Glossary
the longest-surviving inhabitants of Oceania, whose ancestors, the Australoids, migrated from Southeast Asia possibly as early as 50,000 years ago over the Sundaland landmass that was exposed during the ice ages
adaptation of a minority culture to the host culture enough to function effectively and be self-supporting; cultural borrowing
falling precipitation that has formed through the interaction of rainwater or moisture in the air with sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides emitted during the burning of fossil fuels, making it acidic
the business of farming conducted by large-scale operations that produce, package, and distribute agricultural products
the practice of producing food through animal husbandry, or the raising of animals, and the cultivation of plants
the practice of traditional, nonchemical methods of crop fertilization and the use of natural predators to control pests
the raising of economically useful trees
an indigenous cultural minority group in Japan characterized by their light skin, heavy beards, and thick, wavy hair who are thought to have migrated thousands of years ago from the northern Asian steppes
river-borne sediment
an area of high plains in the central Andes of South America
a belief system in which natural features carry spiritual meaning
a system of laws mandating racial segregation in South Africa, in effect from 1948 until 1994
natural underground reservoirs
a group, often a chain, of islands
a huge trading area that includes all of Asia and the countries around the Pacific Rim
the loss of old ways of life and the adoption of the lifestyle of another culture
an organization of Southeast Asian governments established to further economic growth and political cooperation
a low-lying island, formed of coral reefs that have built up on the circular or oval rims of a submerged volcano
a group of hunters and gatherers who moved from the present northern Indian and Burman parts of southern Eurasia into the exposed landmass of Sundaland about 60,000 to 40,000 years ago
a Mongoloid group of skilled farmers and seafarers from southern China who migrated south to various parts of Southeast Asia between 10,000 and 5000 years ago
a political system based on the power of the state or of elitist regional and local leaders
indigenous people of high-central Mexico noted for their advanced civilization before the Spanish conquest
the variety of life forms to be found in a given area
the global ecological system that integrates all living things and their relationships
the number of births per 1000 people in a given population, per unit of time, usually per year
a faction of communists who came to power during the Russian Revolution
the migration of educated and ambitious young adults to cities or foreign countries, depriving the communities from which the young people come of talented youth in whom they have invested years of nurturing and education
old industrial sites whose degraded conditions pose obstacles to redevelopment
a religion of Asia that originated in India in the sixth century b.c.e. as a reinterpretation of Hinduism; it emphasizes modest living and peaceful self-reflection leading to enlightenment
an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and distribution of goods, driven by the profit motive and characterized by a competitive marketplace
usually a wealthy minority that owns the majority of factories, farms, businesses, and other means of production
the removal and storage of carbon taken from the atmosphere
the maximum number of people that a given territory can support sustainably with food, water, and other essential resources
a group of producers strong enough to control production and set prices for its products
an economic system in which the necessities of life are purchased with monetary currency
an ancient Hindu system for dividing society into hereditary hierarchical classes
the mountainous region between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea
a communist economic model in which a central bureaucracy dictates prices and output with the stated aim of allocating goods equitably across society according to need
an economic system in which the state owns all real estate and means of production, while government bureaucrats direct all economic activity, including the locating of factories, residences, and transportation infrastructure
huge corporate conglomerates in South Korea that receive government support and protection
a monotheistic religion based on the belief in the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth, a Jew, who described God’s relationship to humans as primarily one of love and support, as exemplified by the Ten Commandments
the breaking of discriminatory laws by peaceful means
the totality of voluntary, civic, and social organizations and institutions that form the basis of a functioning society and encourage a sense of unity and informed common purpose among the general population
the cutting down of all trees on a given plot of land, regardless of age, health, or species
the long-term balance of temperature and precipitation that characteristically prevails in a particular region
a slow shifting of climate patterns due to the general cooling or warming of the atmosphere
the contest that pitted the United States and Western Europe, espousing free market capitalism and democracy, against the USSR and its allies, promoting a centrally planned economy and socialist state
turning something not previously thought of as having economic value into a good, or commodity, which can be bought and sold
raw materials that are traded, often to other countries, for processing or manufacturing into more valuable goods
Common Agricultural Program (CAP)a European Union program, meant to guarantee secure and safe food supplies at affordable prices, that places tariffs on imported agricultural goods and gives subsidies to EU farmers
