions from one society to another
  58. diocese
    a district that is under the jurisdiction of a bishop
  59. displaced person
    a person forced to flee from home or country
  60. distribution
    the property of being scattered about over a range or area
  61. domain
    territory over which rule or control is exercised
  62. domino theory
    idea that communist nations will convert neighboring nations
  63. ecology
    study of the relations of organisms to their environment
  64. emigration
    moving from one place in order to settle in another
  65. enclave
    an enclosed territory that is culturally distinct
  66. endemic
    native to or confined to a certain region
  67. epidemic
    a widespread outbreak of an infectious disease
  68. epidemiology
    science dealing with the transmission and control of disease
  69. equator
    an imaginary line around the Earth forming a great circle
  70. ethnic
    distinctive of the ways of living of a group of people
  71. ethnic cleansing
    the deliberate removal of people from a specific culture
  72. ethnicity
    an affiliation resulting from racial or cultural ties
  73. ethnocentrism
    belief in the superiority of one's own ethnic group
  74. eugenics
    the promotion of controlled breeding in human populations
  75. explorer
    someone who travels to unknown regions to make discoveries
  76. fertility rate
    the number of babies born during a specific period within a population
  77. floodplain
    a low plain adjacent to a river that is formed chiefly of river sediment and is subject to flooding
  78. fossil fuel
    energy-producing substance derived from preserved organisms
  79. frontier
    an international boundary or the area immediately inside it
  80. fundamentalism
    the interpretation of sacred texts as literal truth
  81. genocide
    systematic killing of a racial or cultural group
  82. gentrification
    change in poorer areas due to an influx of wealthier people
  83. geopolitics
    influence of location, demographics, etc. on foreign policy
  84. ghetto
    a poor densely populated city district
  85. globalization
    growth to a worldwide scale
  86. Global Positioning System
    a navigational system involving satellites and computers that can determine the latitude and longitude of a receiver on Earth by computing the time difference for signals from different satellites to reach the receiver
  87. greenbelt
    a belt of parks or rural land surrounding a town or city
  88. greenhouse effect
    warming due to solar radiation trapped by the atmosphere
  89. green revolution
    the introduction of pesticides and high-yield grains and better management during the 1960s and 1970s which greatly increased agricultural productivity
  90. Greenwich Mean Time
    the local time at the 0 meridian passing through Greenwich, England; it is the same everywhere
  91. gross domestic product
    the value of all things made and sold by a country in a year
  92. guest worker
    a person with temporary permission to work in another country
  93. homeland
    the country where you were born
  94. horticulture
    the cultivation of plants
  95. hydroelectric
    of or relating to or used in the production of electricity by waterpower
  96. ideogram
    a graphic character that indicates the meaning of a thing without indicating the sounds used to say it
  97. immigration
    movement of people into a country or area
  98. imperialism
    a policy of extending your rule over foreign countries
  99. Industrial Revolution
    the transformation from an agricultural to an industrial nation
  100. infant mortality rate
    the death rate during the first year of life
  101. infectious disease
    a disease transmitted only by a specific kind of contact
  102. inflation
    a general and progressive increase in prices
  103. infrastructure
    basic facilities needed for the functioning of a country
  104. International Date Line
    an imaginary line on the surface of the earth following (approximately) the 180th meridian
  105. irredenta
    a region that is related ethnically or historically to one country but is controlled politically by another
  106. irredentism
    the doctrine that irredenta should be controlled by the country to which they are ethnically or historically related
  107. kinship
    relatedness or connection by blood or marriage or adoption
  108. landlocked
    surrounded entirely or almost entirely by land
  109. latitude
    an imaginary line around the Earth parallel to the equator
  110. life expectancy
    an expected time to live as calculated on the basis of statistical probabilities
  111. lingua franca
    a common language used by speakers of different languages
  112. literacy
    the ability to read and write
  113. longitude
    the angular distance from the prime meridian at Greenwich
  114. mass production
    the manufacturing of large quantities of goods
  115. megalopolis
    a very large urban complex
  116. mercantilism
    a system of increasing wealth through colonization and trade
  117. meridian
    an imaginary great circle on the surface of the earth
  118. migration
    the movement of persons from one locality to another
  119. missionary
    someone sent to a foreign country to spread a religion
  120. mobility
    the quality of moving freely
  121. monotheism
    belief in a single God
  122. mortality rate
    the ratio of deaths in an area to the population of that area; expressed per 1000 per year
  123. nation
    a politically organized body of people under a government
  124. nationalism
    the doctrine that your country's interests are superior
  125. nationality
    the status of belonging to a particular country
  126. NATO
    an international organization created in 1949 by the North Atlantic Treaty for purposes of collective security
  127. natural resource
    material in the environment that can be used by people
