Map of the Modern World Composite Study Guide
Berlin Conference
1884-85, regulated European colonization and trade in Africa during the New Imperialism period, and coincided with Germany's sudden emergence as an imperial power.
Centripetal Force
A centripetal force is a force or attitude that tends to unify people and enhance support for a state ex. Germany in the 1930s under Hitler, Israel and nationalism
Strait of Hormuz
Between the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman. About 20% of the world's petroleum (about 35% of the petroleum traded by sea) passes through the strait, making it a highly important strategic location for international trade
Sinai Peninsula
Egypt's Sinai Peninsula is a sparsely populated desert region between the Red Sea and the Mediterranean Sea
example of a collision plate boundary
Himalayan Mountains
Centrifugal force
It is a force or attitude that tends to divide a state. ex. Muslims and Hindus in India, end of the soviet union, Pashtun India --> Afghanistan, Pakistan, China all claim, Ethnic groups broken by European borders in Africa
Congo River
It is the second largest river in the world by discharge, and the world's deepest river
Istanbul
Major city in Turkey that straddles Europe and Asia across the Bosphorus Strait. Highest population city in Turkey
Alexandria
Mediterranean port city in Egypt. During the Hellenistic period, it was home to a lighthouse ranking among the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World as well as a storied library.
Canary Islands
Owned by Spain, islands off the coast of Morocco
Ocean floor
Portia of earth's crust composed of thin (7km) layer of heavy basalt
Continent
Portion of earth's crust composed of thick (40km) layer of light granite that floats on top of heavier basalt
Former Republics of the USSR
Russia Estonia Latvia Lithuania Belarus Ukraine Moldova Georgia Armenia Azerbaijan Tajikistan Turkmenistan Kazakhstan Kyrgyzstan Uzbekistan
St. Petersburg
Russia's second-largest city after Moscow, with five million inhabitants in 2012,[9] and an important Russian port on the Baltic Sea. It is politically incorporated as a federal subject (a federal city). Situated on the Neva River, at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea, it was founded by Tsar Peter the Great on May 27 [O.S. 16] 1703. In 1914, the name was changed from Saint Petersburg to Petrograd (Russian: Петрогра́д; IPA: [pʲɪtrɐˈgrat]), in 1924 to Leningrad (Russian: Ленингра́д; IPA: [lʲɪnʲɪnˈgrat]), and in 1991 back to Saint Petersburg. Between 1713 and 1728 and in 1732-1918, Saint Petersburg was the capital of imperial Russia. In 1918, the central government bodies moved to Moscow.One of the modern cities of Russia, as well as its cultural capital.
Members of former Soviet Union
Russia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Belarus, Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Ubekistan
example of a transform plate boundary
San Andreas Fault
Euphrates River
The Euphrates is the longest and one of the most historically important rivers of Western Asia. Together with the Tigris, it is one of the two defining rivers of Mesopotamia. Below the Tigris.
Arabian (Persian) Gulf
The Persian Gulf is a mediterranean sea in Western Asia. The body of water is an extension of the Indian Ocean through the Strait of Hormuz and lies between Iran to the northeast and the Arabian Peninsula to the southwest
West Bank
The West Bank is a landlocked territory near the Mediterranean coast of Western Asia, forming the bulk of territory now under Israeli control, or else under joint Israeli-Palestinian Authority control #freepalestine
Crust
Thin outer shell of the earth composed primarily of igneous rock
Rhine River
a European river that begins in the Swiss canton of Graubünden in the southeastern Swiss Alps, forms part of the Swiss-Austrian, Swiss-Liechtenstein, Swiss-German and then the Franco-German border, then flows through the Rhineland and eventually empties into the North Sea in the Netherlands. The largest city on the river Rhine is Cologne, Germany, with a population of more than 1,050,000 people. It is the second-longest river in Central and Western Europe (after the Danube), at about 1,230 km (760 mi),[note 2][note 1] with an average discharge of about 2,900 m3/s (100,000 cu ft/s).
subtropical high
a belt of high pressure located at approximately 30o N and 30o S, which pushes heavy subsiding air outward toward both north and south.
Black Sea
a body of water between Eastern Europe and Western Asia, bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia, Romania, Russia, Turkey, and Ukraine.[1] It is supplied by a number of major rivers, such as the Danube, Dnieper, Rioni, Southern Bug, and Dniester.
