6th Grade Social Studies Vocabulary
Archipelago - a group of islands
Boycott - a refusal to buy or use goods and services to show disapproval or bring about change
Cardinal directions - north, south, east, west
Cash crop - a crop that is raised or gathered to be sold on the world market
Climate - the average weather of a place over many years
Communist - a government that controls a country's large industries, businesses, and land
Cultural diffusion - the spread of customs and ideas from one culture to another
Culture - the way of life of a people, including their language, beliefs, customs, and practices
Developed country - a country with many industries and a well-developed economy
Economy - a system for producing, distributing, consuming, and owning goods and services
Ethnic group - a group of people that share such characteristics as language, religion, ancestry, and
cultural traditions
Hemisphere - one half of Earth
Holocaust - the killing of more than six million Jews by Nazi Germany during World War II
Human environment interaction - one of the five themes of geography that explains how people affect
the environment and physical surroundings, and how the environment affects them
Immigrant - a person who moves into one country from another
Industrialization - the growth of manufacturing in an economy
Irrigation - the artificial watering of crops using canals and other artificial water-ways
Landlocked - completely surrounded by land; having no direct access to the ocean
Latitude - the distance north or south of the Equator, measured in degrees
Location - one of the five themes of geography that explains where a place is at on Earth
Longitude - the distance east or west of the Prime Meridian, measured in degrees
Monotheism - a belief that there is only one god
Monsoon - a wind that changes direction with the change of season, occurring especially in southern
Asia and Africa
Movement - one of the five themes of geography that explains how people and goods get from one
place to another
Natural resources - a useful material found in the environment such as water, minerals, and vegetation
Nonrenewable resource - a natural resource that cannot be replaced once it is used
Place - one of the five themes of geography that describes the human and physical characteristics at a
specific location
Population - a total number of people in an area
population density - the average number of people living in a square mile
Renewable resource - a natural resource that can be replaced
Social class - a grouping of people based on rank or status
Subsistence farming - farming that provides only enough food for a family or village
Urbanization - the movement of people to cities
Vegetation - plants that grow in a region