Glossary of geography

AIDS - a serious (often fatal) disease of the immune system transmitted through blood products especially by sexual contact or contaminated needles
Afghanistan - a mountainous landlocked country in central Asia; bordered by Iran to the west and Russia to the north and Pakistan to the east and south
Africa - the second largest continent; located south of Europe and bordered to the west by the South Atlantic and to the east by the Indian Ocean
Agriculture - the class of people engaged in growing food; the practice of cultivating the land or raising stock; a large-scale farming enterprise; the federal department that administers programs that provide services to farmers (including research and soil conservation and efforts to stabilize the farming economy); created in 1862
Agua - largest known toad species; native to Central America; valuable destroyer of insect pests
Air pollution - pollution of the atmosphere
Al-Hudaydah - an important port in Yemen on the Red Sea
Alaska Peninsula - a peninsula of southwestern Alaska (a continuation of the Aleutian Islands)
Alaska Range - a mountain range in south central Alaska; contains Mount McKinley
Alaska - a state in northwestern North America; the 49th state admitted to the union
Albania - a republic in southeastern Europe on the Adriatic coast of the Balkan Peninsula
Aleppo - a city in northwestern Syria
Aleutian Islands - an archipelago in the North Pacific extending southwestern from Alaska
Alexander Archipelago - a group of islands off southeastern Alaska
Alexander - king of Macedon; conqueror of Greece and Egypt and Persia; founder of Alexandria (356-323 BC); European herb somewhat resembling celery widely naturalized in Britain coastal regions and often cultivated as a potherb
Algeria - a republic in northwestern Africa on the Mediterranean Sea with a population that is predominantly Sunni Muslim; colonized by France in the 19th century but gained autonomy in the early 1960s
Ali - the fourth caliph of Islam who is considered to be the first caliph by Shiites; he was a cousin and son-in-law of Muhammad; after his assassination Islam was divided into Shiite and Sunnite sects; United States prizefighter who won the world heavyweight championship three times (born in 1942)
Allegheny Mountains - the western part of the Appalachian Mountains; extending from northern Pennsylvania to southwestern Virginia
Almaty - the largest city in Kazakhstan and the capital until 1998
Alps - a large mountain system in south-central Europe; scenic beauty and winter sports make them a popular tourist attraction
Amazon River - a major South American river; arises in the Andes and flows eastward into the South Atlantic; the world's 2nd longest river (4000 miles)
American Samoa - a United States territory on the eastern part of the island of Samoa
Amundsen - Norwegian explorer who was the first to traverse the Northwest Passage and in 1911 the first to reach the South Pole (1872-1928)
Amur River - an Asian river between China and Russia; flows into the Sea of Okhotsk
Anatolia - a peninsula in southwestern Asia that forms the Asian part of Turkey
Andaman Sea - part of the Bay of Bengal west of the Malay Peninsula
Andorra - a small republic in the eastern Pyrenees between Spain and France
Andrew - (New Testament) disciple of Jesus; brother of Peter; patron saint of Scotland
Andrews - United States naturalist who contributed to paleontology and geology (1884-1960)
Angara River - a river in southeastern Siberia that flows northwest from Lake Baikal to become a tributary of the Yenisei River
Angel Falls - the highest waterfall; has more than one leap; flow varies seasonally
Angel - the highest waterfall; has more than one leap; flow varies seasonally; spiritual being attendant upon God; invests in a theatrical production; person of exceptional holiness
Angola - a republic in southwestern Africa on the Atlantic Ocean; achieved independence from Portugal in 1975 and was the scene of civil war until 1990
Anguilla - type genus of the Anguillidae: eels; a British colony in the West Indies
Anjou - a pear with firm flesh and a green skin; a former province of western France in the Loire valley
Ankara - the capital of Turkey; located in west-central Turkey; it was formerly known as Angora and is the home of Angora goats
Annapurna - a mountain in the Himalayas in Nepal (26,500 feet high); wife of Siva and a benevolent aspect of Devi: goddess of plenty
Antarctic Circle - a line of latitude north of the south pole
Antarctic Peninsula - a large peninsula of Antarctica that extends some 1200 miles north toward South America; separates the Weddell Sea from the South Pacific
Antarctic - of or relating to Antarctica; at or near the south pole; the region around the south pole: Antarctica and surrounding waters
Antarctica - an extremely cold continent at the south pole almost entirely below the Antarctic Circle; covered by an ice cap up to 13,000 feet deep
Antigua and Barbuda - a country in the northern Leeward Islands
Antigua - the largest of the islands comprising Antigua and Barbuda
Apennines - a mountain range extending the length of the Italian peninsula
Apia - the capital of Western Samoa
Appalachian Mountains - a mountain range in the eastern United States extending from Quebec to the Gulf of Mexico; a historic barrier to early westward expansion of the United States
Apulia - a region in southeastern Italy on the Adriatic
Aquitaine - a region of southwestern France between Bordeaux and the Pyrenees
Arabian Desert - a desert on the Arabian Peninsula in southwestern Asia; a desert in Egypt between the Nile River and the Red Sea
Arabian Gulf - a shallow arm of the Arabian Sea between Iran and the Arabian peninsula; the Persian Gulf oil fields are among the most productive in the world
Arabian Peninsula - a peninsula between the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf; strategically important for its oil resources
Arafura Sea - a part of the western Pacific Ocean north of Australia and south of New Guinea and the eastern islands of Indonesia
Aral Sea - a lake east of the Caspian Sea lying between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan
Aran Islands - three small islands belonging to Ireland at the entrance to Galway Bay
Arava - an anti-TNF compound (trade name Arava) that is given orally; can slow the progression of rheumatoid arthritis by slowing the proliferation of white blood cells which reduces inflammation in the synovium
Archaeology - the branch of anthropology that studies prehistoric people and their cultures
Arctic Archipelago - all the islands that lie north of mainland Canada and the Arctic Circle
Arctic Circle - a line of latitude near but south of the north pole; it marks the northernmost point at which the sun is visible on the northern winter solstice and the southernmost point at which the midnight sun can be seen on the northern summer solstice
Arctic Ocean - ice covered waters surrounding the North Pole; mostly covered with solid ice or with ice floes and icebergs
Argentina - type genus of the Argentinidae: argentines; a republic in southern South America; second largest country in South America
Argun River - a river in eastern Asia that arises in China and flows northeast along the border between China and Russia to become a tributary of the Amur River
Arizona - glossy snake; a state in southwestern United States; site of the Grand Canyon
Arkansas River - a river that rises in the Rocky Mountains in Colorado and flows southeast through Kansas and Oklahoma and through Arkansas to become a tributary of the Mississippi River
Arkansas - a state in south central United States; one of the Confederate states during the American Civil War; a river that rises in the Rocky Mountains in Colorado and flows southeast through Kansas and Oklahoma and through Arkansas to become a tributary of the Mississippi River
Armenia - a landlocked republic in southwestern Asia; formerly an Asian soviet; modern Armenia is but a fragment of ancient Armenia which was one of the world's oldest civilizations; throughout 2500 years the Armenian people have been invaded and oppressed by their neighbors
Arno River - a river in central Italy rising in the Apennines and flowing through Florence and Pisa to the Ligurian Sea
Aruba - a popular island resort in the Netherlands Antilles
Ascension - (astronomy) the rising of a star above the horizon; (New Testament) the rising of the body of Jesus into heaven on the 40th day after his Resurrection; (Christianity) celebration of the Ascension of Christ into heaven; observed on the 40th day after Easter; the act of changing location in an upward direction; a movement upward
Astana - remote city of Kazakhstan that (ostensibly for security reasons) was made the capital in 1998
Aswan Dam - one of the world's largest dams on the Nile River in southern Egypt
Aswan High Dam - one of the world's largest dams on the Nile River in southern Egypt
Atacama Desert - a desert in northern Chile rich in nitrate and copper deposits
Atar - essential oil or perfume obtained from flowers
Atlas Mountains - a mountain range in northern Africa between the Mediterranean and the Sahara Desert; extends from southwestern Morocco to northern Tunisia
Atoll - an island consisting of a circular coral reef surrounding a lagoon
Attica - the territory of Athens in ancient Greece
Auckland - the largest city and principal port of New Zealand
Australia - a nation occupying the whole of the Australian continent; aboriginal tribes are thought to have migrated from southeastern Asia 20,000 years ago; first Europeans were British convicts sent there as a penal colony; the smallest continent; between the South Pacific and the Indian Ocean
Australian Alps - a range of mountains in Australia that forms the southern end of the Great Dividing Range
Austria - a mountainous republic in central Europe; under the Habsburgs (1278-1918) Austria maintained control of the Holy Roman Empire and was a leader in European politics until the 19th century
Austrian - of or relating to Austria or its people or culture; a native or inhabitant of Austria
Azerbaijan - a landlocked republic in southwestern Asia; formerly an Asian soviet
Azores - islands in the Atlantic Ocean belonging to Portugal
Baffin Bay - a body of water between Greenland and northeastern Canada; connected with the Arctic Ocean to the north and with the Atlantic Ocean (via the Labrador Sea) to the south; icebound in winter
Baffin Island - the 5th largest island and the largest island of Arctic Canada; lies between Greenland and Hudson Bay
Bahamas - island country in the Atlantic east of Florida and Cuba; a popular winter resort
Bahrain - an island country in the Persian Gulf off the coast of Saudi Arabia; oil revenues funded progressive programs until reserves were exhausted in 1970s; an island in the Persian Gulf
