unit 2 vocabulary

Sahel area

area of the Sahara desert

Australasia

area that includes Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and neighbouring islands in the Pacific Ocean

Oceania

a large group of islands in the south Pacific including Melanesia and Micronesia and Polynesia (and sometimes Australasia and the Malay Archipelago)

Ruhr Valley

Germany's chief industrial and mining center

imputiny

exemption from punishment or freedom from the injurious consequences of an action

Referendum

a legislative act is referred for final approval to a popular vote by the electorate

Plebiscite

A direct vote in which a country's people have the opportunity to approve or reject a proposal

Patagonia

Dry plateau region found in southern Argentina.

International Date Line

An arc that for the most part follows 180° longitude, although it deviates in several places to avoid dividing land

Prime Meridian

The meridian, designated at 0° longitude, which passes through the Royal Observatory at Greenwich, England.

Equator

An imaginary circle around the middle of the earth, halfway between the North Pole and the South Pole 0° latitude

Archipelago

A group/chain of islands

despot

a ruler with absolute power or tyrannical control over a group of people

Communism

A theory or system of social organization based on the holding of all property in common, actual ownership being ascribed to the community.

Socialism

A system in which society, usually in the form of the government, owns and controls the means of production.

Theocracy

A government controlled by religious leaders

Xinjiang

an autonomous province in far northwestern China on the border with Mongolia and Kazakhstan

Kashmir

A region of northern India and Pakistan over which several destructive wars have been fought

Nagorno-Karabakh

the mountainous area of Azerbaijan, fought over by Armenia and Azerbaijan

The Republic of Artsakh

Unrecognized republic in Nagorno-karabakh

populism

the political doctrine that supports the rights and powers of the common people in their struggle with the privileged elite

Gaza Strip

A territory along the Mediterranean Sea just northeast of the Sinai Peninsula; part of the land set aside for Palestinians, which was occupied by Israel in 1967.

West Bank

an area between Israel and Jordan on the west bank of the Jordan river, many conflicts

Crimea

Peninsula in the extreme southern Ukraine in the Black Sea. Annexed by Russia in 2014

Abkhazia

a disputed territory on the eastern coast of the Black Sea and the south-western flank of the Caucasus

South Ossetia

split between Russia (north) and Georgia (south). Many ethnic Russians live here

Chechnya

A republic of Russia that has experienced some of the worst violence because they wanted independence. Predominately Muslim region

Military Junta

a group of military officers who rule a country after seizing power

Putsch

a violent attempt to overthrow a government