a euphemism for religiously based violence in South Asia
an ideology, based largely on the writings of the German revolutionary Karl Marx, that calls on workers to unite to overthrow capitalism and establish an egalitarian society in which workers share what they produce
the political organization that ruled the USSR from 1917 to 1991; other communist countries, such as China, Mongolia, North Korea, and Cuba, also have communist parties
a Chinese philosophy that teaches that the best organizational model for the state and society is a hierarchy based on the patriarchal family
any area that several groups claim or want to use in different and often conflicting ways, such as the Amazon or Palestine
a midlatitude climate pattern in which summers are fairly hot and moist, and winters become longer and colder the deeper into the interior of the continent one goes
color loss that results when photosynthetic algae that live in the corals are expelled
a military- or civilian-led forceful takeover of a government
people mostly of European descent born in the Caribbean
a type of corruption in which politicians, bankers, and entrepreneurs, sometimes members of the same family, have close personal as well as business relationships
the tendency toward uniformity of ideas, values, technologies, and institutions among associated culture groups
the cultural identity characteristic of a region where groups of people from many different backgrounds have lived together for a long time but have remained distinct
a series of highly politicized and destructive mass campaigns launched in 1966 to force the entire population of China to support the continuing revolution
all the ideas, materials, and institutions that people have invented to use to live on Earth that are not directly part of our biological inheritance
the lowering of a currency’s value relative to the U.S. dollar, the Japanese yen, the European euro, or another currency of global trade
title of the ruler of the Russian empire; derived from the word “caesar,” the title of the Roman emperors
the ratio of total deaths to total population in a specified community, usually expressed in numbers per 1000 or in percentages
the triangular-shaped plain of sediment that forms where a river meets the sea
the transition toward political systems guided by competitive elections
the change from high birth and death rates to low birth and death rates that usually accompanies a cluster of other changes, such as change from a subsistence to a cash economy, increased education rates, and urbanization
a set of ecological changes that converts nondesert lands into deserts
dead organic material (such as plants and insects) that collects on the ground
usually used to describe economic changes like greater productivity of agriculture and industry that lead to better standards of living or simply to increased mass consumption
the dispersion of Jews around the globe after they were expelled from the eastern Mediterranean by the Roman Empire beginning in 73 c.e.; can now refer to other dispersed culture groups
a ruler who claims absolute authority, governing with little respect for the law or the rights of citizens
the discrepancy in access to information technology between small, rural, and poor areas and large, wealthy cities that contain major government research laboratories and universities
the deliberate intensification of divisions and conflicts by European colonial powers
economic and bureaucratic restructuring in Vietnam
the process of developing plants and animals through selective breeding to live with and be of use to humans
a foreign policy theory that used the idea of the domino effect to suggest that if one country “fell” to communism, others in the neighboring region would also fall
the longer workday of women with jobs outside the home who also work as caretakers, housekeepers, and/or cooks for their families
a price paid by the family of the bride to the groom (the opposite of bride price); formerly a custom practiced only by the rich
an economy in which the population is divided by economic disparities into two groups, one prosperous and the other near or below the poverty level
a phase in Central and South American history, beginning with the Spanish conquest and lasting until the early twentieth century, characterized by a dependence on the export of raw materials
the biological productive area needed to sustain a human population at its current standard of living, usually calculated per person
the dominant economic region within a larger region
the expansion of an economy to include a wider array of activities
reductions in the unit cost of production that occur when goods or services are efficiently mass produced, resulting in increased profits per unit
nature-oriented vacations, often taken in endangered and remote landscapes, usually by travelers from industrialized nations
periodic climate-altering changes, especially in the circulation of the Pacific Ocean, now understood to operate on a global scale
the process by which fragmented rock and soil are moved over a distance, primarily by wind and water
the deliberate removal of an ethnic group from a particular area by forced migration
a group of people who share a set of beliefs, a way of life, a technology, and usually a geographic location
the quality of belonging to a particular culture group
the official (but not required) currency of the European Union as of January 1999
a supranational organization that unites most of the countries of West, South, North, and Central Europe
a Christian movement that focuses on personal salvation and empowerment of the individual through miraculous healing and transformation; some practitioners preach the “gospel of success”—that a life dedicated to Christ will result in prosperity for the believer— to the poor
