Geography Basics
A flat representation of the Earth's surface.
A government system that allows citizens to participate in governing.
Democracy
Fuels formed from ancient remains of plants and animals.
Fossil Fuels
The South American river with the greatest volume of water in the world.
Amazon River
The world's largest island, located northeast of Canada.
Greenland
The capital of Italy.
Rome
The capital of Germany.
Berlin
Any form of water that falls to Earth's surface.
Precipitation
Residential communities located outside a city.
Suburbs
Taxes placed on imported goods.
Tariffs
The capital of Canada.
Ottawa
The capital of Norway.
Oslo
The world's smallest independent country, located within Rome.
Vatican City
The capital of Russia.
The imaginary line at 0° longitude.
Prime Meridian
The movement of people from rural areas into cities.
Urbanization
A general rise in prices that reduces the purchasing power of money.
Inflation
The capital of Argentina.
Buenos Aires
The capital of Denmark.
Copenhagen
The capital of Austria.
Vienna
The world's deepest freshwater lake, located in Russia.
Lake Baikal
The exact position of something on Earth.
Absolute Location
A society where distinct cultures coexist while maintaining their identities.
Cultural Mosaic
Financial assistance provided by the government to businesses.
Subsidies
The climate pattern that unusually warms the Pacific waters along South America's coast.
El Niño
An economic approach combining free-market capitalism with extensive social welfare programs
Nordic Model
The European river that is the longest on the continent.
Volga River
The passage separating South America from Antarctica.
Drake Passage
The type of climate influenced primarily by elevation rather than latitude.
Highlands
The forced removal of an ethnic group through deportation, displacement, or violence.
Ethnic Cleansing
Energy produced using heat from beneath Earth's surface.
Geothermal Energy
The South American desert known as one of the driest places on Earth.
Atacama Desert
Narrow sea inlets with steep, rocky sides formed by glaciers.
Fjords
The body of water separating southern England from northern France.
English Channel
The capital of the Dominican Republic.
Santo Domingo
An area where water collects and drains into a common body of water.
Watershed
The principle that guarantees everyone access to certain public services.
Raising fish on managed farms.
Aquaculture
The large lake located along the border of Peru and Bolivia.
Lake Titicaca
The indigenous people of northern Scandinavia who adapted to harsh Arctic conditions.
Sami
The highest mountain in Europe, located in the Caucasus region.
Mount Elbrus
The highest mountain in Middle America.
Pico de Orizaba
The zone near the equator where trade winds converge and influence tropical climates.
ITCZ (Intertropical Convergence Zone)
The division of a region into smaller, often hostile ethnic or political groups.
Balkanization
The practice of protecting domestic industries from foreign competition.
Protectionism
The American city historically known as the Gateway to the West.
St. Louis
The term for critics who oppose closer political integration with the European Union.
Euroskeptics
The highest mountain in the Alps.
Mont Blanc
The highest mountain in Canada.
Mount Logan
The essential element of geography that studies how people interact with their surroundings.
Environment and Society
A political philosophy emphasizing the power of ordinary people over political elites.
Populism
The loss of highly educated or skilled workers when they move to other countries.
Brain Drain
The mountain that is the highest point in the Western Hemisphere.
Mount Aconcagua
The missionary to China who was one of the Cambridge Seven.
The mountain region along the France–Switzerland border known for its watchmaking industry.
Jura Mountains
The process of converting unusable land or shallow water into usable land.
Land Reclamation