Carbon sink
a forest, ocean, or other natural environment viewed in terms of its ability to absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
British Mandate of Palestine
a geopolitical entity under British administration, carved out of Ottoman Southern Syria after World War I. British civil administration in Palestine operated from 1920 until 1948.
Gulf of Aden
a gulf located in the Arabian Sea between Yemen, on the south coast of the Arabian Peninsula, and Somaliland and Somalia in the Horn of Africa.
Sakhalin Island
a large Russian island in the North Pacific Ocean, lying between 45°50' and 54°24' N. It is Russia's largest island, and is administered as part of Sakhalin Oblast. Sakhalin, which is similar in shape to and about one third the size of Honshu, is just off the east coast of Russia, and just north of Japan. The population was 497,973 as of the 2010 census, made up of mostly ethnic Russians and a smaller Korean community. The indigenous peoples of the island are the Ainu, Oroks and Nivkhs.
Kalahari Desert
a large semi-arid sandy savannah in Southern Africa extending 900,000 square kilometres, covering much of Botswana, parts of Namibia, and regions of South Africa.
Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ)
a low-pressure belt of rising air along the equator fed by the convergence of northeast and southeast trade winds
Nile River
a major north-flowing river in northeastern Africa. It is generally regarded as the longest river in the world,
Apennine Mountains
a mountain range consisting of parallel smaller chains extending c. 1,200 km (750 mi) along the length of peninsular Italy. In the northwest they join with the Ligurian Alps at Altare. In the southwest they end at Reggio di Calabria, the coastal city at the tip of the peninsula.
Atlas Mountains
a mountain range in the Maghreb. It stretches around 2,500 km (1,600 mi) through Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia.
Balkan Mountains
a mountain range in the eastern part of the Balkan Peninsula. The Balkan range runs 560 km from the Vrashka Chuka Peak on the border between Bulgaria and Serbia eastward through central Bulgaria to Cape Emine on the Black Sea.
Carpathian Mountains
a mountain range system forming an arc roughly 1,500 km (932 mi) long across Central and Eastern Europe, making them the second-longest mountain range in Europe (after the Scandinavian Mountains, 1,700 km (1,056 mi)). They provide the habitat for the largest European populations of brown bears, wolves, chamois and lynxes, with the highest concentration in Romania,[4][5][6] as well as over one third of all European plant species.[7] The Carpathians and their foothills also have many thermal and mineral waters, with Romania having one-third of the European total.[8][9] Romania is likewise home to the second largest surface of virgin forests in Europe after Russia, totaling 250,000 hectares (65%), most of them in the Carpathians,[10] with the Southern Carpathians constituting Europe's largest unfragmented forested area.[11] The Carpathians consist of a chain of mountain ranges that stretch in an arc from the Czech Republic (3%) in the northwest through Slovakia (17%), Poland (10%), Hungary (4%) and Ukraine (11%) to Romania (51%) and Serbia (2%)
Ural Mountains
a mountain range that runs approximately from north to south through western Russia, from the coast of the Arctic Ocean to the Ural River and northwestern Kazakhstan.[1] The mountain range forms part of the conventional boundary between the continents of Europe and Asia. Vaygach Island and the islands of Novaya Zemlya form a further continuation of the chain to the north into the Arctic Ocean.
Cape Verde
a nation on a volcanic archipelago off the northwest coast of Africa.
Horn of Africa
a peninsula in Northeast Africa. It juts hundreds of kilometers into the Arabian Sea and Indian Ocean, lying along the southern side of the Gulf of Aden. The area is the easternmost projection of the African continent. The Horn of Africa denotes the region containing the countries of Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, and Somalia.
Casablanca
a port city and commercial hub in western Morocco, fronting the Atlantic Ocean.
Cape Town
a port city on South Africa's southwest coast, on a peninsula beneath the imposing Table Mountain.
Pyrenees Mountains
a range of mountains in southwest Europe that forms a natural border between France and Spain. Reaching a height of 3,404 metres (11,168 ft) altitude at the peak of Aneto, the range separates the Iberian Peninsula from the rest of continental Europe, and extends for about 491 km (305 mi) from the Bay of Biscay (Cap Higuer) to the Mediterranean Sea (Cap de Creus). For the most part, the main crest forms a divide between France and Spain, with the microstate of Andorra sandwiched in between.