an economic development strategy that relies heavily on the production of manufactured goods destined for sale abroad
specially created legal spaces or industrial parks within a country where, to attract foreign-owned factories, duties and taxes are not charged
a family that consists of related individuals beyond the nuclear family of parents and children
debts a country owes to foreign banks or governments that are repayable only in foreign currency
a state in which the government has lost control and is no longer able to defend its citizens from armed uprisings
trade that values equity throughout the international trade system; now proposed as an alternative to free trade
a global movement to distribute profits more fairly to producers by upgrading their knowledge of markets and hence to increase their competitiveness
Brazilian urban slums and shantytowns built by the poor; called colonias, barrios, or barriados in other countries
a measure of pay equity that shows average female earned income as a percent of average male earned income
removing the labia and the clitoris and sometimes stitching the vulva nearly shut
the requirement that women stay out of public view
the increasing representation of women in both the formal and the informal labor force
an arc of lush, fertile land formed by the uplands of the Tigris and Euphrates river systems and the Zagros Mountains, where nomadic peoples began the earliest known agricultural communities
the Chinese term for jobless or underemployed people who have left economically depressed rural areas for the cities and move from place to place looking for work
the ability of a state to consistently supply a sufficient amount of basic food to the entire population
the percentage of food consumed daily that is supplied by domestic production
the amount of money invested in a country’s business by citizens, corporations, or governments of other countries
foreign currency that countries need to purchase imports
investment in Chinese (or another country’s) business and manufacturing enterprises by foreign firms
all aspects of the economy that take place in official channels
a capitol city built in the hinterland to draw migrants and investment for economic development
a source of energy formed from the remains of dead plants and animals
the movement of goods and capital without government restrictions
in Russia, the state-owned energy company; it is the tenth-largest oil and gas entity in the world
the sexual category of a person
the socially assigned roles of males and females
in agriculture, the practice of splicing together the genes from widely divergent species to achieve particular desirable characteristics
animals and crop plants in which the DNA is modified
the deliberate destruction of an ethnic, racial, or political group
the renovation of old urban districts by middle-class investment, a process that often displaces poorer residents
the body of science that underwrites multiple spatial analysis technologies and keeps them at the cutting edge
the use of strategies by countries to ensure that their best interests are served
literally, “openness”; the opening up of public discussion of social and economic problems that occurred in the Soviet Union under Mikhail Gorbachev in the late 1980s
the worldwide system in which goods, services, and labor are exchanged
the level of geography that encompasses the entire world as a single unified area
the predicted warming of the earth’s climate as atmospheric levels of greenhouse gases increase
the growth of interregional and worldwide linkages and the changes these linkages are bringing about
the great landmass that formed the southern part of the ancient supercontinent Pangaea
economic development projects designed to help individuals and their families achieve sustainable livelihoods
the longest coral reef in the world, located off the northeastern coast of Australia
an economic reform program under Mao Zedong intended to quickly raise China to the industrial level of Britain and the United States
environmentally conscious
increases in food production brought about through the use of new seeds, fertilizers, mechanized equipment, irrigation, pesticides, and herbicides
harmful gases, such as carbon dioxide and methane, released into the atmosphere by human activities
the market value of all goods and services produced by workers and capital within a particular country’s borders and within a given year, divided by the number of people in the country
the market value of all goods and services produced by modern workers and capital within a particular country’s borders and within a given year, divided by the number of people in the country and adjusted for purchasing power parity
an organization of highly industrialized countries: France, the United States, Britain, Germany, Japan, Italy, Canada, and Russia
zones of development whose success draws more investment and migration to a region
legal workers from outside a country who help fulfill the need for temporary workers but who are expected to return home when they are no longer needed
Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman, Qatar, And The United Arab Emirates
a large agricultural estate in Middle or South America, more common in the past; usually not specialized by crop and not focused on market production
the pilgrimage to the city of Makkah (Mecca) that all Muslims are encouraged to undertake at least once in a lifetime
see Indus Valley civilization
a major world religion practiced by approximately 900 million people, 800 million of whom live in India; a complex belief system, with roots both in localized folk traditions (known as the Little Tradition) as well as in a broader system based on literary texts (known as the Great Tradition)
