1 free enterprise Economic system in which individuals & businesses have the freedom to operate for profit with little or no government interference.

2 Hinduism Major religion of India based on a rigid caste system with rules for proper behavior. Karma, or a person’s behavior, influences his or her reincarnation after death into a higher or lower caste. An endless cycle of rebirth is created for each soul.

3 GDP –Gross Domestic Product Total value of goods & services produced in one year; indicator of a nation’s standard of living. Also called – Gross National Product (GNP)

4 humanism Intellectual & cultural movement of the Renaissance stressing the importance of each individual; it focused on the secular (non-religious) world & a return to a study of the classical works of Greece & Rome. **note: intellectual= of the mind

5 hierarchy Group of people or things arranged or organized by rank, or level of importance. For example: Pope, cardinals, bishops, priests, laypeople…in the Roman Catholic Church.

6 holocaust Nazi genocide against Jews & other minorities during World War II, resulting in the deaths of millions of people.

7 hieroglyphics Ancient Egyptian writing system that uses pictures & symbols to represent sounds, words, or ideas.

8 greenhouse effect Rise in the global temperature due to excessive carbon dioxide & pollutants that create a layer in the atmosphere that traps heat. ** How much of this that is caused by pollutants is disputed by many scientists (2007).

9 Great Leap Forward 5-year economic program of Mao Zedong in China in 1955; designed to improve China’s industrial & agricultural production. It failed & led to widespread famine.

10 heavy industry Industries requiring complex machinery in the production of iron, steel and coal.

11 Green Revolution Twentieth-century technological advances in agriculture that have led to increased food production on a small parcel of land.

12 free trade Removal of trade restrictions among nations.

13 globalization Integration (mixing) of capital, technology, & information across national borders, creating a single global market and, to some degree, a global village.

14 Holy Land Sacred Israel/Palestine area where Christians, Islamic, and Jewish shrines (holy places) are located in commemorating the birth of their religions.

15 Great Depression Worldwide economic decline that began in 1929 and ended in 1940; businesses and banks failed and there was widespread unemployment.

16 geography One of the social sciences that studies the people, the environment, and the resources of an area.

17 glasnost Russian term for “openness”; it refers to Mikhail Gorbachev’s effort in the 1980’s to introduce political reform in the Soviet Union by providing freedom of speech and press.

18 genocide deliberate effort to kill all members of an ethnic or religious group.

19 heliocentric Belief that the sun is the center of the universe and that the earth and the planets revolve around it.

20 human rights freedom and rights that all people belonging to a society are entitled to, such as freedom of expression, life, religion, right to vote, and equal protection before the law.