Vocabulary Definitions List
The following words are the words that are to be in your vocabulary journal.
Definitions reworded IN YOUR OWN WORDS, real world examples, and
pictures need to be included for each entry.
Most words from Unit 1 will be used again in future units!!!
UNIT 1(Basic Vocabulary Unit)
1. Culture: The beliefs, traditions, laws, art, food, and ways of living that a group of
people share.
2. Standard of Living: How wealthy or poor a nation is-high or low; a generalization
3. Literacy Rate: The percentage of people over the age of 15 that can read and write in
a country.
4. Geography: The study of people, places, and the environment
5. Government: The people or groups in a country that make laws, make sure those
laws are enforced, and settles disagreements about those laws
6. Economics: The production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services
7. History: A record of the past
8. Latitude Lines: The imaginary lines that run east to west across the Earth; measure
how far a place is from the Equator
9. Longitude Lines: The imaginary lines that run north to south across the Earth;
measure how far a place is from the Prime Meridian
10. Prime Meridian: Longitude line that runs through Greenwich, England and divides
the Earth into the Eastern and Western Hemispheres
11. Equator: Latitude line that runs through the center of the planet and divides it into
the Northern and Southern Hemispheres
12. Physical Map: Map that shows features such as mountain ranges, rivers, deserts,
etc.; shows natural features
13. Political Map: Map that shows features such as cities, countries, towns, villages, etc.
14. Natural Resources: Any valuable product that comes from nature (ex. coal, fruits,
vegetables, gold)
15. Agriculture: Farming and livestock
16. Scarcity: A shortage of resources when the demand is high
17. Push Factor: Anything that causes people to move away from a place
18. Pull Factor: Anything that causes people to move to a place
19. Rural Areas: Located furthest away from the urban area; countryside, farms, and
undeveloped lands; low population density
20. Suburban Areas: Smaller towns and cities; usually located within 30-50 miles of an
urban area; suburban sprawl; medium population density
21. Urban Areas: Usually heavily populated cities, these are high population density
areas; often contain tall buildings and may have factories (high pollution)
22. Industrial Areas/Industry: Usually the same as urban areas; have factories and
many places where things are produced; pollution typically an issue; jobs, jobs, jobs!
23. Movement/Migration: When a group of people or animals moves from one area to
another
24. Autocratic/Autocracy: One person leads with unlimited power; citizen has little, if
any, role in the government (think AUTOMOBILE)
25. Oligarchic/Oligarchy: Government led by a group; citizen has very limited role in the
government (think OLIVE GARDEN)
26. Democratic/Democracy: Government where people (citizens) have the powervoting!
27. Unitary: A form of government where the power is held by one central authority;
smaller regional authorities exist, but only get power from the central government
28. Federal: A form of government where power is divided and shared between one
central and several regional authorities
29. Confederation: When independent countries agree to work together as one in order
to accomplish certain goals
30. Constitutional Monarchy: Government in which there is a king or queen, but they
have no real power; the real leader of the country is the Prime Minister; the citizens get
to vote for the real leaders
UNIT 2 (Geography, Governments and Economies of Europe)
31. Peninsula: A piece of land surrounded by water on three sides (Iberian Peninsula,
Scandinavian Peninsula)
32. River: A large, flowing body of water, sometimes used for shipping, travel and trade
(Danube River, Rhine River)
33. English Channel: The body of water located between the United Kingdom and
France
34. Mediterranean Sea: The large body of water to the south of Europe; borders Africa
and Asia as well
35. Mountains: Large masses of land created from converging tectonic plates (Alps
Mountains, Pyrenees Mountains, Ural Mountains)
36. Traditional Economy: An economy where people use the same work methods and
tools generation after generation (tribes and natives)
37. Command Economy: An economy where the government owns the country’s
resources and businesses (pure command)
38. Market Economy: An economy where private citizens own businesses (pure market)
39. Mixed Economy: An economy where some businesses are government owned and
others are privately owned by citizens
40. Public vs. Private Business: Public businesses are businesses owned by the
government (public schools, police stations); Private businesses are businesses owned
by citizens (Publix, Target, McDonald’s)
41. Commercial Farming: Farming to feed thousands (think TV commercials advertising
to thousands)