term used to refer to all Spanish-speaking people from Middle and South America, although their ancestors may have been black, white, Asian, or Native American
during World War II, a massive execution by the Nazis of 6 million Jews and 5 million Roma (Gypsies); disabled and mentally ill people; gays, lesbians, and transgendered people; political dissidents, and ethnic Poles and other Slavs
the triangular peninsula that juts out from northeastern Africa below the Red Sea and wraps around the Arabian Peninsula
individual sites of upwelling material (magma) that originate deep in the mantle of the earth and surface in a tall plume; hot spots tend to remain fixed relative to migrating tectonic plates
the system in China by which citizens’ permanent residence is registered
the study of various aspects of human life that create the distinctive landscapes and regions of the world
various measures of the extent to which people are able to obtain a healthy life in a community of their choosing
a philosophy and value system that emphasizes the dignity and worth of the individual
policies that encouraged local production of machinery and other items that previously had been imported at great expense from abroad
indigenous people who ruled the largest pre-Columbian state in the Americas, with a domain stretching from southern Colombia to northern Chile and Argentina
the gap in wealth between the richest 10 percent and the poorest 10 percent of a country’s population
native to a particular place or region
the first substantial settled agricultural communities, which appeared about 4500 years ago along the Indus River in modern-day Pakistan and northwest India
all aspects of the economy that take place outside official channels
the part of the service sector that relies on the use of computers and the Internet to process and transport information; includes banks, software companies, medical technology companies, and publishing houses
road, rail, and communication networks and other facilities necessary for economic activity and human well-being
economic, political, or social connections between regions, whether contiguous or widely separated
a band of atmospheric currents that circle the globe roughly around the equator; warm winds from both north and south converge at the ITCZ, pushing air upward and causing copious rainfall
a prolonged Palestinian uprising against Israel
organisms that spread into regions outside of their native range, adversely affecting economies or environments
a long, fortified border zone that separated western Europe from (then) eastern Europe during the Cold War
a monotheistic religion that emerged in the seventh century c.e. when, according to tradition, the archangel Gabriel revealed the tenets of the religion to the Prophet Muhammad
a grassroots religious revival in Islam that seeks political power to curb what are seen as dangerous non-Muslim influences; also seeks to replace secular governments and civil laws with governments and laws guided by Islamic principles
a narrow strip of land that joins two larger land areas
originally a reformist movement within Hinduism, Jainism is a faith tradition that is more than 2000 years old; found mainly in western India and in large urban centers throughout the region, Jains are known for their educational achievements, nonviolence, and strict vegetarianism
in Hindu India, the subcaste into which a person is born, which largely defines the individual’s experience for a lifetime
a monotheistic religion characterized by the belief in one god, Yahweh, a strong ethical code summarized in the Ten Commandments, and an enduring ethnic identity
the “continuous improvement system” pioneered in Japanese manufacturing; it ensures that fewer defective parts are produced because production lines are constantly surveyed for errors
the “just-in-time” system pioneered in Japanese manufacturing that clusters companies that are part of the same production system close together so that they can deliver parts to each other precisely when they are needed
an amendment to a United Nations treaty on global warming, the Protocol is an international agreement, adopted in 1997 and in force in 2005, that sets binding targets for industrialized countries for the reduction of emissions of greenhouse gases
a local term for mestizo used in Central America
a policy that breaks up large landholdings for redistribution among landless farmers
physical features of the earth’s surface, such as mountain ranges, river valleys, basins, and cliffs
a movement within the Roman Catholic Church that uses the teachings of Jesus to encourage the poor to organize to change their own lives and the rich to promote social and economic equity
the distance in degrees north or south of the equator; lines of latitude run parallel to the equator, and are also called parallels
the distance in degrees east and west of Greenwich, England; lines of longitude, also called meridians, run from pole to pole (the line of longitude at Greenwich is 0o and is known as the prime meridian)
a common language used to communicate by people who do not speak one another’s native languages; often a language of trade
minimum wages high enough to support a healthy life
the level of geography that describes the space where an individual lives or works; a city, town, or rural area
windblown dust that forms deep soils in China, North America, and central Europe
a set of values that defines manliness in Middle and South America
Polynesian people indigenous to New Zealand
foreign-owned, tax-exempt factories, often located in Mexican towns just across the U.S. border from U.S. towns, that hire workers at low wages to assemble manufactured goods which are then exported for sale
a set of values based on the life of the Virgin Mary, the mother of Jesus, that defines the proper social roles for women in Middle and South America