Lake Baikal
a rift lake in Russia, located in southern Siberia, between Irkutsk Oblast to the northwest and the Buryat Republic to the southeast. Lake Baikal is the largest freshwater lake by volume in the world, containing roughly 20% of the world's unfrozen surface fresh water.[4][5] With 23,615.39 km3 (5,670 cu mi) of fresh water,[1] it contains more water than the North American Great Lakes combined.[6] With a maximum depth of 1,642 m (5,387 ft),[1] Baikal is the world's deepest lake.[7] It is considered among the world's clearest[8] lakes and is considered the world's oldest lake[9] — at 25 million years.[10] It is the seventh-largest lake in the world by surface area.
Cape of Good Hope
a rocky headland on the Atlantic coast of the Cape Peninsula, South Africa.
Baltic Sea
a sea of the Atlantic Ocean, enclosed by Scandinavia, Finland, the Baltic countries, and the North European Plain. It includes the Gulf of Bothnia, the Bay of Bothnia, the Gulf of Finland, the Gulf of Riga, and the Bay of Gdańsk. The sea stretches from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from 10°E to 30°E longitude. A mediterranean sea of the Atlantic, with limited water exchange between the two bodies, the Baltic Sea drains through the Danish islands into the Kattegat by way of the straits of Øresund, the Great Belt, and the Little Belt.
trade winds
aka Easterly winds, located between the equator and 30o N (Northeast Trades) or S (Southeast Trades) that are produced when air moving from the subtropical highs in both hemispheres toward the equator is deflected by the coriolis force toward the west Note: Westerlies and Trade Winds occur in both hemispheres; they are produced by the same forces; and they mirror one another.
Sykes-Picot
also called Asia Minor Agreement, (May 1916), secret convention made during World War I between Great Britain and France, with the assent of imperial Russia, for the dismemberment of the Ottoman Empire. The agreement led to the division of Turkish-held Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, and Palestine into various French- and British-administered areas. Negotiations were begun in November 1915, and the final agreement took its name from its negotiators, Sir Mark Sykes of Britain and François Georges-Picot of France.
Lake Nyasa (Lake Malawi)
an African Great Lake and the southernmost lake in the East African Rift system, located between Malawi, Mozambique and Tanzania.
Lake Tanganyika
an African Great Lake. It is the second oldest freshwater lake in the world, second largest by volume, and the second deepest, in all cases after Lake Baikal in Siberia; it is also the world's longest freshwater lake.
Suez Canal
an artificial sea-level waterway in Egypt, connecting the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea through the Isthmus of Suez. It was constructed by the Suez Canal Company between 1859 and 1869.
Siberia
an extensive geographical region, and by the broadest definition is also known as North Asia. Siberia has historically been a part of Russia since the 17th century. The territory of Siberia extends eastwards from the Ural Mountains to the watershed between the Pacific and Arctic drainage basins. It stretches southwards from the Arctic Ocean to the hills of north-central Kazakhstan and to the national borders of Mongolia and China.[1] With an area of 13.1 million square kilometres (5,100,000 sq mi), Siberia accounts for 77% of Russia's land area, but it is home to just 40 million people - 27% of the country's population
pangea
ancient land mass that broke apart, beginning 160 million years ago, to form continents as we find them today
Westerlies
belts of prevailing westerly winds, located between 30o and 60o N and S of equator, that are produced when air moving the Subtropical Highs in both hemispheres toward the the poles, is deflected by the Coriolis force toward the east. Note: Westerlies and Trade Winds occur in both hemispheres; they are produced by the same forces; and they mirror one another.
Subduction (convergent plate boundary)
boundary formed when a light continental plate overrides a heavier oceanic plate, pushing the latter down and causing earthquakes, volcanoes, and mountain building. Example: West coast of North and South America
Collision (convergence plate boundary)
boundary formed when two continental plates collide and push up to form mountains. example: collision of eurasian and indian plates to form the Himalaya mountains
Transform plate boundary
boundary formed when two plates slide past one another, causing earthquakes. Example: San Andreas Fault, California
Ring of Fire
boundary of the pacific plate, which is the site of numerous and severe earthquakes and volcanoes
Solar radiation
emission of energy from the sun in the form of shortwave electromagnetic waves
Yugoslavia
example of a multinational state
The Kurds
example of a nation without a state
Iceland
example of divergent plate boundary
West coast of north and south america
example of subduction plate boundary
Kuril Islands
form a volcanic archipelago that stretches approximately 1,300 km (810 mi) northeast from Hokkaido, Japan, to Kamchatka, Russia, separating the Sea of Okhotsk from the North Pacific Ocean. There are 56 islands and many minor rocks. It consists of Greater Kuril Ridge and Lesser Kuril Ridge.All the islands are currently under Russian jurisdiction. Japan claims the two southernmost large islands (Iturup and Kunashir) as part of its territory, as well as Shikotan and the Habomai islets, which has led to the ongoing Kuril Islands dispute. The disputed islands are known in Japan as the country's "Northern Territories".
