Unit One Vocabulary

Region Region – an area of Earth’s surface with one or more shared characteristic.

Location Location – where something is. Absolute location defines the exact spot on Earth. Relative location describes the position of a place in relation to another place.

Place Place – can be described both by its physical location and by its physical and human feature.

Movement Movement – people and ideas moving from place to place (p 7)

Human Characteristics Human Characteristics of land – changes to the land that were made by people

Physical Characteristics Physical characteristics of land – describe the type of land in an area

Human-Environmental Interaction Human-Environmental Interaction – how people and their surroundings affect each other (p 7)

Hemisphere Hemisphere – halves of the globe. The equator divides the globe into 2 halves – northern and southern. The Prime Meridian and International Dateline divide the globe into 2 halves – eastern and western (p 5)

Latitude Latitude - imaginary lines that circle the globe and run east to west. Also called parallels because they are parallel to the equator (p 4)

Longitude Longitude – imaginary north-south lines that circle the globe and that pass through the north and south Poles (p 5)

Culture the beliefs, customs, practices, and behaviors of a particular nation or group of people

Ethnic a group of people who have the same language, culture, or religion

Cultural Diffusion the spread of cultural traits from one culture to another

Unitary System a central government makes all laws for the entire country.

Confederation system where independent states join together and give limited powers to a common government

Federal System system where power is divided among central, regional, and local governments

Autocracy a form of government in which all the power is held by a single person

Oligarchy Oligarchy – government ruled by a small group of people

Democracy a form of government in which citizens hold political power. VOTING

Monarchy a government headed by a king or queen