Download basic geography terms

SOL Vocabulary
by Eleanor Joyce
City of Salem Schools
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With
• developed country
• rich country
• developing country
• poor country
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• rural
• country
• urban
• city
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• mortality
• death
• literacy
• reading
• oral tradition
• telling stories
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Dense
with
Thick
Sparse
with
Thin
The city was densely populated.
The country side was sparsely populated
Helpful idea—cross out words in the stem
and replace them with familiar words.
Example of geography terms are listed
below.
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With
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
diverse
interior
alter
primary
different
inside
change
most important
Helpful idea—cross out words in the stem
and replace them with familiar words.
Example of geography terms are listed
below.
Replace
With
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
arid
divert
arable
public
private
dry, desert
to send another way
able to grow crops
owned by all people
owned by a few people
Economic Activities
• Nomad- a person who moves around
to care for animals
• Herders- people who care for animals
• Traditional – doing things the way they
have always been done.
• Ancestors- having to do with grand
parents and relatives that are much
older.
General terms Activities
• global- having to do with all countries
in the world
• international- countries in the world
working together.
Economic Activities
• Primary economic activity- having to do
with resources such as mining, drilling
oil, farming, etc
• Secondary economic activitymanufacturing or processing
• Tertiary economic activity – services,
transportation, retail, information, etc
• Economy- how people in a country
make a living
Economic Activities
• Primary economic
activity- having to do
with resources such as
mining, drilling oil,
farming, etc
Economic Activities
• Secondary
economic activitymanufacturing, food
processing, sewing.
Economic Activities
Tertiary economic
activity – providing
services such as
retail clerks,
doctors, teachers.
Trade
• Exports- to send products out of the
country.
• Import- to bring products into the
country
• GDP Gross Domestic Product- the total
value of goods and services produced
in a country
• Per capita GDP- the average GDP for
each person in the country.
Population Words
• Populous- the number of people living
in an area. Asia is the most populous
continent.
• Overpopulated- too many people living
in one place.
• Population distribution- where people
live
• Population density-the thickness of the
population in a region.
Movement of People
• refugee- a person who goes to another
country for safety.
• immigrant- a person who chooses to
move to another country
• migrate- to move within a country
• ethnic group- a group of people from
the same region who have the same
customs, language and traditions.
(example: French, Hispanic, Chinese)
Resource words
• renewable- a resource that
replaces itself like water and trees
• nonrenewable- a resource that
does not replace itself like fossil
fuels
General Words
• domestic- referring to within the
country or home
• foreign- refers to other countries.
General Words
• landlocked- a
country that is
surrounded by
land
General Words
• originate- where something begins.
• proximity- who close something is to
something else
• persecute- to punish someone for
religious beliefs.
• dominate- to control infrastructurestructures that make a country run properlyroads, dams, sewage systems, school, etc
General Words
• drought- a long time without rain.
Crops will not grow in a drought
• famine- not having any food. People starve
to death when there is a drought.
• Oppressive government- a government that
does not give their citizens personal
freedoms.
Government Words
• capitalism- economic system where
people can own their own business like
the USA.
• communism- economic system in
which the government owns and
controls the businesses like Cuba
• socialism- economic system in which
the government controls services like
health care and schools. Sweden is
socialist.
Water Words
• source of a river- where the river
begins, usually in the mountains
• mouth of the river- where the river
empties into a larger body of water.
Sometimes it creates a delta.
• strait- a narrow strip of water that
separates two pieces of
• canal- a man-made waterway that
separates two pieces of land.
Farming Words
• subsistence farming growing
enough food for your family
• commercial farming growing food
to sell like bananas, wheat, corn
• cash crop- a crop raised to sell like
coffee, tea, cotton
• food crop- a crop raised to eat.
Indigenous
People
• People who are
native to the region
such as the
aborigines in
Australia.