Baku - a port city on the Caspian Sea that is the capital of Azerbaijan and an important center for oil production
Balboa - Spanish explorer who in 1513 crossed the Isthmus of Darien and became the first European to see the eastern shores of the Pacific Ocean (1475-1519); the basic unit of money in Panama; equal to 100 centesimos
Balearic Islands - an archipelago in the western Mediterranean off the eastern coast of Spain
Bali - an island in Indonesia east of Java; striking volcanic scenery; culture is known for elaborate dances and rituals and for handicrafts
Balkan Mountains - the major mountain range of Bulgaria and the Balkan Peninsula
Bamako - the capital of Mali; located in the south on the Niger
Bangkok - the capital and largest city and chief port of Thailand; a leading city in southeastern Asia; noted for Buddhist architecture
Bangladesh - a Muslim republic in southern Asia bordered by India to the north and west and east and the Bay of Bengal to the south; formerly part of India and then part of Pakistan; it achieved independence in 1971
Banjul - a port city and capital of Gambia
Bantu - of or relating to the African people who speak one of the Bantoid languages or to their culture; a family of languages widely spoken in the southern half of the African continent; a member of any of a large number of linguistically related peoples of Central and South Africa
Barbados - easternmost of the West Indies about 300 miles north of Venezuela; a parliamentary democracy on the island of Barbados; former British colony; a popular resort area
Barbuda - an island in Antigua and Barbuda
Barents Sea - the part of the Arctic Ocean north of Norway and Russia
Basel - a city in northwestern Switzerland
Basseterre - the capital of Saint Kitts and Nevis on the island of Saint Christopher
Bauxite - a clay-like mineral; the chief ore of aluminum; composed of aluminum oxides and aluminum hydroxides; used as an abrasive and catalyst
Bavaria - a state in southern Germany famous for its beer; site of an automobile factory
Bavarian - of or relating to or characteristic of Bavaria or its people; a native or an inhabitant of Bavaria
Bay of Bengal - an arm of the Indian Ocean east of India
Beaufort Sea - part of the Arctic Ocean northeast of Alaska
Beirut - capital and largest city of Lebanon; located in western Lebanon on the Mediterranean
Bel - Babylonian god of the earth; one of the supreme triad including Anu and Ea; earlier identified with En-lil; a logarithmic unit of sound intensity equal to 10 decibels
Belarus - a landlocked republic in eastern Europe; formerly a European soviet
Belau - a chain of more than 200 islands about 400 miles long in the western central Pacific Ocean
Belgium - a monarchy in northwestern Europe; headquarters for the European Union and for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization
Belize - a country on the northeastern coast of Central America on the Caribbean; formerly under British control
Belle - a young woman who is the most charming and beautiful of several rivals
Benghazi - port in northern Libya on the Gulf of Sidra; formerly a joint capital of Libya with Tripoli
Benin - a country on western coast of Africa; formerly under French control
Bering Sea - part of the North Pacific between Alaska and Siberia; connected to the Arctic Ocean by the Bering Strait
Bering Strait - a strait connecting the Bering Sea to the Arctic Ocean
Berlin - a limousine with a glass partition between the front and back seats; capital of Germany located in eastern Germany; United States songwriter (born in Russia) who wrote more than 1500 songs and several musical comedies (1888-1989)
Bermuda Triangle - an area in the western Atlantic Ocean where many ships and planes are supposed to have been mysteriously lost
Bermuda - a group of islands in the Atlantic off the Carolina coast; British colony; a popular resort
Bhutan - a landlocked principality in the Himalayas northeast of India
Bighorn River - a river that flows from central Wyoming to the Yellowstone River in southern Montana
Bight of Benin - a broad indentation of the Gulf of Guinea in western Africa
Birth control - limiting the number of children born
Bishkek - the capital of Kyrgyzstan (known as Frunze 1926-1991)
Bismarck Archipelago - a group of islands in the southwestern Pacific northeast of New Guinea; part of Papua New Guinea
Bismarck Sea - a naval battle in World War II; Allied land-based bombers destroyed a Japanese convoy in the Bismarck Sea in March 1943; an arm of the South Pacific southwest of the Bismarck Archipelago
Bissau - the capital of Guinea-Bissau
Black Forest - a hilly forest region in southwestern Germany
Black Hills - mountains in western South Dakota and northeastern Wyoming; mountains in southwestern South Dakota and northeastern Wyoming; sacred to the Sioux (whites settling in the Black Hills led to the Battle of Little Bighorn); site of Mount Rushmore
Blantyre - city in southern Malawi; largest city and commercial center of Malawi
Bloemfontein - the seat of the supreme court
Blue Ridge Mountains - a range of the Appalachians extending from southern Pennsylvania to northern Georgia
Bodensee - a lake in southeastern Germany on the northern side of the Swiss Alps; forms part of the Rhine River
Boeotia - a district of ancient Greece northwest of Athens
Bohemia - a group of artists and writers with real or pretended artistic or intellectual aspirations and usually an unconventional life style; a historical area and former kingdom in the Czech Republic
Bolivia - a form of canasta in which sequences can be melded; a landlocked republic in central South America; Simon Bolivar founded Bolivia in 1825 after winning independence from Spain
Bombay - a city in western India just off the coast of the Arabian Sea; India's 2nd largest city (after Calcutta); has the only natural deep-water harbor in western India
Bonaire - a popular island resort in the Netherlands Antilles
Book of Revelation - the last book of the New Testament; contains visionary descriptions of heaven and of conflicts between good and evil and of the end of the world; attributed to Saint John the apostle
Borneo - 3rd largest island in the world; in the western Pacific north of Java; largely covered by dense jungle and rain forest; part of the Malay Archipelago
Bosnia and Herzegovina - a mountainous republic of south-central Europe; formerly part of the Ottoman Empire and then a part of Yugoslavia; voted for independence in 1992 but the mostly Serbian army of Yugoslavia refused to accept the vote and began ethnic cleansing in order to rid Bosnia of its Croats and Muslims
Boston - state capital and largest city of Massachusetts; a major center for banking and financial services
Botswana - a landlocked republic in south-central Africa that became independent from British control in the 1960s
Bougainville - the largest of the Solomon Islands; a province of Papua New Guinea; French explorer who circumnavigated the globe accompanied by scientists (1729-1811)
Bouvet Island - an island belonging to Norway in the South Atlantic near the Antarctic Circle
Brahmaputra River - an Asian river; flows into the Bay of Bengal
Bratislava - capital and largest city of Slovakia
Brazil - the largest Latin American country and the largest Portuguese speaking country in the world; located in the central and northeastern part of South America; world's leading coffee exporter; three-sided tropical American nut with white oily meat and hard brown shell
Brenner Pass - an Alpine mountain pass connecting Innsbruck in Austria with Bolzano in Italy that has long been a route for trade and for invasions
Bridgetown - capital of Barbados; a port city on the southwestern coast of Barbados
Brindisi - a port city in southeastern Apulia in Italy; a center for the Crusades in the Middle Ages
Brisbane - capital and largest city of Queensland state; located in the southeastern corner of Queensland on the Pacific; settled by British as a penal colony; 3rd largest city in Australia
Bristol Channel - an inlet of the Atlantic Ocean between southern Wales and southwestern England
Britain - a monarchy in northwestern Europe occupying most of the British Isles; divided into England and Scotland and Wales and Northern Ireland
British Honduras - a country on the northeastern coast of Central America on the Caribbean; formerly under British control
British Isles - Great Britain and Ireland and adjacent islands in the north Atlantic
British Virgin Islands - more than 40 northeastern Virgin Islands (15 inhabited); a dependent territory of the United Kingdom
British - of or relating to or characteristic of Great Britain or its people or culture; the people of Great Britain
Brittany - a former province of northwestern France on a peninsula between the English Channel and the Bay of Biscay
Bruce - King of Scotland from 1306 to 1329; defeated the English army under Edward II at Bannockburn and gained recognition of Scottish independence (1274-1329); Australian physician and bacteriologist who described the bacterium that causes undulant fever or brucellosis (1855-1931)
Brunei - a sultanate in northwestern Borneo; became independent of Great Britain in 1984
Brussels - the capital and largest city of Belgium; seat of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization
Bucharest - national capital and largest city of Romania in southeastern Romania
Budapest - capital and largest city of Hungary; located on the Danube River in north-central Hungary
Buenos Aires - capital and largest city of Argentina; located in eastern Argentina near Uruguay; Argentina's chief port and industrial and cultural center
Bulawayo - industrial city in southwestern Zimbabwe
Bulgaria - a republic in the eastern part of the Balkan Peninsula in southeastern Europe
Burkina Faso - a desperately poor landlocked country in western Africa; was formerly Upper Volta under French rule but gained independence in 1960
Burma - a mountainous republic in southeastern Asia on the Bay of Bengal
Bursa - a small fluid-filled sac located between movable parts of the body especially at joints; a city in northwestern Turkey
Burundi - of or relating to or characteristic of Burundi or its people; a landlocked republic in east central Africa on the northeastern shore of Lake Tanganyika
Calcutta - the largest city in India and one of the largest cities in the world; located in eastern India; suffers from poverty and overcrowding
Caledonian Canal - a canal in northern Scotland that links North Sea with the Atlantic Ocean; runs diagonally between Moray Firth at the northeastern end and Loch Linnhe at the southwestern end; now little used
Cali - city in southwestern Colombia in a rich agricultural area
