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86 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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microstates
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A sovereign state having a very small population or very small land area, but usually both.
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lingua franca
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A language systematically used to communicate between persons not sharing a mother tongue, in particular when it is a third language, distinct from both persons' mother tongues.
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Devolution
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is the statutory granting of powers from the central government of a Sovereign state to government at a subnational level, such as a regional, local, or state level.
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Centripetal Forces
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The component of force acting on a body in curvilinear motion that is directed toward the center of curvature or axis of rotation. Is necessary for an object to move with circular motion.
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Centrifugal Forces
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The apparent force, equal and opposite to the centripetal force, drawing a rotating body away from the center of rotation, caused by the inertia of the body.
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population explosion
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The geometric expansion of a biological population, especially the unchecked growth in human population resulting from a decrease in infant mortality and an increase in longevity.
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euro
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The basic unit of currency among participating European Union countries.
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primate city
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The largest city within a nation which dominates the country not solely in size but also in terms of influence.
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population explosion
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The geometric expansion of a biological population, especially the unchecked growth in human population resulting from a decrease in infant mortality and an increase in longevity.
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supranationalism
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Extending beyond or transcending established borders or spheres of influence held by separate nations.
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euro
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The basic unit of currency among participating European Union countries.
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European Union ( EU )
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An economic and political union established in 1993 after the ratification of the Maastricht Treaty by members of the European Community and since expanded to include numerous Central and Eastern European nations.
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primate city
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The largest city within a nation which dominates the country not solely in size but also in terms of influence.
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supranationalism
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Extending beyond or transcending established borders or spheres of influence held by separate nations.
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European Union ( EU )
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An economic and political union established in 1993 after the ratification of the Maastricht Treaty by members of the European Community and since expanded to include numerous Central and Eastern European nations.
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Slavic languages
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Also called Slavonic languages, a subfamily of the Indo-European family of languages.
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Romance languages
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Group of related languages derived from Latin, with nearly 920 million native speakers. The major ones being — French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, and Romanian — are national languages.
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Celtic languages
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Branch of the Indo-European language family spoken across a broad area of western and central Europe by the Celts in pre-Roman and Roman times, now confined to small coastal areas of northwestern Europe.
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Germanic languages
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Branch of the Indo-European language family, comprising languages descended from Proto-Germanic.
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Bavaria
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A region and former duchy of southern Germany. Conquered by the Romans in 15 B.C., the region became one of the five preeminent duchies of medieval Germany but was later overrun and ruled by numerous factions and powers.
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Munich
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A city of southeast Germany near the Bavarian Alps southeast of Augsburg. Founded in 1158, it has long been the center of Bavaria.
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Frankfurt
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A city of west-central Germany on the Main River. Founded in the first century B.C. by the Romans, it was the virtual capital of Germany from 1816 to 1866. It is now an industrial, commercial, and financial center.
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Hamburg
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A city of northern Germany on the Elbe River northeast of Bremen. Founded by Charlemagne in the early ninth century, the city quickly grew in commercial importance and in 1241 formed an alliance with Lübeck that became the basis for the Hanseatic League.
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Saar
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One of the 16 states of Germany. The capital is Saarbrücken.
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Neckar Valley
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A railway line from Heidelberg via Eberbach and Mosbach to Bad Friedrichshall-Jagstfeld in southwestern Germany. Today it is part of the Rhein-Neckar Transport Authority and is partly worked by the RheinNeckar S-Bahn.
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Stuttgart
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A city of southwest Germany on the Neckar River south-southeast of Heidelberg. Chartered in the 13th century, it later developed as an industrial center. It was heavily bombed during World War II.
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Ruhr - Essen
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A city of west-central Germany near the confluence of the Ruhr and Rhine rivers north of Cologne. Founded in the ninth century, it is a major iron and steel center that was largely rebuilt after heavy bombing during World War II.
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Rhineland - Cologne
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A region along the Rhine River in western Germany. It includes noted vineyards and highly industrial sections north of Bonn and Cologne.
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Elbe River
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River, central Europe. One of the continent's major waterways, it rises in the Krkonoe (Giant) Mountains on the border of the Czech Republic and Poland and flows southwest across Bohemia.
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Rhine Graben
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A major extensional rift system in Central Europe, straddling the border between France and Germany. It formed during the Cenozoic as a response to the evolution of the Alps to the south.
