Geography and World Knowledge Notes

These vocabulary flashcards cover fundamental geography concepts, atmospheric phenomena, physical landforms, oceanic data, and key historical/political details related to Asian and Middle Eastern countries.

Prime Meridian

The zero-degree longitude imaginary line running north to south through Greenwich, England.

Longitude Degrees

Imaginary lines running 180 degrees east and 180 degrees west from the Prime Meridian used to indicate time.

Longitude and Time Calculation

The Earth completes 360 degrees in 24 hours, meaning $15^{\circ} = 1\,\text{hour}$ and $1^{\circ} = 4\,\text{minutes}$.

Doldrums

The belt of low atmospheric pressure located 5° N to 5° S of the equator.

Isobars

Lines on a map that connect areas with the same air pressure.

Roald Amundsen

The explorer from Norway who completed the first voyage to the South Pole on 14 Dec. 1911.

Robert E. Peary

The first person to reach the North Pole on 6 April 1909.

Geographic Grids

The intersection lines drawn on maps and globes.

Isotherms

Lines on a map joining places of equal temperature.

Contour Lines

Lines on a map connecting places having equal heights.

Seismic Lines

Lines on a map connecting places experiencing equal impact of an earthquake.

Isohyet

A line on a map joining places of equal rainfall.

Tropical Zone (Torrid Zone)

The area between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn where the sun is vertically overhead at some point in the year.

Temperate Zone

The region between the Tropics and the Polar Circles characterized by moderate climates and four distinct seasons.

Polar Zone (Frigid Zone)

Areas beyond the Arctic Circle and Antarctic Circle that receive slanting sun rays and remain frozen most of the year.

Peninsula

A piece of land bordered by water on three sides but connected to the mainland.

Plateau

A flat, elevated landform that rises sharply above the surrounding area on at least one side.

Estuary

A broad channel where the waters of a river and a sea mingle.

Tornado

Wind blowing in a spiral form around a region of low atmospheric pressure.

Archipelago

A cluster of islands.

Tsunami

A Japanese word for waves mainly caused by earthquakes.

Isthmus

A narrow strip of land connecting two larger land masses.

Pangaea

A supercontinent that once existed.

Gorge

A steep-sided, deep, and narrow valley.

Canyon

A landform deeper and bigger in size than a gorge or valley.

Mariana Trench

The deepest point on Earth, also called Challenger Deep, measured at $10,900\,M$ deep.

South China Sea

The largest sea in the world.

Dead Sea

The saltiest sea in the world and the lowest point on Earth, located between Jordan and Israel.

Sea of Azov

The shallowest sea in the world with a depth varying between $0.9\,M$ and $14\,M$.

Ring of Fire

A name for the Pacific Ocean, which serves as the world's primary earthquake belt.

Moai

The mysterious carved stone faces found on Easter Island in the Pacific Ocean.

Suez Canal

A waterway that links the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea.

Gibraltar

Known as the key to the Mediterranean.

Andes

The longest mountain range in South America.

Himalayas

The highest and youngest mountain range in the world.

Mount Everest

The highest mountain peak in the world, now measured at $29,035\,ft$ ($8850\,M$).

K-2 (Godwin Austen)

The second-highest mountain in the world, located in the Karakoram Range of Pakistan.

Malacca Strait

The longest strait in the world ($800\,km$) located between Indonesia-Malaysia and the Andaman Sea.

Bosporous Strait

The narrowest strait ($800\,m$) located in Turkey, dividing Istanbul into two continents.

Bering Strait

A strait joining the Bering Sea and Chukchi Sea, separating Asia from America.

Strait of Gibraltar

A strait joining the Mediterranean Sea and Atlantic Ocean, historically called the 'Pillars of Hercules'.

Yangtze

The longest river in Asia, measuring $6300\,km$ in China.

Gobi Desert

The 4th largest cold winter desert, located in Central Asia (Mongolia).

Hagia Sophia

A famous site in Istanbul built by Romans, converted to a mosque in 1453, a museum in 1935, and reopened as a mosque in 2020.

Nagorno-Karabakh

A region recognized as part of Azerbaijan that was the subject of war with Armenia.

Damascus

The capital of Syria and the oldest inhabited capital in the world.

Hezbollah

An Islamic party in Lebanon established in 1982.

Balfour Declaration

A British pledge issued on 2 November 1917 for a Jewish National Home in Palestine.

Iron Dome

A prominent defense system used by Israel.

Intifada

A term for Palestinian uprisings against Israeli occupation.

JCPOA

The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, a nuclear deal signed by Iran in July 2015 with P5+1 and Germany.

Mesopotamia

The old name for Iraq, identified as a site of ancient civilization.

Saddam Hussain

The fifth president of Iraq (1979-2003) who was hanged on 30 December 2006.

Neom

A city currently under construction in Saudi Arabia.

Burj Khalifa

The highest habitable building in the world ($829.8\,meters$), located in Dubai.