California - a state in the western United States on the Pacific; the 3rd largest state; known for earthquakes
Calving - giving birth to a calf
Cambodia - a nation in southeastern Asia; was part of Indochina under French rule until 1946
Cambrian Mountains - a rugged plateau that runs north to south through central Wales
Cameroon - a republic on the western coast of central Africa; was under French and British control until 1960; an inactive volcano in western Cameroon; highest peak on the West African coast
Cameroun - a republic on the western coast of central Africa; was under French and British control until 1960
Campania - a region of southwestern Italy on the Tyrrhenian Sea including the islands of Capri and Ischia
Canada - a nation in northern North America; the French were the first Europeans to settle in mainland Canada
Canadian River - a river rising in northeastern New Mexico and flowing eastward across the Texas panhandle to become a tributary of the Arkansas River in Oklahoma
Canary Islands - a group of mountainous islands in the Atlantic off the northwest coast of Africa forming Spanish provinces
Cantabrian Mountains - a range of mountains in northern Spain along the coast of the Bay of Biscay
Canyon - a ravine formed by a river in an area with little rainfall
Cape Breton Island - an island that forms the northeastern part of Nova Scotia
Cape Cod - a Massachusetts peninsula south of Boston extending into the Atlantic; a popular resort area
Cape Town - port city in southwestern South Africa; the seat of the legislative branch of the government of South Africa
Cape Verde - an island country in the Atlantic off the coast of Senegal
Cape York Peninsula - a peninsula in Queensland in northeastern Australia between the Gulf of Carpentaria and the Coral Sea
Cape of Good Hope - a province of western South Africa; a point of land in southwestern South Africa (south of Cape Town)
Capri - an island (part of Campania) in the Bay of Naples in southern Italy; a tourist attraction noted for beautiful scenery
Caracas - the capital and largest city of Venezuela
Cardamom - aromatic seeds used as seasoning like cinnamon and cloves especially in pickles and barbecue sauces; rhizomatous herb of India having aromatic seeds used as seasoning
Carpathian Mountains - a mountain range in central Europe that extends from Slovakia and southern Poland southeastward through western Ukraine to northeastern Romania; a popular resort area
Carthage - an ancient city state on the north African coast near modern Tunis; founded by Phoenicians; destroyed and rebuilt by Romans; razed by Arabs in 697
Casablanca - a port on the Atlantic and the largest city of Morocco
Cascade Range - a mountain range in the northwestern United States extending through Washington and Oregon and northern California; a part of the Coast Range
Caspian Sea - a large saltwater lake between Iran and Russia fed by the Volga River; the largest inland body of water in the world
Castries - a port on the island of Saint Lucia; capital and largest city of Saint Lucia
Catalonia - a region of northeastern Spain
Catherine - empress of Russia who greatly increased the territory of the empire (1729-1796); first wife of Henry VIII; Henry's divorce from her was the initial step of the Reformation in England (1485-1536)
Caucasus Mountains - the mountain range in Caucasia between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea that forms part of the traditional border between Europe and Asia
Cayman Islands - a British colony in the Caribbean northwest of Jamaica; an international banking center
Cayman - an alligator-like reptile of Central America and South America having a more heavily armored belly
Cebu - one of the Visayan islands of the central Philippines; important for its fine harbor; an important seaport on the island of Cebu in the Philippines
Celebes - a mountainous island in eastern Indonesia
Central African Republic - a landlocked country in central Africa; formerly under French control; became independent in 1960
Central - in or near a center or constituting a center; the inner area; centrally located and easy to reach; used in the description of a place that in the middle of another place; serving as an essential component; a workplace that serves as a telecommunications facility where lines from telephones can be connected together to permit communication
Chad - a family of Afroasiatic tonal languages (mostly two tones) spoken in the regions west and south of Lake Chad in north central Africa; a landlocked desert republic in north-central Africa; was under French control until 1960; a small piece of paper that is supposed to be removed when a hole is punched in a card or paper tape; a lake in north central Africa; fed by the Shari river
Channel Tunnel - the railroad tunnel between France and England under the English Channel
Chaparral - dense vegetation consisting of stunted trees or bushes
Chari River - an African river that flows northwest into Lake Chad
Chennai - a city in Tamil Nadu on the Bay of Bengal; formerly Madras
Chesapeake Bay - a large inlet of the North Atlantic between Virginia and Maryland; fed by Susquehanna River
Cheviot Hills - a range of hills on the border between England and Scotland
Chile - a republic in southern South America on the western slopes of the Andes on the south Pacific coast; very hot and finely tapering pepper of special pungency
Chimborazo - a mountain peak in the Andes in Ecuador (20,560 feet high)
China - high quality porcelain originally made only in China; a communist nation that covers a vast territory in eastern Asia; the most populous country in the world; dishware made of high quality porcelain; a government on the island of Taiwan established in 1949 by Chiang Kai-shek after the conquest of mainland China by the communists led by Mao Zedong
Chios - an island in the Aegean Sea off the west coast of Turkey; belongs to Greece
Chittagong - a port city and industrial center in southeastern Bangladesh on the Bay of Bengal
Choc - colloquial British abbreviation
Christchurch - industrial city at the center of a rich agricultural region
Christopher - Christian martyr and patron saint of travellers (3rd century)
Chukchi Peninsula - peninsula of northeastern Siberia across the Bering Strait from northwestern Alaska
Chukchi Sea - part of the Arctic Ocean just north of the Bering Strait
Cimarron River - a river that rises in northeastern New Mexico and flows eastward into Oklahoma where it becomes a tributary of the Arkansas River
Civil war - a war between factions in the same country
Climate - the weather in some location averaged over some long period of time; the prevailing psychological state
Coal - fossil fuel consisting of carbonized vegetable matter deposited in the Carboniferous period; a hot fragment of wood or coal that is left from a fire and is glowing or smoldering; verb take in coal; supply with coal; burn to charcoal
Cochin - Asian breed of large fowl with dense plumage and feathered legs
Coffee - a beverage consisting of an infusion of ground coffee beans; any of several small trees and shrubs native to the tropical Old World yielding coffee beans; a medium brown to dark-brown color; a seed of the coffee tree; ground to make coffee
Col - a pass between mountain peaks
Colombia - a republic in northwestern South America with a coastline on the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea; achieved independence from Spain in 1821 under the leadership of Simon Bolivar; Spanish is the official language
Colombo - the capital and largest city of Sri Lanka; has one of the largest harbors in the world; is located on the western coast of the island of Ceylon
Colorado Plateau - a large plateau south and west of the Rocky Mountains; abuts mountains on the north and east and ends in an escarpment overlooking lowlands to the south and west; the Grand Canyon is carved out of the southwestern corner
Colossus of Rhodes - a huge bronze statue of the sun god Helios that was built around 285 BC and that stood beside the harbor entrance on the island of Rhodes for about 50 years before it was toppled by an earthquake
Columbia River - a North American river; rises in southwestern Canada and flows southward across Washington to form the border between Washington and Oregon before emptying into the Pacific; known for its salmon runs in the spring
Columbus - a city in western Georgia on the Chattahoochee River; industrial center; a town in eastern Mississippi near the border with Alabama; the state capital of Ohio; located in the center of the state; site of Ohio State University; Italian navigator who discovered the New World in the service of Spain while looking for a route to China (1451-1506)
Commonwealth of Australia - a nation occupying the whole of the Australian continent; aboriginal tribes are thought to have migrated from southeastern Asia 20,000 years ago; first Europeans were British convicts sent there as a penal colony
Communism Peak - the highest mountain peak in the Pamir Mountains; near the Chinese border in northeastern Tajikistan (24,590 feet high)
Comoros - a country on the Comoro Islands
Conakry - a port and the capital of Guinea
Congo River - a major African river (one of the world's longest); flows through Congo into the South Atlantic
Congo - a republic in west-central Africa; achieved independence from France in 1960; a republic in central Africa; achieved independence from Belgium in 1960; a major African river (one of the world's longest); flows through Congo into the South Atlantic; black tea grown in China
Connecticut River - a river in the northeastern United States; flows south from northern New Hampshire along the border between New Hampshire and Vermont and through Massachusetts and Connecticut where it empties into Long Island Sound
Conservation - the preservation and careful management of the environment and of natural resources; (physics) the maintenance of a certain quantities unchanged during chemical reactions or physical transformations; an occurrence of improvement by virtue of preventing loss or injury or other change
Continental Divide - the watershed of a continent (especially the watershed of North America formed by a series of mountain ridges extending from Alaska to Mexico)
Cook Strait - a narrow strait separating the North Island and South Island in New Zealand
Cook - someone who cooks food; English navigator who claimed the east coast of Australia for Britain and discovered several Pacific islands (1728-1779); verb transform and make suitable for consumption by heating; transform by heating; prepare for eating by applying heat; prepare a hot meal; fake or falsify
Coral Sea - a Japanese defeat in World War II (May 1942); the first naval battle fought entirely by planes based on aircraft carriers; an arm of the South Pacific northeast of Australia