mammals that give birth to their young at a very immature stage and nurture them in a pouch equipped with nipples
all the things, living or not, that humans use
a climate pattern of warm, dry summers and mild, rainy winters
an area formed when several cities expand so that their edges meet and coalesce
New Guinea and the islands south of the equator and west of Tonga (the Solomon Islands, New Caledonia, Fiji, and Vanuatu)
a group of Australoids named for their relatively dark skin tones, a result of high levels of the protective pigment melanin; they settled throughout New Guinea and other nearby islands
the policy by which European rulers sought to increase the power and wealth of their realms by managing all aspects of production, transport, and commerce in their colonies
a free trade zone created in 1991 that links the economies of Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, and Paraguay to create a common market
people of mixed European, African, and indigenous descent
a program based on peer support that makes very small loans available to very low-income entrepreneurs
the small islands that lie east of the Philippines and north of the equator
in this book, a region that includes Mexico, Central America, and the islands of the Caribbean
movement of people from a place or country to another, often for safety or economic reasons
the raising of a variety of crops and animals on a single farm, often to take advantage of several environmental riches
a loose confederation of nomadic pastoral people centered in East and Central Asia, who by the thirteenth century had established by conquest an empire stretching from Europe to the Pacific
pertaining to the belief that there is only one god
egg-laying mammals, such as the duck-billed platypus and the spiny anteater
a wind pattern in which in summer months, warm, wet air coming from the ocean brings copious rainfall, and in winter, cool, dry air moves from the continental interior toward the ocean
a dynasty of Central Asian origin that ruled India from the sixteenth to the nineteenth century
a business organization that operates extraction, production, and/or distribution facilities in multiple countries
followers of Islam
devotion to the interests or culture of a particular country, nation, or cultural group; the idea that a group of people living in a specific territory and sharing cultural traits should be united in a single country to which they are loyal and obedient
to seize private property and place under government ownership, with some compensation
a period 20,000 to 8000 years ago characterized by the transition from hunting and gathering to agriculture, accompanied by the making of polished stone tools, often called the first agricultural revolution
a term coined by European Romanticists to describe what they termed the “primitive” peoples of the Pacific who lived in distant places supposedly untouched by corrupting influences
people whose way of life and economy are centered on the tending of grazing animals who are moved seasonally to gain access to the best grasses
an association outside the formal institutions of government in which individuals, often from widely differing backgrounds and locations, share views and activism on political, social, economic, or environmental issues
diffuse sources of environmental contamination, such as untreated automobile exhaust, raw sewage, or agricultural chemicals that drain from fields into water supplies
nonpoint sources of pollutiona free trade agreement made in 1994 that added Mexico to the 1989 economic arrangement between the United States and Canada
North Atlantic Driftthe easternmost end of the Gulf Stream, a broad warm-water current that brings large amounts of warm water to Europe
North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)a military alliance between European and North American countries that was developed during the Cold War to counter the influence of the Soviet Union; since the breakup of the Soviet Union, NATO has expanded membership to include much of Eastern Europe and Turkey, and is now focused mainly on providing the international security and cooperation needed to expand the European Union
Palestinian lands occupied by Israel in 1967
the shifting of jobs from a relatively wealthy country to one where labor or other production costs are lower
in Russia, those who acquired great wealth during the privatization of Russia’s resources and who use that wealth to exercise power
a cartel of oil-producing countries—including Algeria, Angola, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Venezuela—that was established to regulate the production, and hence the price, of oil and natural gas
rainfall produced when a moving moist air mass encounters a mountain range, rises, cools, and releases condensed moisture that falls as rain
the idea that Pacific islanders have a regional identity and a way of handling conflicts peacefully that grows out of their particular social experience
the breakup following Indian independence that resulted in the establishment of Hindu India and Muslim Pakistan
a way of life based on herding; practiced primarily on savannas, on desert margins, or in the mixture of grass and shrubs called open bush
relating to a social organization in which the father is supreme in the clan or family
literally, “restructuring”; the restructuring of the Soviet economic system in the late 1980s in an attempt to revitalize the economy
permafrostpermanently frozen soil just a few feet beneath the surface
in the 1980s, farmers and small businesses that were allowed to sell their produce and goods in competitive markets as a part of China’s market reforms
the study of the earth’s physical processes: how they work, how they affect humans, and how they are affected by humans