42. Subsistence Farming: Farming to survive; only enough to feed yourself and your
family
43. Entrepreneur: A person who takes a risk to start, organize, and manage a business
44. European Union: Group of 27 European countries that were formed for one
purpose: peace after WWII—current goal: improving the standard of living and GDP of
Europe and eliminate trade barriers
45. Prime Minister: Typically, the leader of a Parliamentary Democracy-voted into power
by the people
46. Chancellor: Head of government in Germany; voted into power by the people
47. President: The head of a presidential democracy; typically voted in by the citizens of
that country
48. Federal Assembly: The legislature of the Russian Federation
49. Constitution: A document that lays out the laws of a country and the powers of the
government
50. Bicameral Legislation: Having two houses in the legislative branch of government
51. Quota: A limit on the amount of products allowed to be traded from other countries
52. Embargo: A government law stopping trade between two countries
53. Tariff: A tax that the government puts on imported or exported goods; makes trade
more expensive
54. Imports: Items brought into a country from another country
55. Exports: Items sent out of a country to another country
56. Capital Resources: The products, items, and machines a business needs to run and
succeed (machines, computers)
57. Human Resources: A person who has skills for a job; a worker or employee
(carpenter, factory worker, waiter)
58: Currency: Something people exchange for goods and services (Dollar, Euro, Peso)
59: Gross Domestic Product (GDP): The total money value of everything produced in a
country in a year
UNIT 3 (History of Europe)
Part A
60. Romance Languages: Languages such as Spanish, French, and Italian that are
derived from the language of Latin; these languages are located in southern and
western Europe
61. Germanic Languages: Languages such as German and English; these languages
are located in northern Europe
62. Slavic Languages: Languages such as Russian; these languages are located in
Eastern Europe
63. Islam: This is a monotheistic religion typically practiced by people in the Middle East
(Asia) and Northern Africa (for more information, see the Religions power point located
on my website)
64. Christianity: This is a monotheistic religion practiced by the majority of people in
Europe (for more information, see the Religions power point located on my website)
65. Judaism: This is a monotheistic religion practiced by people in Israel (for more
information, see the Religions power point located on my website)
66. Monotheism: Believing in one god
67. Torah: The holy book for followers of Judaism
68. Holy Bible: The holy book for followers of Christianity
69. Qur’an: The holy book for followers of Islam
70. Church/Temple: The place of worship for followers of Christianity
71. Abraham: The father of faith for all three monotheistic religions of the world
72. Synagogue: The place of worship for followers of Judaism
73. Mosque: The place of worship for followers of Islam
74. Exploration: Going in search of new places and taking records of what they see and
encounter
75. Silk Road: The many paths taken by people from Europe to buy spices and silks
from Asia
76. Far East: Eastern Asia (China and India for example)
77. Age of Enlightenment: Time period of change in Europe, starting around 1650AD
78. Marco Polo: Explorer sent to determine a route to Asia for spices and silks
79. Prince Henry the Navigator: Prince of Portugal; sent explorers to find a direct sea
route to Asia for spices and silks; started a school for sailors (included map-makers,
explorers, ship builders) to come up with new technologies and routes to Asia
80. Bartolomeu Dias: First explorer (sailed for Portugal) to round the southern tip of
Africa; named the southern tip of Africa the Cape of Good Hope
81. Vasco da Gama: First explorer (sailed for Portugal) to reach India (Asia) by sea; this
put Portugal as leaders for exploration and left them in control of the waterways around
Africa and into Asia
82. Ferdinand Magellan: First explorer (sailed for Spain) whose crew were the first to
circumnavigate (sail around) the world; he and his crew were attacked in the Philippines
and Magellan was killed; crew returned to Spain with one ship and 18 crew members
(left with 5 ships and over 200 crew members)
83. Christopher Columbus: Explorer (sailed for Spain) that thought that the Europeans
could reach Asia by sailing west across the Atlantic Ocean; landed on an island in the
Caribbean Sea; credited with discovering the New World
84. John Cabot: Explorer (sailed for England) that thought that the Europeans could
reach Asia by sailing west across the northern Atlantic Ocean; believed to have landed
in Newfoundland, Canada
85. Old World: Continents that Europeans knew already existed; Europe, Asia, and
Africa
86. New World: Continents discovered during the exploration period; North and South
America