Corinth - the modern Greek port near the site of the ancient city that was second only to Athens
Cork - the plug in the mouth of a bottle (especially a wine bottle); a port city in southern Ireland; outer bark of the cork oak; used for stoppers for bottles etc.; a small float usually made of cork; attached to a fishing line; (botany) outer tissue of bark; a protective layer of dead cells; verb stuff with cork; close a bottle with a cork
Cornwall - a hilly county in southwestern England
Corpus Christi - a city in southern Texas on an arm of the Gulf of Mexico; Thursday after Trinity Sunday; first celebrated in 1246
Corsica - a region of France on the island of Corsica; birthplace of Napoleon Bonaparte; an island in the Mediterranean; with adjacent islets it constitutes a region of France
Costa Rica - a republic in Central America; one of the most politically stable countries in Latin America
Costa - a riblike part of a plant or animal (such as a middle rib of a leaf or a thickened vein of an insect wing); any of the 12 pairs of curved arches of bone extending from the spine to or toward the sternum in humans (and similar bones in most vertebrates)
Cotopaxi - the world's largest active volcano; located in the Andes in north central Ecuador
Cotswolds - a range of low hills in southwestern England
Cotton - fabric woven from cotton fibers; thread made of cotton fibers; erect bushy mallow plant or small tree bearing bolls containing seeds with many long hairy fibers; soft silky fibers from cotton plants in their raw state; verb take a liking to
Cousteau - French underwater explorer (born in 1910)
Crete - the largest Greek island in the Mediterranean; site of the Minoan civilization that reached its peak in 1600 BC
Crimea - a Ukrainian peninsula between the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov
Croatia - a republic in the western Balkans in south-central Europe in the eastern Adriatic coastal area; formerly part of the Habsburg monarchy and Yugoslavia; became independent in 1991
Crude oil - a dark oil consisting mainly of hydrocarbons
Cuba - the largest island in the West Indies; a communist state in the Caribbean on the island of Cuba
Cul de Sac - a street with only one way in or out; a passage with access only at one end
Cumberland Plateau - the southwestern part of the Appalachians
Cyprus - an island in the eastern Mediterranean; a country on the island of Cyprus; 80% of the people are of Greek origin and 20% or Turkish origin
Czech Republic - a landlocked republic in central Europe; separated from Slovakia in 1993
Czech - of or relating to Czechoslovakia or its people or their language; the Slavic language of Czechs; a native of inhabitant of the Czech Republic; a native or inhabitant of the former republic of Czechoslovakia
DMZ - a zone from which military forces or operations or installations are prohibited
DPRK - a communist country in the northern half of the Korean Peninsula; established in 1948
Dahomey - a country on western coast of Africa; formerly under French control
Dakar - the capital and chief port and largest city of Senegal
Dalmatia - a historical region of Croatia on the Adriatic Sea; mountainous with many islands
Damascus - an ancient city (widely regarded as the world's oldest) and present capital and largest city of Syria; according to the New Testament, the Apostle Paul (then known as Saul) underwent a dramatic conversion on the road to Damascus
Daniel - an Old Testament book that tells of the apocalyptic visions and the experiences of Daniel in the court of Nebuchadnezzar; a wise and upright judge; (Old Testament) a youth who was taken into the court of Nebuchadnezzar and given divine protection when thrown into a den of lions (6th century BC)
Danube River - the 2nd longest European river (after the Volga); flows from southwestern Germany to the Black Sea
Dar es Salaam - the capital and largest port city of Tanzania on the Indian Ocean
Dardanelles - the unsuccessful campaign in World War I (1915) by the English and French to open a passage for aid to Russia; defeated by the Turks; the strait between the Aegean and the Sea of Marmara that separates European Turkey from Asian Turkey
Dari - an Iranian language spoken in Afghanistan
Darling River - an Australian river; tributary of the Murray River
Darwin - provincial capital of the Northern Territory of Australia; English natural scientist who formulated a theory of evolution by natural selection (1809-1882)
Daugavpils - a city of southeastern Latvia
Dauphin - formerly, the eldest son of the King of France and direct heir to the throne
Days - the time during which someone's life continues
Dead Sea Scrolls - (Old Testament) a collection of written scrolls (containing nearly all of the Old Testament) found in a cave near the Dead Sea in the late 1940s
Dead Sea - a saltwater lake on the border between Israel and Jordan; its surface in 1292 feet below sea level
Death Valley - a desert area that is part of the Mojave Desert in eastern California and southwestern Nevada; contains the lowest point in North America
Defoe - English writer remembered particularly for his novel about Robinson Crusoe (1660-1731)
Deforestation - the removal of trees; the state of being clear of trees
Delaware Bay - an inlet of the North Atlantic; fed by the Delaware River
Delhi - a city in north central India
Demilitarized zone - a zone from which military forces or operations or installations are prohibited
Denali - a mountain in south central Alaska; the highest peak in North America (20,300 feet high)
Denmark - a constitutional monarchy in northern Europe; consists of the mainland of Jutland and many islands between the North Sea and the Baltic Sea
Desert - located in a dismal or remote area; desolate; arid land with little or no vegetation; verb leave someone who needs or counts on you; leave in the lurch; desert (a cause, a country or an army), often in order to join the opposing cause, country, or army
Desertification - the gradual transformation of habitable land into desert; is usually caused by climate change or by destructive use of the land
Deserts - an outcome (good or bad) that is well deserved
Dhaulagiri - a mountain in the Himalayas in Nepal (26,820 feet high)
Distilled water - water that has been purified by distillation
District of Columbia - the district occupied entirely by the city of Washington; chosen by George Washington as the site of the nation's capital and created out of land ceded by Maryland and Virginia
Djibouti - a country in northeastern Africa on the Somali peninsula; formerly under French control but became independent in 1997; port city on the Gulf of Aden; the capital and largest city of Djibouti
Dnieper River - a river that rises in Russia near Smolensk and flowing south through Belarus and Ukraine to empty into the Black Sea
Dodoma - a city in the center of Tanzania that has been designated as the future capital
Doha - the capital and chief port of Qatar
Dominica - a volcanic island in the Windward Islands that was once a stronghold of the Carib Indians; a country on the island of Dominica
Dominican Republic - a republic in the West Indies; located on the eastern two-thirds of the island of Hispaniola
Dominican - of or relating to Saint Dominic or the Dominican order; of or relating to or characteristic of the Dominican Republic or its people; a Roman Catholic friar wearing the black mantle of the Dominican order
Don River - a European river in southwestern Russia; flows into the Sea of Azov
Donets Basin - an industrial region in the Ukraine
Dover - the capital of the state of Delaware
Dracula - fictional vampire in a gothic horror novel by Bram Stoker; comprises tropical American species usually placed in genus Masdevallia: diminutive plants having bizarre and often sinister-looking flowers with pendulous scapes and motile lips
Dublin - capital and largest city and major port of the Irish Free State
Dushanbe - the capital of Tajikistan; formerly Stalinabad 1926-1991
East Anglia - a region of eastern England that was formerly a kingdom
East China Sea - part of the Pacific Ocean near eastern Asia
East Germany - a republic in north central Europe on the Baltic; established by the Soviet Union in 1954; reunified with West Germany in 1990
East Malaysia - the part of Malaysia that is on the island of Borneo
East Timor - a former Portuguese colony that was annexed by Indonesia in 1976; voted for independence from Indonesia in 1999 and in May 2002 became an independent nation
Eastern Desert - a desert in Egypt between the Nile River and the Red Sea
Eastern Highlands - a mountain range running along the eastern coast of Australia
Ebro River - a river in northeastern Spain; flows into the Mediterranean
Ecotourism - tourism to exotic or threatened ecosystems to observe wildlife or to help preserve nature
Ecuador - a republic in northwestern South America; became independent from Spain in 1822; the landscape is dominated by the Andes
Egypt - a republic in northeastern Africa known as the United Arab Republic until 1971; site of an ancient civilization that flourished from 2600 to 30 BC; an ancient empire west of Israel; centered on the Nile River and ruled by a Pharaoh; figured in many events described in the Old Testament
El Salvador - a republic on the Pacific coast of Central America
Elbe River - a river in central Europe that arises in northwestern Czechoslovakia and flows northward through Germany to empty into the North Sea
Ellice Islands - a group of coral islands in Micronesia southwest of Hawaii
Emilia-Romagna - a region of north central Italy on the Adriatic
Endangered species - a species whose numbers are so small that the species is at risk of extinction
England - a division of the United Kingdom
English Channel - an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that forms a channel between France and Britain
Epi - a self-report personality inventory based on Hans Eysenck's factor analysis of personality which assumes three basic factors (the two most important being extraversion to introversion and neuroticism)
Epirus - an ancient area on the Ionian Sea that flourished as a kingdom in the 3rd century BC; located in northwestern Greece and southern Albania
Equatorial Guinea - a country of west central Africa (including islands in the Gulf of Guinea); became independent from Spain in 1968
Equatorial - of or existing at or near the geographic equator; of or relating to conditions at the geographical equator; of or relating to or at an equator; a telescope whose mounting has only two axes of motion, one parallel to the Earth's axis and the other one at right angles to it