a language used for trading; made up of words borrowed from the several languages of people involved in trading relationships
a large factory farm that grows and partially processes a single cash crop
the scientific theory that the earth’s surface is composed of large plates that float on top of an underlying layer of molten rock; the movement and interaction of the plates create many of the large features of the earth’s surface, particularly mountains
a geographer who studies power allocations in the interactions among development, human well-being, and the environment
the taking by a man of more than one wife at a time
the numerous islands situated inside an irregular triangle formed by New Zealand, Hawaii, and Easter Island
a graph that depicts the age and gender structures of a country
popularly based efforts, often seeking relief for the poor
a city, plus its suburbs, that is vastly larger than all others in a country and in which economic and political activity is centered
the sale of industries that were formerly owned and operated by the government to private companies or individuals
the working class; the lowest social or economic class
the amount that the local currency equivalent of U.S.$1 will purchase in a given country
the practice in South Asia of concealing women, especially during their reproductive years, from the eyes of nonfamily men
conditions, such as political instability, that encourage (push) people to leave rural areas, and urban factors, such as job opportunities, that encourage (pull) people to move to the urban area
underground conduits, built by ancient cultures and still used today, that carry groundwater for irrigation in dry regions
French Canadians living in Québec; an ethnic group distinct from the rest of Canada, they all are citizens of Canada
the holy book of Islam, believed by Muslims to contain the words Allah revealed to Muhammad through the archangel Gabriel
a social or political construct that is based on apparent characteristics such as skin color, hair texture, and face and body shape, but that is of no biological significance
the rate of population growth measured as the excess of births over deaths per 1000 individuals per year without regard for the effects of migration
a slowing of economic activity
a unit of the earth’s surface that contains distinct patterns of physical features and/or of human development
regional conflictespecially in South Asia, a conflict created by the resistance of a regional ethnic or religious minority to the authority of a national or state government
an economic policy in Communist China that encouraged each region to develop independently in the hope of evening out the wide disparities in the national distribution of production and income
the encouragement of specialization rather than self-sufficiency in order to take advantage of regional variations in climate, natural resources, and location
the association of a particular religion with a political unit; political control of a territory is often the ultimate goal of such a movement
government plans to move large numbers of people from one part of a country to another to relieve urban congestion, disperse political dissidents, or accomplish other social purposes; also called transmigration
in the 1980s, a decentralization of economic decision making in China that returned agricultural decision making to the farm household level, subject to the approval of the commune
the tectonic plate junctures around the edges of the Pacific Ocean; characterized by volcanoes and earthquakes
powerful air and ocean currents at about 40o S latitude that speed around the far Southern Hemisphere virtually unimpeded by landmasses
the now-preferred term in Europe for Gypsies
Russia and its political subunits, which include 30 internal republics and more than 10 so-called autonomous regions
the assimilation of all minorities to Russian (Slavic) ways
a band of arid grassland, where steppe and savanna grasses grow, that runs east-west along the southern edge of the Sahara
a process that occurs when large quantities of water are used to irrigate areas where evaporation rates are high, leaving behind dissolved salts and other minerals
the proportion that relates the dimensions of the map to the dimensions of the area it represents; also, variable-sized units of geographical analysis from the local scale to the regional scale to the global scale
an agreement signed in the 1990s by the European Union and many of its neighbors that called for free movement across common borders
the removal of salt from seawater, usually accomplished through the use of expensive and energy-intensive technologies, making the water suitable for drinking or irrigating
countries that have no state religion and in which religion has no direct influence on affairs of state or civil law
small-scale development schemes in rural areas that focus on developing local skills, creating local jobs, producing products or services for local consumption, and maintaining local control so that participants retain a sense of ownership
economic activity that involves the sale of services
the biological category of male or female
the sexual entertainment industry that services primarily men who travel for the purpose of living out their fantasies during a few weeks of vacation
literally, “the correct path”; Islamic religious law that guides daily life according to the interpretations of the Qur’an
patriarchal leaders of tribal groups on the Arabian peninsula
a productive system of agriculture in which small plots are cleared in forestlands, the dried brush is burned to release nutrients, and the clearings are planted with multiple species; each plot is used for only 2 or 3 years and then abandoned for many years of regrowth