Great Rift Valley
he continuous geographic trench, approximately 6,000 kilometres (3,700 mi) in length, that runs from Lebanon's Beqaa Valley in Asia to Mozambique in South Eastern Africa.[1] The name continues in some usages, although it is today considered geologically imprecise as it combines features that are today regarded as separate, although related, rift and fault systems. Today, the term is most often used to refer to the valley of the East African Rift, the divergent plate boundary which extends from the Afar Triple Junction southward across eastern Africa, and is in the process of splitting the African Plate into two new separate plates. Geologists generally refer to these incipient plates as the Nubian Plate and the Somali Plate.
Crete
he largest and most populous of the Greek islands, 88th-largest island in the world and the fifth-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, Sardinia, Cyprus, and Corsica. Crete and a number of surrounding islands and islets constitute the region of Crete (Greek: Περιφέρεια Κρήτης), one of the 13 top-level administrative units of Greece. The capital and the largest city is Heraklion. As of 2011, the region had a population of 623,065. Crete forms a significant part of the economy and cultural heritage of Greece, while retaining its own local cultural traits (such as its own poetry and music). It was once the centre of the Minoan civilization (c. 2700-1420 BC), which is currently regarded as the earliest recorded civilization in Europe.[1
Sicily
he largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. It is an autonomous Region of Italy, along with surrounding minor islands, officially referred to as Regione Siciliana (in Italian, Sicilian Region). Sicily is located in the central Mediterranean Sea, south of the Italian Peninsula, from which it is separated by the narrow Strait of Messina. Its most prominent landmark is Mount Etna, the tallest active volcano in Europe,[3] and one of the most active in the world, currently 3,329 m (10,922 ft) high. The island has a typical Mediterranean climate. The earliest archaeological evidence of human activity on the island dates from as early as 12,000 BC
Mount Kenya
highest mountain in Kenya and the second-highest in Africa, after Kilimanjaro.
Rhone River
is one of the major rivers of Europe, rising in the Rhône Glacier in the Swiss Alps at the far eastern end of the Swiss canton of Valais, passing through Lake Geneva and running through southeastern France. At Arles, near its mouth on the Mediterranean Sea, the river divides into two branches, known as the Great Rhône (French: Le Grand Rhône) and the Little Rhône (Le Petit Rhône). The resulting delta constitutes the Camargue region.
Caspian Sea
largest enclosed inland body of water on Earth by area, variously classed as the world's largest lake or a full-fledged sea.[2][3] It is in an endorheic basin (a basin without outflows) located between Europe and Asia.[4] It is bounded by Kazakhstan to the northeast, Russia to the northwest, Azerbaijan to the west, Iran to the south, and Turkmenistan to the southeast.
Vladivostok
literally ruler of the east) is a city and the administrative center of Primorsky Krai, Russia, located at the head of the Golden Horn Bay, not far from Russia's borders with China and North Korea. The population of the city as of 2016 is 606,653,[10] up from 592,034 recorded in the 2010 Russian census.[11] The city is the home port of the Russian Pacific Fleet and the largest Russian port on the Pacific Ocean.
Senegal River
long river in West Africa that forms the border between Senegal and Mauritania.
Volga River
longest river in Europe. It is also Europe's largest river in terms of discharge and watershed. The river flows through central Russia and into the Caspian Sea, and is widely regarded as the national river of Russia.Eleven of the twenty largest cities of Russia, including the capital, Moscow, are located in the Volga's watershed. Some of the largest reservoirs in the world can be found along the Volga. The river has a symbolic meaning in Russian culture and is often referred to as Волга-матушка Volga-Matushka (Mother Volga) in Russian literature and folklore.
Alps Mountains
most extensive mountain range system that lies entirely in Europe,[2][note 1] stretching approximately 1,200 kilometres (750 mi) across eight Alpine countries: Austria, France, Germany, Italy, Liechtenstein, Monaco, Slovenia, and Switzerland.[3] The mountains were formed over tens of millions of years as the African and Eurasian tectonic plates collided. Extreme shortening caused by the event resulted in marine sedimentary rocks rising by thrusting and folding into high mountain peaks such as Mont Blanc and the Matterhorn.