Erie Canal - an artificial waterway connecting the Hudson river at Albany with Lake Erie at Buffalo; built in the 19th century; now part of the New York State Barge Canal
Eritrea - an African country north of Ethiopia on the Red Sea; achieved independence from Ethiopia in 1993
Erosion - (geology) the mechanical process of wearing or grinding something down (as by particles washing over it); a gradual decline of something; condition in which the earth's surface is worn away by the action of water and wind; erosion by chemical action
Escarpment - a steep artificial slope in front of a fortification; a long steep slope or cliff at the edge of a plateau or ridge; usually formed by erosion
Esp - apparent power to perceive things that are not present to the senses
Estonia - a republic in northeastern Europe on the Baltic Sea
Estuary - the wide part of a river where it nears the sea; fresh and salt water mix
Ethiopia - Ethiopia is a republic in northeastern Africa on the Red Sea; formerly called Abyssinia
Etna - an inactive volcano in Sicily; last erupted in 1961; the highest volcano in Europe (10,500 feet); a gas burner used in laboratories; has an air valve to regulate the mixture of gas and air
Euphrates River - a river in southwestern Asia; flows into the Persian Gulf; was important in the development of several great civilizations in ancient Mesopotamia
Europa - the 4th largest of Jupiter's satellites; covered with a smooth shell of frozen water
European Union - an international organization of European countries formed after World War II to reduce trade barriers and increase cooperation among its members
Everglades - a large subtropical swamp in southern Florida that is noted for its wildlife
Exmoor - stocky breed of pony with a fawn-colored nose; horned sheep of Devon; valued for mutton
Exploration - to travel for the purpose of discovery; a careful systematic search; a systematic consideration
Eyre Peninsula - a peninsula of southern Australia
Faeroe Islands - a group of 21 volcanic islands in the North Atlantic between Iceland and the Shetland Islands; a self-governing colony that is a possession of Denmark in the Faroe Islands
Falkland Islands - a group of over 100 islands in the southern Atlantic off the coast of Argentina; a British crown colony
Falls - the petals or sepals of a flower that bend downward (especially the outer perianth of an iris); a steep descent of the water of a river
Fern - any of numerous flowerless and seedless vascular plants having true roots from a rhizome and fronds that uncurl upward; reproduce by spores
Fiji - an independent state within the British Commonwealth located on the Fiji Islands
Finger Lakes - a geographical area in central New York State that is named for a series of narrow glacial lakes that lie parallel in a north-south direction
Finland - republic in northern Europe; achieved independence from Russia in 1917
Firth of Clyde - a firth on the southwestern coast of Scotland emptying into the North Channel
Firth of Forth - a large firth on the east coast of Scotland and the estuary of the Forth River; location of Edinburgh
Flanders - a medieval country in northern Europe that included regions now parts of northern France and Belgium and southwestern Netherlands
Flooding - overfull with water; a technique used in behavior therapy; client is flooded with experiences of a particular kind until becoming either averse to them or numbed to them
Flora - a living organism lacking the power of locomotion; all the plant life in a particular region or period
Florida - a state in southeastern United States between the Atlantic and the Gulf of Mexico; one of the Confederate states during the American Civil War
Foehn - a warm dry wind that blows down the northern slopes of the Alps
Fog - droplets of water vapor suspended in the air near the ground; an atmosphere in which visibility is reduced because of a cloud of some substance; confusion characterized by lack of clarity; verb make less visible or unclear
Fohn - a warm dry wind that blows down the northern slopes of the Alps
Formosa - an island in southeastern Asia 100 miles off the coast of mainland China in the South China Sea
Fortuna - (Roman mythology) the goddess of fortune and good luck; counterpart of Greek Tyche
France - a republic in western Europe; the largest country wholly in Europe; French writer of sophisticated novels and short stories (1844-1924)
Freetown - port city and the capital and largest city of Sierra Leone
French Polynesia - a French overseas possession in the South Pacific
French Riviera - the French part of the Riviera
French - of or pertaining to France or the people of France; the Romance language spoken in France and in countries colonized by France; the people of France; United States sculptor who created the seated marble figure of Abraham Lincoln in the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. (1850-1931); verb snap (bean) lengthwise in preparation for cooking
Friendly Islands - a monarchy on a Polynesian archipelago in the South Pacific; achieved independence from the United Kingdom in 1970
Funafuti - capital of Tuvalu
Gabon - a republic on the west coast of Africa
Gal - alliterative term for girl (or woman); a unit of gravitational acceleration equal to one centimeter per second per second (named after Galileo); United States liquid unit equal to 4 quarts or 3.785 liters
Galilee - an area of northern Israel; formerly the northern part of Palestine and the ancient kingdom of Israel; the scene of Jesus's ministry
Galway Bay - a bay of the North Atlantic on the west coast of Ireland
Gambia - a narrow republic surrounded by Senegal in West Africa
Ganges River - an Asian river; rises in the Himalayas and flows east into the Bay of Bengal; a sacred river of the Hindus
Garonne River - a river that rises in the Pyrenees and flows northwest to the Bay of Biscay
Gaza Strip - a coastal region at the southeastern corner of the Mediterranean bordering Israel and Egypt
Geneva - gin made in the Netherlands; a city in southwestern Switzerland at the western end of Lake Geneva; it is the headquarters of various international organizations
Georgetown - port city and the capital and largest city of Guyana; a section of northwestern Washington, D.C.
Georgia - a republic in Asia Minor on the Black Sea separated from Russia by the Caucasus mountains; formerly an Asian soviet but became independent in 1991; a state in southeastern United States; one of the Confederate states during the American Civil War; one of the British colonies that formed the United States
Germany - a republic in central Europe; split into East German and West Germany after World War II and reunited in 1990
Ghana - a republic in West Africa on the Gulf of Guinea
Ghat - stairway in India leading down to a landing on the water
Gibraltar - location of a colony of the United Kingdom on a limestone promontory at the southern tip of Spain; strategically important because it can control the entrance of ships into the Mediterranean; one of the Pillars of Hercules
Gibson Desert - a desert area in western Australia
Gila River - a river that rises in western New Mexico and flows westward through southern Arizona to become a tributary of the Colorado River
Gilbert Islands - a group of islands in Micronesia southwest of Hawaii; formerly part of the British colony of Gilbert and Ellice Islands until it became part of the Republic of Kiribati in 1979
Glint - a spatially localized brightness; a momentary flash of light; verb be shiny, as if wet; throw a glance at; take a brief look at
Global warming - an increase in the average temperature of the earth's atmosphere (especially a sustained increase that causes climatic changes)
Gobi Desert - a desert in central China
Golan Heights - a fortified hilly area between southern Lebanon and southern Syria
Granada - a city in southeastern Spain that was the capital of the Moorish kingdom until it was captured by Ferdinand and Isabella in 1492; site of the Alhambra (a palace and fortress built by Moors in the Middle Ages) which is now a major tourist attraction
Grand Canal - an inland waterway 1000 miles long in eastern China; extends from Tianjin in the north to Hangzhou in the south; the major waterway in Venice, Italy
Grand Canyon - the enormous gorge of the Colorado River in northern Arizona
Grazing - the act of brushing against while passing; the act of grazing
Great Australian Bight - a wide bay of the Indian Ocean in southern Australia; notorious for storms
Great Barrier Reef - the largest coral reef in the world; in the Coral Sea off the northeastern coast of Australia
Great Britain - an island comprising England and Scotland and Wales; a monarchy in northwestern Europe occupying most of the British Isles; divided into England and Scotland and Wales and Northern Ireland
Great Dividing Range - a mountain range running along the eastern coast of Australia
Great Lakes - a group of 5 lakes in central North America
Great Plains - a vast prairie region extending from Alberta and Saskatchewan and Manitoba in Canada south through the west central United States into Texas; formerly inhabited by Native Americans
Great Rift Valley - ( geology) a depression in southwestern Asia and eastern Africa; extends from the valley of the Jordan River to Mozambique; marked by geological faults
Great Salt Lake - a shallow body of salt water in northwestern Utah
Great Sandy Desert - a desert region in northwestern Australia north of the Gibson Desert; a desert in southern Saudi Arabia
Great Slave Lake - a lake in the Northwest Territories in northwestern Canada; drained by the Mackenzie River
Great Smoky Mountains - part of the Appalachians between North Carolina and Tennessee
Great Victoria Desert - a desert region in south central Australia north of the Nullarbor Plain
Great Wall of China - a fortification 1,500 miles long built across northern China in the 3rd century BC; is 1,500 miles long and averages 6 meters in width
Greater Antilles - a group of islands in the western West Indies
Greater Sunda Islands - a chain of islands including Borneo and Celebes and Java and Sumatra
Greece - a republic in southeastern Europe on the southern part of the Balkan peninsula; known for grapes and olives and olive oil
Green Line - the border marking the boundaries of the land that Israel won in its 1948 war of independence
Green Mountains - a range of the Appalachian Mountains that extends from south to north through Vermont
Green River - a river that rises in western Wyoming and flows southward through Utah to become a tributary of the Colorado River
Greenland - the largest island in the world; lies between the North Atlantic and the Arctic Ocean; a self-governing province of Denmark
Grenada - an island state in the West Indies in the southeastern Caribbean Sea; an independent state within the British Commonwealth
