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Glossary

ABOLITIONIST:

Person or organization that opposes slavery. When slavery was legal, abolitionists fought to have laws created to make keeping slaves illegal.

ADMINISTRATION:

Government officials and the policies by which they govern.

AIR POLLUTION:

Harmful chemicals discharged into the air, making it unclean and sometimes unsafe.

ALLIES:

Groups or persons who are united in a common purpose. Typically used to describe nations that have joined together to fight a common enemy in war.

In World War I, the term Allies described the nations that fought against Germany and its allies. In World War II, Allies described the United Kingdom, United States, the USSR and their allies, who fought against the Axis Powers of Germany, Italy, and Japan.

AMALGAM:

A mixture of different things.

ANCHORAGE:

Settling or staying in place by means of holding on to something.

ANNEXATION:

The act of adding on a smaller thing to a larger thing.

ANNUAL MEAN TEMPERATURE:

The temperature that falls at the middle of the range of high and low temperatures for the entire year.

ANTI-SEMITISM:

Fear or hatred of Jews.

APARTHEID:

The past governmental policy in the Republic of South Africa of separating the races in society.

ARCHAEOLOGICAL REMAINS:

Relics and artifacts left by past cultures.

BOROUGH:

District or large section of a city, especially New York, New York.

BUDDHISM:

A religious system common in India and eastern Asia. Founded by and based upon the teachings of Siddhartha Gautama, Buddhism asserts that suffering is an inescapable part of life. Deliverance can only be achieved through the practice of charity, temperance, justice, honesty, and truth.

CABARET:

A restaurant or nightclub with short musical performances with singing and dancing as entertainment.

CADENCE:

Any rhythmic flow of sound or measured movement to a rhythm or beat.

CANTON:

A territory or small division or state within a country.

COMMUNISM:

A form of government whose system requires common ownership of property for the use of all citizens. All profits are to be equally distributed and prices on goods and services are usually set by the state. Also, communism refers directly to the official doctrine of the former U.S.S.R.

COSMOPOLITAN:

Containing elements of all or many parts of the world.

COUT D'ÉTAT OR COUP:

A sudden, violent overthrow of a government or its leader.

CULTURE:

The ideas and typical habits of a group of people.

DAILY CIRCULATION:

Number of newspapers or other publications that are distributed each day.

DIALECT:

One of a number of regional or related modes of speech regarded as descending from a common origin.

DIVERSITY:

Variety; a mixture of different or dissimilar elements, items, or people.

ENDEMIC:

Anything that is peculiar to and characteristic of a locality or region.

ENTREPRENEUR:

Someone who starts and operates a small business.

ETHNIC:

Referring to a group of people with the same cultural heritage.

FEDERAL:

Pertaining to a union of states whose governments are subordinate to a central government.

FEZ:

A cone-shaped felt hat with no brim and a flat top, from which a long tassel hangs; the national headdress for men in Turkey.

FUNICULAR:

Hanging from or worked by pulling up and lowering of ropes or cables.

GLOBAL ECONOMY:

Relating to the economic situation (management of wealth and resources) of the whole world as a single community.

GOLD RUSH:

Describes people traveling in a hurry to a place where gold was discovered.

GREENWICH MEAN TIME (GMT):

Mean solar time of the meridian at Greenwich, England, used as the basis for standard time throughout most of the world. The world is divided into 24 time zones, and all are related to the prime, or Greenwich mean, zone.

GROSS DOMESTIC PRODUCT (GDP):

A measure of the market value of all goods and services produced within the boundaries of a nation, regardless of asset ownership. Unlike gross national product, GDP excludes receipts from that nation's business operations in foreign countries.

GROSS NATIONAL PRODUCT (GNP):

A measure of the market value of goods and services produced by the labor and property of a nation. Includes receipts from that nation's business operation in foreign countries

HERESY:

An opinion believed to contradict a basic law of a religion.

INDIGENOUS:

People, plants, and animals that lived in a place from ancient times. Also called native people, plants, and animals.

INHABITED:

Lived in.

INQUISITION:

A general tribunal, or court, established in the thirteenth century for the discovery and suppression of heresy and the punishment of those who were guilty of heresy (called heretics).

ISLAM:

The religious system of Mohammed, practiced by Muslims and based on a belief in Allah as the supreme being and Muhammad as his prophet. The spelling variations, Moslim and Mohammed, are also used. Islam also refers to those nations in which it is the primary religion.

LABYRINTHINE:

Curving in an intricate or confusing pattern; curvy, like a snake.

MAGNATE:

Important person, or person with special influence.

MELANESIAN:

The native or original inhabitants of islands in the Pacific Ocean south of the equator, including the Fiji Islands.

METRO:

Short form of metropolitan, usually used with a city name. For example, metro Detroit describes the city of Detroit and its surrounding area.

METROPOLIS:

Large city or center of population.

METROPOLITAN:

Term used to describe a city and its area of influence. For example, "metropolitan Detroit" refers to the city of Detroit and its surrounding area.

METROPOLITAN STATISTICAL AREA (MSA):

Official term used by government agencies to define the city and its surrounding communities. The MSA describes the area included when gathering and reporting statistics.

MILITARY COUP:

A sudden, violent overthrow of a government by military forces.

MILLENNIUM:

1,000 years. Also used to refer to the one-thousandth anniversary of an event.

MISSIONARIES:

People who travel to, and often live in, another area for the purpose of teaching the inhabitants there their religious beliefs.

MOBILITY:

The freedom and ability to move from one area or region to another.

MOSQUE:

An Islam place of worship and the organization with which it is connected.

MUSLIM:

Name used to describe people who observe the religious rules of Islam.

NATIONALIST:

Person or government policy that puts the needs and interests of the country first over the needs and interests of the other countries or international groups.

PER CAPITA:

Literally, per person; for each person counted.

PHILANTHROPIST:

Person who gives large sums of his or her own money to benefit community organizations or institutions.

POLYNESIAN:

The native or original inhabitants of islands in the Pacific Ocean, including Hawaii, Samoa, Tonga, Tahiti, and New Zealand.

PRE-COLUMBIAN:

Refers to the time in the history of North and South America before the arrival of Europeans (before 1492). Named for the first European to reach the Western hemisphere, Christopher Columbus.

PROGRESSIVE:

Person or government that is open to new ideas and willing to move forward or change habits or practices.

PROTESTANT:

A member or an adherent of one of those Christian bodies which descended from the Reformation of the sixteenth century. Originally applied to those who opposed or protested the Roman Catholic Church.

ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH:

The designation of the church of which the pope or Bishop of Rome is the head, and that holds him as the successor of St. Peter and heir of his spiritual authority, privileges, and gifts.

RURAL:

Describes landscape of the countryside, with large areas of open space and few roads and buildings covering the land.

SOUTHEAST ASIA:

The region in Asia that consists of Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam.

SUBURB:

Community on the edge of a large city where people live. People who live in a suburb usually travel to the city to work.

SULTAN:

A king of a Muslim (Islamic) state.

TREATY:

A negotiated agreement between two governments.

URBAN:

City landscape, with streets and buildings covering most of the area.

VISIONARY:

Person who can imagine positive changes and can explain the possible results to others.

XENOPHOBIA:

Fear or intense dislike of people from other places.

ZENITH:

The high point.