  128. nomad
    a member of a people who have no permanent home
  129. overpopulation
    too many individuals of a given species
  130. ozone
    a colorless gas that is a screen for ultraviolet radiation
  131. paddy
    an irrigated or flooded field where rice is grown
  132. pagan
    a person following a polytheistic or pre-Christian religion
  133. pandemic
    an outbreak of disease that is geographically widespread
  134. parallel
    an imaginary line around the Earth even with the equator
  135. pasture
    a field covered with grass and suitable for grazing
  136. patriotism
    love of country and willingness to sacrifice for it
  137. periphery
    the outside boundary or surface of something
  138. photovoltaic cell
    a cell that converts solar energy into electrical energy
  139. pidgin
    a simplified language allowing communication between groups
  140. pilgrimage
    a journey to a sacred place
  141. plantation
    an estate where cash crops are grown on a large scale
  142. polder
    low-lying land that has been reclaimed and is protected by dikes (especially in the Netherlands)
  143. polytheism
    belief in multiple gods
  144. population
    the people who inhabit a territory or state
  145. population growth
    increase in the number of people who inhabit a territory or state
  146. preservation
    the activity of protecting something from loss or danger
  147. prime meridian
    meridian from which east and west are reckoned
  148. productivity
    the quality of yielding positive results
  149. projection
    the representation of a figure or solid on a plane
  150. proselytize
    convert or try to convert someone to another religion
  151. public housing
    a housing development that is publicly funded and administered for low-income families
  152. quota
    a prescribed number
  153. racism
    the prejudice that one people are superior to another
  154. ranching
    farming for the raising of livestock (particularly cattle)
  155. reaper
    farm machine that gathers a food crop from the fields
  156. reapportionment
    a new apportionment
  157. recycling
    the act of processing used materials to create something new
  158. redline
    discriminate in housing certain people in certain areas
  159. refugee
    an exile who flees for safety
  160. region
    a large indefinite location on the surface of the Earth
  161. regionalism
    political policy that focuses on particular geographic areas
  162. remittance
    a payment of money sent to a person in another place
  163. renewable resource
    any natural resource (as wood or solar energy) that can be replenished naturally with the passage of time
  164. repatriation
    the act of returning to one's country of origin
  165. resource
    a new or reserve supply that can be drawn upon when needed
  166. reunification
    the act of coming together again
  167. scale
    the ratio between the size of a thing and its representation
  168. secession
    formal separation from an alliance or federation
  169. sect
    a subdivision of a larger religious group
  170. secular
    not concerned with or devoted to religion
  171. secularism
    a doctrine that rejects religious considerations
  172. segregation
    a social system that provides different facilities for minority groups
  173. settlement
    people far from home who maintain ties with their homeland
  174. sharecropper
    a tenant farmer who owes a portion of each harvest for rent
  175. sovereignty
    government free from external control
  176. sphere
    the area over which a nation has power or control
  177. sprawl
    the disorganized spread of development beyond city limits
  178. standard of living
    the level of material goods and services available
  179. subsistence farming
    farming that provides for the basic needs of the farmer without surpluses for marketing
  180. suffrage
    a legal right to vote
  181. superpower
    a country that can influence events throughout the world
  182. supranational
    transcending established national boundaries or spheres of interest
  183. sustainability
    the capacity of being prolonged
  184. sustainable
    capable of being prolonged
  185. symbol
    an arbitrary sign with a conventional significance
  186. syncretism
    the union of different systems of thought or belief
  187. taboo
    a ban resulting from social custom or emotional aversion
  188. terrorism
    the use of violence against civilians for ideological goals
  189. textile
    artifact made by weaving or felting or knitting fibers
  190. Thomas Malthus
    an English economist who argued that increases in population would outgrow increases in the means of subsistence (1766-1834)
  191. time zone
    a geographical region that uses the same standard time
  192. toponym
    the name by which a geographical place is known
  193. township
    an administrative division of a county
  194. transnational
    involving or operating in several countries
  195. treaty
    a written agreement between two states or sovereigns
  196. underclass
    the social class lowest in the social hierarchy
  197. underpopulated
    having a lower population density than normal or desirable
  198. United Nations
    an organization of independent states formed in 1945 to promote international peace and security
  199. urbanization
    the social process whereby cities grow
  200. urban renewal
    the clearing and rebuilding and redevelopment of urban slums
  201. value-added tax
    a tax levied on the difference between a commodity's price before taxes and its cost of production
  202. zoning
    dividing an area into zones or sections reserved for different purposes such as residence and business and manufacturing etc
Created on Thu Mar 02 10:14:30 EST 2017 (updated Fri Mar 31 11:42:09 EDT 2017)

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