Guadeloupe - an island territory of France located in the eastern West Indies; tourism is the major industry
Guaira Falls - a great waterfall on the border between Brazil and Paraguay
Guam - the largest and southernmost island in the Marianas which is administered as a territory of the United States; it was ceded by Spain to the United States in 1898
Guatemala - a republic in Central America; achieved independence from Spain in 1821; noted for low per capita income and illiteracy; politically unstable
Guayaquil - the largest city of Ecuador
Guernsey - breed of dairy cattle from the island of Guernsey; a Channel Island northwest of Jersey
Guiana Highlands - a mountainous tableland in northern South America; extends from Venezuela into Guyana and northern Brazil
Guiana - a geographical region of northeastern South America including Guyana and Surinam
Guinea-Bissau - a republic on the northwestern coast of Africa; recognized as independent by Portugal in 1974
Guinea - a republic in western Africa on the Atlantic; formerly a French colony; achieved independence from France in 1958; a former British gold coin worth 21 shillings; a west African bird having dark plumage mottled with white; native to Africa but raised for food in many parts of the world; offensive terms for a person of Italian descent
Gulf Coast - a coast of the Gulf of Mexico
Gulf of Aqaba - a northeastern arm of the Red Sea; between the Sinai Peninsula (Egypt) and Saudi Arabia
Gulf of Bothnia - a northern arm of the Baltic Sea; between Sweden and Finland
Gulf of California - a gulf west of Mexico
Gulf of Carpentaria - a wide shallow inlet of the Arafura Sea in northern Australia
Gulf of Finland - an eastern arm of the Baltic Sea; between Finland and Estonia
Gulf of Guinea - a gulf off the southwest coast of Africa
Gulf of Martaban - an arm of the Andaman Sea off southern Myanmar
Gulf of Mexico - an arm of the Atlantic south of the United States and east of Mexico
Gulf of Ob - an inlet of the Kara Sea in western Siberia
Gulf of Oman - an arm of the Arabian Sea connecting it with the Persian Gulf
Gulf of Riga - an inlet of the Baltic Sea between Latvia and Estonia
Gulf of Sidra - wide inlet of the Mediterranean Sea on the north coast of Libya
Gulf of Suez - a northwestern arm of the Red Sea linked to the Mediterranean by the Suez Canal
Gulf of Tehuantepec - an arm of the Pacific in southern Mexico
Gulf of Venice - an arm of the Adriatic Sea
Guyana - a republic in northeastern South America; achieved independence from England in 1966
Haifa - a major port in northwestern Israel
Haiphong - a port city in northern Vietnam; industrial center
Haiti - a republic in the West Indies on the western part of the island of Hispaniola; achieved independence from France in 1804; the poorest and most illiterate nation in the western hemisphere; an island in the West Indies
Hanoi - the capital city of Vietnam; located in North Vietnam
Harare - the capital and largest city of Zimbabwe
Harmattan - a dusty wind from the Sahara that blows toward the western coast of Africa during the winter
Hawaii - a state in the United States in the central Pacific on the Hawaiian Islands; the largest and southernmost of the Hawaii islands; has several volcanic peaks
Hawaiian Islands - a group of volcanic and coral islands in the central Pacific
Haze - atmospheric moisture or dust or smoke that causes reduced visibility; confusion characterized by lack of clarity; verb harass by imposing humiliating or painful tasks, as in military institutions; become hazy, dull, or cloudy
Hebrides - a group of more than 500 islands off the western coast of Scotland
Heilong Jiang - an Asian river between China and Russia; flows into the Sea of Okhotsk
Helena - capital of the state of Montana; located in western Montana
Highlands - a mountainous region of northern Scotland famous for its rugged beauty; known for the style of dress (the kilt and tartan) and the clan system (now in disuse)
Hillary - New Zealand mountaineer who first attained the summit of Mount Everest with his Sherpa guide Tenzing Norgay (born in 1919)
Himalayas - a mountain range extending 1500 miles on the border between India and Tibet; this range contains the world's highest mountain
Hindu Kush mountains - a mountain range extending west of the Himalayas
Hispaniola - an island in the West Indies
Ho Chi Minh City - a city in South Vietnam; formerly (as Saigon) it was the capital of French Indochina
Holland - a constitutional monarchy in western Europe on the North Sea; half the country lies below sea level
Holy See - the smallest sovereign state in the world; the see of the Pope (as the Bishop of Rome); home of the Pope and the central administration of the Roman Catholic Church; achieved independence from Italy in 1929
Homer - a base hit on which the batter scores a run; ancient Greek epic poet who is believed to have written the Iliad and the Odyssey (circa 850 BC); United States painter best known for his seascapes (1836-1910); an ancient Hebrew unit of capacity equal to 10 baths or 10 ephahs; pigeon trained to return home; verb hit a home run
Honduras - a republic in Central America; achieved independence from Spain in 1821; an early center of Mayan culture
Honolulu - the capital and largest city of Hawaii; located on a large bay on the island of Oahu
Hot springs - a town in west central Arkansas; a health resort noted for thermal springs
Huang He - a major river of Asia in northern China; flows generally eastward into the Yellow Sea; carries large quantities of yellow silt to its delta
Hudson Bay - an inland sea in northern Canada
Hudson River - a New York river; flows southward into New York Bay; explored by Henry Hudson early in the 17th century
Humboldt Current - a cold ocean current that flows north along the Pacific cost of South America before turning west
Humboldt - German naturalist who explored Central and South America and provided a comprehensive description of the physical universe (1769-1859); German philologist noted for his studies of the relation between language and culture (1767-1835)
Hungary - a republic in central Europe
Hunting - the pursuit and killing or capture of wild animals regarded as a sport; the work of finding and killing or capturing animals for food or pelts; the activity of looking thoroughly in order to find something or someone
Hydrocarbon - an organic compound containing only carbon and hydrogen
IJssel River - a river in the central Netherlands flowing north to the IJsselmeer
IJsselmeer - a shallow lake in northwestern Netherlands created in 1932 by building a dam across the entrance to the Zuider Zee
Iberian Peninsula - a peninsula in southwestern Europe
Iceland - a volcanic island in the North Atlantic near the Arctic Circle; an island republic on the island of Iceland; became independent of Denmark in 1944
Ida - an agency of the United Nations affiliated with the World Bank
Idaho - a state in the Rocky Mountains
Illampu - a mountain peak in the Andes in Bolivia (20,870 feet high)
Illimani - a mountain peak in the Andes in Bolivia (21,201 feet high)
Immigration - migration into a place (especially migration to a country of which you are not a native in order to settle there); the body of immigrants arriving during a specified interval
Independence - the successful ending of the American Revolution; a city in western Missouri; the beginning of the Santa Fe Trail; freedom from control or influence of another or others
India - a republic in the Asian subcontinent in southern Asia; second most populous country in the world; achieved independence from the United Kingdom in 1947
Indonesia - a republic in southeastern Asia on an archipelago including more than 13,000 islands; achieved independence from the Netherlands in 1945; the principal oil producer in the Far East and Pacific regions
Indus River - an Asian river that rises in Tibet and flows through northern India and then southwest through Kashmir and Pakistan to the Arabian Sea
Industry - the organized action of making of goods and services for sale; the people or companies engaged in a particular kind of commercial enterprise; persevering determination to perform a task
Inland Sea - an arm of the Pacific Ocean in southern Japan; surrounded by the islands of Honshu and Shikoku and Kyushu and linked to the Sea of Japan by a narrow channel; the chief port is Hiroshima
Inner Hebrides - islands between the Outer Hebrides and the western coast of Scotland
Inner Mongolia - an autonomous region of northeastern China that was annexed by the Manchu rulers in 1635 and became an integral part of China in 1911
Ionian Sea - an arm of the Mediterranean Sea between western Greece and southern Italy
Iran - a theocratic Islamic republic in the Middle East in western Asia; Iran was the core of the ancient empire that was known as Persia until 1935; rich in oil
Iraq - a republic in the Middle East in western Asia; the ancient civilization of Mesopotamia was in the area now known as Iraq
Ireland - an island comprising the republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland; a republic consisting of 26 of 32 counties comprising the island of Ireland; achieved independence from the United Kingdom in 1921
Irish Sea - an arm of the North Atlantic between Great Britain and Ireland
Iron ore - an ore from which iron can be extracted
Irrawaddy River - the main river of Myanmar rising in the north and flowing south through the length of Burma to empty into the Andaman Sea
Irrigation - (medicine) cleaning a wound or body organ by flushing or washing out with water or a medicated solution; supplying dry land with water by means of ditches etc
Irtysh River - an Asian river that rises in the Altai Mountains in northern China and flows generally northwest to become a tributary of the Ob River
Ischia - a volcanic island (part of Campania) in the Tyrrhenian Sea at the north end of the Bay of Naples
Isfahan - city in central Iran; former capital of Persia
Islamabad - the capital of Pakistan in the north on a plateau; the site was chosen in 1959
Island - a zone or area resembling an island; a land mass (smaller than a continent) that is surrounded by water
Islay - an island of western Scotland at the southern end of the Inner Hebrides; California evergreen wild plum with spiny leathery leaves and white flowers
Isle of Man - one of the British Isles in the Irish Sea
Isle of Wight - an isle and county of southern England in the English Channel
Isles of Scilly - an archipelago of small islands off the southwestern coast of England near the entrance to the English Channel; formerly a haven for smugglers and pirates
Israel - an ancient kingdom of the Hebrew tribes at the southeastern end of the Mediterranean Sea; founded by Saul around 1025 BC and destroyed by the Assyrians in 721 BC; Jewish republic in southwestern Asia at eastern end of Mediterranean; formerly part of Palestine