Caucasus Mountains
mountain system in Eurasia between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea in the Caucasus region.
continental drift
movement of continents that are located on separate tectonic plates
Tectonic Plate
one of approximately 20 large section of the earth's crust that diverge, collide with and move relative to one another
Lake Victoria
one of the African Great Lakes
Dnieper River
one of the major rivers of Europe (fourth by length), rising near Smolensk, Russia and flowing through Russia, Belarus and Ukraine to the Black Sea. It is the longest river of Ukraine and Belarus and the fourth longest river in Europe.
Resource Curse
paradox that countries with an abundance of natural resources (like fossil fuels and certain minerals), tend to have less economic growth, less democracy, and worse development outcomes than countries with fewer natural resources.
Seafloor spreading
process by which lava and newly formed basaltic rock press outward from the mid-oceanic ridge, causing the separation of adjacent tectonic plates
Golan Heights
region in the Levant. The western two-thirds of the [term] are occupied and administrated by Israel, whereas the eastern third is controlled by Syria, with the UNDOF maintaining a buffer zone in between, to implement the ceasefire of the Purple Line.
mid-oceanic ridge
ridge of igneous rock formed by hot magma (lava or basalt) that penetrates through cracks in the suboceanic crust of the Atlantic, Pacific and other oceans
Danube River
s Europe's second-longest river, after the Volga River, and also the longest river in the European Union region. It is located in Central and Eastern Europe. The Danube was once a long-standing frontier of the Roman Empire, and today flows through 10 countries, more than any other river in the world. Originating in Germany, the Danube flows southeast for 2,860 km (1,780 mi), passing through or touching the border of Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia, Serbia, Romania, Bulgaria, Moldova and Ukraine before emptying into the Black Sea. Its drainage basin extends into nine more countries.
red Sea
seawater inlet of the Indian Ocean, lying between Africa and Asia. The connection to the ocean is in the south through the Bab el Mandeb strait and the Gulf of Aden.
Gaza
small self-governing Palestinian territory on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea, that borders Egypt on the southwest for 11 kilometers and Israel on the east and north along a 51 km border.
Forward Capital
symbolically relocated capital city usually because of either economic or strategic reasons. A forward capital is sometimes used to integrate outlying parts of a country into the state. Abuja, Brasilia are two examples
pressure gradient
the difference in pressure between two locations causing air to move as wind from areas of high pressure to low pressure
Tigris River
the eastern and upper member of the two great rivers that define Mesopotamia, the other being the Euphrates. ("Tigris on TOP")
high pressure
the effect produced by relatively colder, heavier air
low pressure
the effect produced by relatively warmer, lighter air
coriolis force
the force that, owing to the rotation (spin) of the earth, deflects objects to the right (clockwise) in the northern hemisphere and to the left (counter-clockwise) in the southern hemisphere
Sahara Desert
the largest hot desert and the third largest desert in the world after Antarctica and the Arctic. comparable to the area of the US
Zagros Mountains
the largest mountain range in Iran, Iraq and southeastern Turkey. This mountain range has a total length of 1,500 km.
Niger River
the principal river of western Africa, extending about 4,180 km. Its drainage basin is 2,117,700 km² in area. Its source is in the Guinea Highlands in southeastern Guinea
atmospheric pressure
the weight of a column of air at a given location
Anatolian Plateau
the westernmost protrusion of Asia, which makes up the majority of modern-day Turkey.
Northeast Trades
trade winds at 30 N
Southeast Trades
trade winds at 30 S
Carbon (dioxide through photosynthesis)
trees get most of their mass from
divergent plate boundary
two plates moving away from each other, resulting in mid-ocean ridges, volcanoes. Example: Iceland
Aral Sea
was an endorheic lake lying between Kazakhstan (Aktobe and Kyzylorda Regions) in the north and Uzbekistan (Karakalpakstan autonomous region) in the south. The name roughly translates as "Sea of Islands", referring to over 1,100 islands that once dotted its waters; in the Turkic languages aral means "island, archipelago". The Aral Sea drainage basin encompasses Uzbekistan and parts of Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Afghanistan and Pakistan.[1] Formerly one of the four largest lakes in the world with an area of 68,000 km2 (26,300 sq mi), the Aral Sea has been steadily shrinking since the 1960s after the rivers that fed it were diverted by Soviet irrigation projects.
Mount Kiliminjaro
with its three volcanic cones, "Kibo", "Mawenzi", and "Shira", is a dormant volcano in Tanzania. It is the highest mountain in Africa