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Oder - Neisse Rivers
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frontier established in 1945 between Germany and Poland; it followed the Oder and W Neisse rivers from the Baltic Sea to the Czechoslovak border. The boundary, desired by most Poles at the expense of Germany, came about as a result of agreements between the Soviet Union, Great Britain, and the United States at the Yalta and Potsdam conferences in 1945.
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East Germany
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officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR); was a communist state that originated from the Soviet Zone of occupied Germany and the Soviet sector of occupied Berlin.
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West Germany
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The Federal Republic of Germany, organized from the initially 12 states formed in the three Western Zones or Allied Zones of occupation held by the United States, the United Kingdom, and France.
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Berlin
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The capital city and one of 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.4 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city and the eighth most populous urban area in the European Union.
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Saxon Triangle (Dresden, Leipzig, Chemnitz)
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A metropolitan area in Germany, consisting of the cities of Chemnitz, Dresden, Halle, Leipzig and Zwickau. These cities are arranged into three agglomeration areas. The metropolitan area is characterized by long distances between the agglomeration areas, which can be seen as the corners of the triangle.
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Zuider Zee
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Was a shallow inlet of the North Sea in the northwest of the Netherlands. Its name means "southern sea" in Dutch.
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polders
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a low-lying tract of land enclosed by embankments known as dikes, that forms an artificial hydrological entity, meaning it has no connection with outside water other than through manually-operated devices. There are three types of polders: land reclaimed, flood plains, and marshes.
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Randstad
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A city at the edge of a circle, with empty space in the centre) is a conurbation in the Netherlands. It consists of the four largest Dutch cities (Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague and Utrecht), and the surrounding areas.
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Rotterdam
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A city and municipality in the Dutch province of South Holland, situated in the west of the Netherlands. The municipality is the second largest in the country, with a population of 584,046 as of January 2007.
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Holland
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A name in common usage given to a region in the western part of the Netherlands. The name 'Holland' is also often informally used to refer to the whole of the country of the Netherlands.
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Amsterdam
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Is the capital and largest city of the Netherlands, located in the province of North Holland in the west of the country.
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Walloons
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A Romance-speaking people partly from Germanic origin and Celtic origin; in any case a melting-pot speaking French, living in Belgium principally in Wallonia, more generally the inhabitants of Wallonia.
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Flemish
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Is derived from the name of the County of Flanders. The name of the County of Flanders itself was first attested in Ghent, in 1237, and etymologically it derives from ‘Flandr’, which is Old Dutch roughly meaning ‘that which is flooded/flooded area.
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Belgium Gate
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Was a heavy steel fence of about three meters wide and two meters high, typically mounted on rollers, and used as an anti-tank obstacle.
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Ardennes
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A region of extensive forests, rolling hills and old mountains formed on the Givetian (Devonian) Ardennes mountains, primarily in Belgium and Luxembourg, but stretching into France, and geologically into the Eifel.
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Brussels
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Is the de facto capital city of the European Union (EU) and the largest urban area in Belgium.
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Antwerp
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Is a city and municipality in Belgium and the capital of the Antwerp province in Flanders, one of Belgium's three regions.
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Sambre- Meuse Valley
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The dividing line between Middle and High Belgium. It is the most populated region of Wallonia.
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Edinburgh
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Is the capital city of Scotland. It is the second largest city in Scotland and the seventh-most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas.
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Aberdeen
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Scotland's third most populous city and one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas.
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Clydeside
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Was a bus operating subsidiary of the Scottish Transport Group formed in June 1985 from Western SMT Company Ltd. The company operated until May 1989, when it was remerged with Western Scottish, the successor company to Western SMT.
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England
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A country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental Europe.
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Pennine Mountains
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Are a low-rising mountain range in northern England and southern Scotland. They separate the North West of England from Yorkshire and the North East.
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Teeside - Tynside (New Castle)
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A borough of northeast England on the Tyne River north of Leeds. Built on the site of a Roman military station, it became a coal-shipping port in the 13th century and was the principal center for coal exports after the 16th century. Its prominence in the trade gave rise to the expression to carry coals to Newcastle, meaning "to do something superfluous or unnecessary."
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West Yorkshire
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A metropolitan county within the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England with a population of 2.2 million.
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Birmingham
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A city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands county of England. It is the largest of the British Core Cities and the second most populous British city.