Isthmus of Kra - a narrow isthmus linking the Malay Peninsula to the Asian mainland
Isthmus of Panama - the isthmus that connects Central America and South America; was formerly called the Isthmus of Darien
Isthmus of Tehuantepec - the narrowest part of southern Mexico is an isthmus between the Bay of Campeche on the north coast and the Gulf of Tehuantepec on the south coast
Italian - of or pertaining to or characteristic of Italy or its people or culture or language; the Romance language spoken in Italy; a native or inhabitant of Italy
Italy - a republic in southern Europe on the Italian Peninsula; was the core of the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire between the 4th century BC and the 5th century AD
Ithaca - a Greek island west of Greece; in Homeric legend Odysseus was its king; a college town in central New York on Lake Cayuga
Ivory Coast - a republic in western Africa on the Gulf of Guinea; one of the most prosperous and politically stable countries in Africa
Iwo Jima - the largest of the Volcano Islands of Japan; a bloody and prolonged operation on the island of Iwo Jima in which American marines landed and defeated Japanese defenders (February and March 1945)
Jamaica - an island in the West Indies south of Cuba and west of Haiti; a country on the island of Jamaica; became independent of England in 1962; much poverty; the major industry is tourism
James Bay - the southern extension of Hudson Bay in Canada between western Quebec and northeastern Ontario
James River - a river that rises in North Dakota and flows southward across South Dakota to the Missouri; a river in Virginia that flows east into Chesapeake Bay at Hampton Roads
Japanese - of or relating to or characteristic of Japan or its people or their culture or language; the language (usually considered to be Altaic) spoken by the Japanese; a native or inhabitant of Japan
Java - a simple platform-independent object-oriented programming language used for writing applets that are downloaded from the World Wide Web by a client and run on the client's machine; an island in Indonesia south of Borneo; one of the world's most densely populated regions; a beverage consisting of an infusion of ground coffee beans
Jersey - a breed of diary cattle developed on the island of Jersey; a slightly elastic machine-knit fabric; a close-fitting pullover shirt; the largest of the Channel Islands; a Mid-Atlantic state on the Atlantic; one of the original 13 colonies
Jerusalem - capital and largest city of the modern state of Israel; a holy city for Jews and Christians and Muslims; was the capital of an ancient kingdom
Jidda - port city in western Saudi Arabia on the Red Sea; near Mecca
Jinja - a city in Uganda on the north shore of Lake Victoria
Johannesburg - city in the northeastern part of South Africa near Pretoria; commercial center for diamond and gold industries
Jordan River - a river in Palestine that empties into the Dead Sea; John the Baptist baptized Jesus in the Jordan
Jordan - an Arab kingdom in southwestern Asia on the Red Sea; a river in Palestine that empties into the Dead Sea; John the Baptist baptized Jesus in the Jordan
Joyce - influential Irish writer noted for his many innovations (such as stream of consciousness writing) (1882-1941)
Judaea - the southern part of ancient Palestine succeeding the kingdom of Judah; a Roman province at the time of Christ
Julian - of or relating to or characteristic of Julius Caesar; Roman Emperor and nephew of Constantine; he restored paganism as the official religion of the empire and destroyed Christian temples but his decision was reversed after his death (331?-363)
Kahoolawe - an island of south-central Hawaii
Kalahari Desert - a desert in southwestern Africa - largely Botswana
Kalimantan - 3rd largest island in the world; in the western Pacific north of Java; largely covered by dense jungle and rain forest; part of the Malay Archipelago; the part of Indonesia on the southern side of the island of Borneo
Kamchatka Peninsula - a peninsula in eastern Siberia; between Bering Sea and Sea of Okhotsk
Kamet - a mountain in the Himalayas in northern India (25,450 feet high)
Kampala - the capital and largest city of Uganda on the north shore of Lake Victoria
Kanchenjunga - a mountain the Himalayas on the border between Nepal and Tibet (28,208 feet high)
Kandy - a city of central Sri Lanka that was the last capital of the ancient kings of Ceylon; a resort and religious center
Kara Sea - part of the Arctic Ocean north of Siberia and east of the Barents Sea; icebound most of the year
Karachi - the largest city in Pakistan; located in southeastern Pakistan; an industrial center and seaport on the Arabian Sea; former capital of Pakistan
Karelia - a region in Finland and Russia between the Gulf of Finland and the White Sea
Kasai River - a river of southwestern Africa that rises in central Angola and flows east and then north (forming part of the border between Angola and Congo) and continuing northwest through Congo to empty into the Congo River on the border between Congo and Republic of the Congo
Kashmir - an area in southwestern Asia whose sovereignty is disputed between Pakistan and India
Kathmandu - the capital and largest city of Nepal
Kauai - an island of Hawaii northwest of Oahu
Kaunas - a city in central Lithuania
Kazakhstan - a landlocked republic south of Russia and northeast of the Caspian Sea; the original Turkic-speaking inhabitants were overrun by Mongols in the 13th century; an Asian soviet from 1936 to 1991
Kazan - an industrial city in the European part of Russia; United States stage and screen director (born in Turkey) and believer in method acting (1909-2003)
Kenya - a republic in eastern Africa; achieved independence from the United Kingdom in 1963; major archeological discoveries have been made in the Great Rift Valley in Kenya
Khamsin - an oppressively hot southerly wind from the Sahara that blows across Egypt in the spring
Khartoum - the capital of Sudan located at the confluence of the Blue Nile and White Nile
Khyber Pass - a mountain pass of great strategic and commercial value in the Hindu Kush on the border between northern Pakistan and western Afghanistan; a route by which invaders entered India
Kiev - capital and largest city of the Ukraine; a major manufacturing and transportation center
Kingdom - a basic group of natural objects; the highest taxonomic group into which organisms are grouped; one of five biological categories: Monera or Protoctista or Plantae or Fungi or Animalia; a monarchy with a king or queen as head of state; the domain ruled by a king or queen; a country with a king as head of state; a domain in which something is dominant
Kingston - capital and largest city of Jamaica; a town in southeast Ontario on Lake Ontario near the head of the Saint Lawrence River; a town on the Hudson River in New York
Kingstown - the capital of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines; on Saint Vincent
Kiribati - an island republic in the west central Pacific just south of the equator
Kirkuk - a city in northeastern Iraq; the center of a rich oilfield with pipelines to the Mediterranean
Klamath River - a river flowing southwest from Oregon through northern California to the Pacific Ocean
Kobe - a port city in Japan on Osaka Bay in southern Honshu; was damaged by an earthquake in 1995
Kodiak Island - an island off southern Alaska in the Gulf of Alaska; site of the first European settlement in the area which was founded by the Russians in 1784
Kola Peninsula - a peninsula in northwestern Russia projecting eastward between the Barents Sea and the White Sea
Kolkata - the largest city in India and one of the largest cities in the world; located in eastern India; suffers from poverty and overcrowding
Kolonia - capital of Micronesia
Korea Bay - an inlet of the Yellow Sea between northeastern China and western Korea
Korea - an Asian peninsula (off Manchuria) separating the Yellow Sea and the Sea of Japan; the Korean name is Dae-Han-Min-Gook or Han-Gook
Korean Strait - a strait between Korea and Japan; connects the East China Sea and the Sea of Japan
Kos - an Indian unit of length having different values in different localities
Kosciusko - Polish patriot and soldier who fought with Americans in the American Revolution (1746-1817)
Kosovo - a Serbian province in southern Serbia and Montenegro populated predominantly by Albanians
Krakow - an industrial city in southern Poland on the Vistula
Kura River - a river in western Asia; rises in northeast Turkey and flows to the Caspian Sea
Kuwait City - a seaport on the Persian Gulf and capital of Kuwait
Kuwait - an Arab kingdom in Asia on the northwestern coast of the Persian Gulf; a major source of petroleum; a seaport on the Persian Gulf and capital of Kuwait
Kyoto - a city in central Japan on southern Honshu; a famous cultural center that was once the capital of Japan
Kyrgyz Republic - a landlocked republic in west central Asia bordering on northwestern China; formerly an Asian soviet but became independent in 1991
Kyrgyzstan - a landlocked republic in west central Asia bordering on northwestern China; formerly an Asian soviet but became independent in 1991
La Paz - city in western Bolivia and the administrative seat of Bolivia's government; largest city in Bolivia
Labrador Sea - an arm of the northern Atlantic between Labrador and southern Greenland
Lagoon - a body of water cut off from a larger body by a reef of sand or coral
Lagos - chief port and economic center of Nigeria; located in southwestern Nigeria on the Gulf of Guinea; former capital of Nigeria
Lahar - an avalanche of volcanic water and mud down the slopes of a volcano
Lake Albert - a shallow lake on the border between Uganda and Congo in the Great Rift Valley
Lake Baikal - the largest freshwater lake in Asia or Europe and the deepest lake in the world
Lake Balaton - a large shallow lake in western Hungary
Lake Chad - a lake in north central Africa; fed by the Shari river
Lake Champlain - a lake in northeastern New York, northwestern Vermont and southern Quebec; site of many battles in the French and Indian War and in the American Revolution and in the War of 1812
Lake Chelan - a narrow very deep lake in central Washington in the Cascade Range
Lake Constance - a lake in southeastern Germany on the northern side of the Swiss Alps; forms part of the Rhine River
Lake District - a popular tourist area in northwestern England including England's largest lake and highest mountain
Lake Edward - a lake in the Great Rift Valley between Congo and Uganda
Lake Erie - the 4th largest of the Great Lakes; it is linked to the Hudson River by the New York State Barge Canal