the smaller of two major groups of Muslims, with different interpretations of shari‘a; Shi‘ites are found primarily in Iran and southern Iraq
a religion of South Asia that combines beliefs of Islam and Hinduism
fine soil particles
a group of farmers who originated between the Dnieper and Vistula Rivers in modern-day Poland, Ukraine, and Belarus
densely populated areas characterized by crowding, run-down housing, and poverty
the services provided by the government—such as welfare, unemployment benefits, and health care—that prevent people from falling into extreme poverty
in Europe, tax-supported systems that provide citizens with benefits such as health care, pensions, and child care
the continent south of Central America
in the Gulf States, state-owned savings from oil and gas income, which are then invested globally in a range of income-producing ventures
see Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
an economic system based on market principles such as private enterprise, profit incentives, and supply and demand, but with strong government guidance; in contrast to the free market (limited government) economic system of the United States and Europe
semiarid, grass-covered plains
policies that require economic reorganization toward less govenment involvement in industry, agriculture, and social services; sometimes imposed by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund as conditions for receiving loans
a term often used to refer to the entire Indian peninsula, including Nepal, Bhutan, India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh
a zone where one tectonic plate slides under another
smaller divisions of the world regions delineated to facilitate the study of patterns particular to the areas
monetary assistance granted by a government to an individual or group in support of an activity, such as farming, that is viewed as being in the public interest
a lifestyle whereby self-sufficiency is achieved for most necessities, while some opportunities to earn cash allow for travel and occasional purchases of manufactured goods
farming that provides food for only the farmer’s family and is usually done on small farms
circumstances in which a family produces most of its own food, clothing, and shelter
populated areas along the peripheries of cities
the larger of two major groups of Muslims, with different interpretations of shari‘a
farming that meets human needs without poisoning the environment or using up water and soil resources
improvement of standards of living in ways that will not jeopardize those of future generations
subarctic forests
an archconservative Islamist movement that gained control of the government of Afghanistan in the mid-1990s
as in south-central North America, China, and Europe, a climate that is moist all year with relatively mild winters and long, hot summers
regions of the same latitude that vary in climate according to altitude
countries that require all government leaders to subscribe to a state religion and all citizens to follow rules decreed by that religion
the average number of children that women in a country are likely to have at the present rate of natural increase
the extent to which the money earned by exports is exceeded by the money spent on imports
winds that blow from the northeast and the southeast toward the equator
a large sea wave caused by an earthquake
a treeless area, between the ice cap and the tree line of arctic regions, where the subsoil is permanently frozen
a tropical cyclone or hurricane
the condition in which people are working too few hours to make a decent living or are working at menial jobs even though highly trained
the nation formed from the Russian empire in 1922 and dissolved in 1991
an assembly of 192 member states that sponsors programs and agencies that focus on scientific research, humanitarian aid, planning for development, fostering general health, and peacekeeping assistance
the ranking of countries based on three indicators of well-being: life expectancy at birth, educational attainment, and income adjusted to purchasing power parity
cities that are attractive to investment, innovative immigrants, and trade, and thus attract further development like a magnet
the encroachment of suburbs on agricultural land
the movement of people from rural areas to cities
the four hierarchically ordered divisions of society in Hindu India underlying the caste system: Brahmins (priests), Kshatriyas (warriors/kings), Vaishyas (merchants/landowners), and Sudras (laborers/artisans)
the custom of covering the body with a loose dress and/or of covering the head—and in some places the face—with a scarf
the volume of water used to produce all that a person consumes in a year
the water used to meet a person’s basic needs for a year, added to the person’s annual virtual water
the physical or chemical decomposition of rocks by sun, rain, snow, ice, and the effects of life-forms
a government that accepts responsibility for the well-being of its people, guaranteeing basic necessities such as education, employment, and health care for all citizens
a 25-foot-high concrete wall in some places and a fence in others that now surrounds much of the West Bank and encompasses many of the remaining Jewish settlements there
a prolific type of rice production that requires the submersion of the plant roots in water for part of the growing season
a part of the globe delineated according to criteria selected to facilitate the study of patterns particular to the area
a global institution made up of member countries whose stated mission is to lower of trade barriers and to establish ground rules for international trade
round, heavy, felt tents stretched over collapsible willow lattice frames used by nomadic herders in northwestern China and Mongolia
those who have worked, and continue to work, to create a Jewish homeland (Zion) in Palestine