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Midlands ( Black Country )
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A loosely defined area of the English West Midlands conurbation, to the north and west of Birmingham.
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Lancashire
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A non-metropolitan county of historic origin in the North West of England.
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Manchester
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Situated in the south-central part of North West England, fringed by the Cheshire Plain to the south and the Pennines to the north and east.
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Liverpool ( Merseyside)
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A city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary.
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London Basin
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An elongated, roughly triangular sedimentary basin approximately 160 mi long which underlies London and a large area of south east England, south eastern East Anglia and the adjacent North Sea. The basin formed as a result of extensional tectonics related to the Alpine orogeny during the Palaeogene period and was mainly active between 60 and 40 million years ago.
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Thames River
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A major river flowing through southern England. While best known because its lower reaches flow through central London, the river flows through several other towns and cities, including Oxford, Reading and Windsor.
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United Kingdom
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A sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands.
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rustbelt
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Also known as the Manufacturing Belt, is an area in parts of the Northeastern United States, Mid-Atlantic States, and portions of the Upper Midwest.
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Wales
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A country that is part of the United Kingdom,[3] bordered by England to its east, and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. Wales has a population estimated at three million and is officially bilingual; both Welsh and English have equal status and bilingual signs are the norm throughout the land.
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Cardiff
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Is the capital, largest city and most populous county of Wales. The city is Wales' chief commercial centre, the base for many national cultural and sporting institutions, the Welsh national media, and the seat of the National Assembly for Wales.
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Appennine Mountains
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A mountain range stretching c. 1,200 km from the north to the south of Italy along its east coast, traversing the entire peninsula, and forming the backbone of the country.
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Po Basin
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Located in northern Italy, where it forms a rift between the Italian peninsula and the mainland. Once covered in mixed deciduous oak forest and riparian forest, this periodically flooded basin now retains little of its original vegetation. The most significant biodiversity of the ecoregion is related to lesser-disturbed wetlands.
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Lombrady
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Is one of the 20 regions of Italy. The capital is Milan.
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Piedmont
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Is one of the 20 regions of Italy. The capital is Turin.
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Genoa
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A city and an important seaport in northern Italy, the capital of the Province of Genoa and of the region of Liguria.
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Padania
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An alternative name for Po Valley.
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Rome
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The capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated municipality.
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Ancona Line
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A city and a seaport in the Marche, A region of central Italy. Is situated on the Adriatic Sea and is the center of the province of Ancona and the capital of the region.
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Mezzogiorno
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Generally refers to the southern portion of the continental Italian peninsula and Sicily, historically forming the Kingdom of Two Sicilies plus the island of Sardinia.
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Calabria
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A region in southern Italy, south of Naples, located at the "toe" of the Italian peninsula. It is bounded to the north by the region of Basilicata, to the south-west by the region of Sicily, to the west by the Tyrrhenian Sea, and to the east by the Ionian Sea.
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Naples
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Is the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples.
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Sicily
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The largest island in the Mediterranean Sea and an autonomous region of Italy. Minor islands around it are also considered to be part of Sicily.
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Saradinia
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The second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea (after Sicily).
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Mafia
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Sicilian criminal society which is believed to have emerged in late 19th century Sicily. Also known as "Cosa Nostra".
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viticulture
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The science, production and study of grapes which deals with the series of events that occur in the vineyard. Winemaking.
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Iberian Peninsula
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Located in the extreme southwest of Europe and includes modern-day Portugal, Spain, Andorra and Gibraltar and a very small area of France. It is the westernmost of the three major southern European peninsulas—the Iberian, Italian, and Balkan peninsulas. It is bordered on the southeast and east by the Mediterranean Sea, and on the north, west and southwest by the Atlantic Ocean.
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Pyrenees Mountains
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A range of mountains in southwest Europe that form a natural border between France and Spain. They separate the Iberian Peninsula from the rest of continental Europe, and extend for about 430 km (267 mi) from the Bay of Biscay (Cap Higuer) to the Mediterranean Sea (Cap de Creus).
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Catalonia
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Is one of the seventeen Autonomous Communities of the Kingdom of Spain. Its capital city is Barcelona.
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Basque Region
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A small ethnic enclave located in the heart of the Pyrenees Mountains, which divide Spain and France from one another.
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Madrid
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Is situated in the middle of the Meseta, and at an elevation of 646 meters (2,119 feet) above sea level is the highest capital city in Europe.
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