Term
click below
click below
Term
Normal Size Small Size show me how
NAfrica & MiddleEast
Term | Definition |
---|---|
Alluvial soil | A fine-grained fertile soil deposited by water flowing over flood plains or in river beds. |
Wadi | A valley, gully, or streambed in northern Africa and southwest Asia that remains dry except during the rainy season. |
Phosphate | A salt or ester of phosphoric acid. |
Oasis | An isolated area of vegetation in a desert, typically surrounding a spring or similar water source, such as a pond or small lake. |
Pastoralism | The branch of agriculture concerned with the raising of livestock. It is animal husbandry: the care, tending and use of animals such as camels, goats, cattle, yaks, llamas, and sheep. |
Ethnic diversity | Differences among groups based on their languages, customs, and beliefs |
Infrastructure | The system of public works of a country, state, or region |
Domesticate | Take animals from the wild and make them useful to people. |
Culture hearth | Civilizations that have cultural influence around the world. |
Cuneiform | A type of writing that was used in ancient Mesopotamia and Persia. |
Hieroglyphics | Designating or pertaining to a pictographic script, particularly that of the ancient Egyptians, in which many of the symbols are conventionalized, recognizable pictures of the things represented. |
Monotheism | The doctrine or belief that there is only one God. |
Prophet | A person who speaks by divine inspiration or as the interpreter through whom the will of a god is expressed. |
Mosque | A Muslim temple or place of public worship. |
Nationalism | The strong belief that the interests of a particular nation-state are of primary importance. |
Nationalize | To convert from private to governmental ownership and control |
Embargo | The partial or complete prohibition of commerce and trade with a particular country or a group of countries. |
Ziggurat | A temple of Sumerian origin in the form of a pyramidal tower, consisting of a number of stories and having about the outside a broad ascent winding round the structure, presenting the appearance of a series of terraces. |
Bedouin | An Arab of any of the nomadic tribes of the Arabian, Syrian, Nubian, or Sahara Deserts. |
Bazaar | A market consisting of a street lined with shops and stalls, especially one in the Middle East. |
Arable | Capable of producing crops; suitable for farming; suited to the plow and for tillage |
Commodity | An article of trade or commerce, especially a product as distinguished from a service. |
Petrochemical | A chemical substance obtained from petroleum or natural gas, as gasoline, kerosene, or petrolatum. |
Gross domestic product | The monetary value of all the finished goods and services produced within a country's borders in a specific time period. |
Hajj | The pilgrimage to Mecca, which every adult Muslim is supposed to make at least once in his or her lifetime: the fifth of the Pillars of Islam. |
Atlas Mountains | Africa’s longest mountain range, extends across Morocco and Algeria. Enough precipitation falls on the northern side of these mountains to water the coastal regions, making them ideal for farming. |
Caucasus Mountains | Rise north of Mount Ararat between the Black Sea and Caspian Sea. |
Arabian Peninsula | A peninsula between the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf; strategically important for its oil resources |
Persian Gulf | An arm of the Arabian Sea between the Arabian Peninsula and southwest Iran. It has been an important trade route since ancient times and gained added strategic significance after the discovery of oil in the Gulf States in the 1930s. |
Sinai Peninsula | A peninsula linking southwest Asia with northeast Africa at the northern end of the Red Sea between the Gulf of Suez and the Gulf of Aqaba. |
Anatolia | A vast plateau between the Black and the Mediterranean seas: in ancient usage, synonymous with the peninsula of Asia Minor; in modern usage, applied to Turkey in Asia. |
Dead Sea | A salt lake between Israel and Jordan: the lowest lake in the world. 46 miles (74 km) long; 10 miles (16 km) wide; 1293 feet (394 meters) below sea level. |
Caspian Sea | A salt lake between SE Europe and Asia: the largest inland body of water in the world. About 169,000 sq. mi. (438,000 sq. km); 85 feet (26 meters) below sea level. |
Aral Sea | An inland sea lying between southern Kazakhstan and northwest Uzbekistan. Once the fourth-largest inland body of water in the world, it has largely disappeared because of diversion of its two sources, the Amu Darya and the Syr Darya. |
Nile River | A river in East Africa, the longest in the world, flowing North from Lake Victoria to the Mediterranean. |
Tigris River | A river in SW Asia, flowing SE from SE Turkey through Iraq, joining the Euphrates to form the Shatt-al-Arab. |
Euphrates River | A river in SW Asia, flowing SE from SE Turkey through Iraq, joining the Euphrates to form the Shatt-al-Arab. |
Sahara | A river in SW Asia, flowing SE from SE Turkey through Iraq, joining the Euphrates to form the Shatt-al-Arab. |
Rub’ al-Khali | A desert in south Arabia, north of Hadhramaut and extending from Yemen to Oman. |
Kara Kum | A desert south of the Aral Sea, largely in Turkmenistan. |
Gulf of Aqaba | Gulf of, an arm of the Red Sea, between Saudi Arabia and Egypt. 100 miles (160 km) long. |
Strait of Hormuz | Strait of, a strait between Iran and the United Arab Emirates, connecting the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman. |
Aswan high dam | A dam on the Nile forming a reservoir (Lake Nasser) extending 480 km (300 miles) from the First to the Third Cataracts |