Lake Eyre - a shallow salt lake in south central Australia about 35 feet below sea level; the largest lake in the country and the lowest point on the continent
Lake Geneva - a lake between southwestern Switzerland and France that is crossed from east to west by the Rhone
Lake Huron - the 2nd largest of the Great Lakes
Lake Kivu - a lake in the mountains of central Africa between Congo and Rwanda
Lake Ladoga - a lake in northwestern Russia north of St. Petersburg; the largest lake in Europe; drains through the Neva River into the Gulf of Finland
Lake Leman - a lake between southwestern Switzerland and France that is crossed from east to west by the Rhone
Lake Malawi - a long lake in southeastern Africa between Tanzania, Mozambique, and Malawi
Lake Mead - the largest reservoir in the United States; located in southeastern Nevada and northwestern Arizona and formed by the Hoover Dam on the Colorado River; the center of a recreational area
Lake Michigan - the 3rd largest of the Great Lakes; the largest freshwater lake entirely within the United States borders
Lake Nasser - lake in Egypt formed by dams built on the Nile River at Aswan
Lake Nyasa - a long lake in southeastern Africa between Tanzania, Mozambique, and Malawi
Lake Okeechobee - a lake in southeast Florida north of the Everglades
Lake Onega - lake in northwestern Russia near the border with Finland; second largest lake in Europe
Lake Ontario - the smallest of the Great Lakes
Lake Powell - the second largest reservoir in the United States; located in southern Utah and north central Arizona and formed by the Glen Canyon Dam on the Colorado River
Lake Superior - the largest freshwater lake in the world; the deepest of the Great Lakes
Lake Tahoe - a lake on the border between Nevada and California west of Carson City; a popular resort area
Lake Tana - a lake in northern Ethiopia; the largest lake in Ethiopia and the source of the Blue Nile
Lake Tanganyika - the longest lake in the world in central Africa between Tanzania and Congo in the Great Rift Valley
Lake Urmia - a shallow saline lake in northwestern Iran between Tabriz and the western border of Turkey
Lake Victoria - the largest lake in Africa and the 2nd largest fresh water lake in the world; a headwaters reservoir for the Nile River
Lake Winnipeg - a lake in southern Canada in Manitoba
Lanai - a veranda or roofed patio often furnished and used as a living room; an island of central Hawaii; a pineapple-growing area
Lane - a narrow way or road; a well-defined track or path; for e.g. swimmers or lines of traffic
Laos - a mountainous landlocked communist state in southeastern Asia; achieved independence from France in 1949
Lapland - a region in northmost Europe inhabited by Lapps
Laptev Sea - part of the Arctic Ocean north of Siberia (between the Taimyr Peninsula and the New Siberian Islands) that is icebound most of the year
Latvia - a republic in northeastern Europe on the eastern coast of the Baltic Sea
Lebanon - an Asian republic at east end of Mediterranean
Leeward Islands - a group of islands in the eastern West Indies
Lemnos - a Greek island in the northern Aegean Sea; famous for a reddish-brown clay that has medicinal properties
Lena River - a Russian river in Siberia; flows northward into the Laptev Sea
Leone - the basic unit of money in Sierra Leone; equal to 100 cents
Lesbos - an island of eastern Greece in the eastern Aegean Sea; in antiquity it was famous for lyric poetry
Lesotho - a landlocked constitutional monarchy in southern Africa; achieved independence from the United Kingdom in 1966
Lesser Antilles - a group of islands in the southeastern West Indies
Lesser Sunda Islands - a chain of islands forming a province of Indonesia east of Java; includes Bali and Timor
Leyte - a battle in World War II; the return of United States troops to the Philippines began with landings on Leyte Island in October 1944; the battle marked first use of kamikaze aircraft by the Japanese
Liberia - a republic in West Africa; established in 1822 by Americans as a way to free negro slaves
Libya - a military dictatorship in northern Africa on the Mediterranean; consists almost entirely of desert; a major exporter of petroleum
Libyan Desert - the northeastern part of the Sahara Desert in Libya and Egypt and Sudan
Liechtenstein - a small landlocked principality (constitutional monarchy) in central Europe located in the Alps between Austria and Switzerland
Liepaja - a city of southwestern Latvia on the Baltic Sea
Liguria - region of northwestern Italy on the Ligurian Sea
Ligurian Sea - an arm of the Mediterranean between northwest Italy and Corsica
Lilongwe - the capital of Malawi; located in south central Malawi
Lima - capital and largest city and economic center of Peru; located in western Peru; was capital of the Spanish empire in the New World until the 19th century
Limerick - a humorous verse form of 5 anapestic lines with a rhyme scheme aabba; port city in southwestern Ireland
Limestone - a sedimentary rock consisting mainly of calcium that was deposited by the remains of marine animals
Lisbon - capital and largest city and economic and cultural center of Portugal; a major port in western Portugal on Tagus River where it broadens and empties into the Atlantic
Lithuania - a republic in northeastern Europe on the Baltic Sea
Litoral - the region of the shore of a lake or sea or ocean
Littoral - of or relating to a coastal or shore region; the region of the shore of a lake or sea or ocean
Ljubljana - the capital of Slovenia
Llano Estacado - a large semiarid plateau forming the southern part of the Great Plains
Llullaillaco - a mountain in the Andes on the border between Argentina and Chile (22,057 feet high)
Loch Ness - a lake in the Scottish highlands; the largest body of fresh water in Great Britain
Loess - a fine-grained unstratified accumulation of clay and silt deposited by the wind
Lofoten - a string of islands off the northwestern coast of Norway in the Norwegian Sea
Lofty - of imposing height; especially standing out above others; having or displaying great dignity or nobility; of high moral or intellectual value; elevated in nature or style
Loire River - the longest French river; rises in the Massif Central and flows north and west to the Atlantic Ocean
London - the capital and largest city of England; located on the Thames in southeastern England; financial and industrial and cultural center; United States writer of novels based on experiences in the Klondike gold rush (1876-1916)
Long Beach - a city in southern California located on 8.5 miles of Pacific beachfront; was a resort until oil was discovered in 1921
Long Island - an island in southeastern New York; Brooklyn and Queens are on its western end
Los Angeles - a city in southern California; motion picture capital of the world; most populous city of California and second largest in the United States
Low Countries - the lowland region of western Europe on the North Sea: Belgium and Luxembourg and the Netherlands
Lowlands - the southern part of Scotland that is not mountainous
Lusaka - the capital and largest city of Zambia
Luxembourg - a grand duchy (a constitutional monarchy) landlocked in northwestern Europe between France and Belgium and Germany; an international financial center; the capital and largest city of Luxembourg
Luzon - the main island of the Philippines
Macedonia - landlocked republic on the Balkan Peninsula; achieved independence from Yugoslavia in 1991; the ancient kingdom of Philip II and Alexander the Great in the southeastern Balkans that is now divided among modern Macedonia and Greece and Bulgaria
Machu Picchu - Inca fortress city in the Andes in Peru discovered in 1911; it may have been built in the 15th century
Mackenzie River - a Canadian river; flows into the Beaufort Sea
Madagascar - an island in the Indian Ocean off the southeastern coast of Africa; the 4th largest island in the world; a republic on the island of Madagascar; achieved independence from France in 1960
Madeira River - a Brazilian river; tributary of the Amazon River
Madeira - an amber dessert wine from the Madeira Islands; an island in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Africa; the largest of the Madeira Islands; a Brazilian river; tributary of the Amazon River
Madras - a light patterned cotton cloth; a city in Tamil Nadu on the Bay of Bengal; formerly Madras; a state in southeastern India on the Bay of Bengal (south of Andhra Pradesh); formerly Madras
Mafia - any tightly knit group of trusted associates; a secret terrorist group in Sicily; originally opposed tyranny but evolved into a criminal organization in the middle of the 19th century; a crime syndicate in the United States; organized in families; believed to have important relations to the Sicilian Mafia
Magdalena River - a river that rises in the Andes mountains in southwestern Colombia and flows generally northward to empty into the Caribbean Sea at Barranquilla
Maine - a state in New England
Malawi - a landlocked republic in southern central Africa; achieved independence from the United Kingdom in 1964
Malay Peninsula - a peninsula in southeastern Asia occupied by parts of Malaysia and Thailand and Myanmar
Malaysia - a constitutional monarchy in southeastern Asia on Borneo and the Malay Peninsula; achieved independence from the United Kingdom in 1957
Maldives - a group of about 1,200 small coral islands (about 220 inhabited) in the Indian ocean; a republic on the Maldive Islands; achieved independence from the United Kingdom in 1965
Mali - a landlocked republic in northwestern Africa; achieved independence from France in 1960; Mali was a center of West African civilization for more than 4,000 years
Malta - a strategically located island south of Sicily in the Mediterranean Sea; a republic on the island of Malta in the Mediterranean; achieved independence from the United Kingdom in 1964
Managua - the capital and largest city of Managua
Manchester - a city in northwestern England (30 miles east of Liverpool); heart of the most densely populated area of England; largest city in New Hampshire; located in southeastern New Hampshire on the Merrimack river
Mango - large oval tropical fruit having smooth skin, juicy aromatic pulp, and a large hairy seed; large evergreen tropical tree cultivated for its large oval fruit
Manila Bay - a naval battle in the Spanish-American War (1898); the American fleet under Admiral Dewey defeated the Spanish fleet
Manila - the capital and largest city of the Philippines; located on southern Luzon; a strong paper or thin cardboard with a smooth light brown finish made from e.g. Manila hemp
Manus - the (prehensile) extremity of the superior limb
Maputo - the capital and largest city of Mozambique
Maquis - the French underground that fought against the German occupation in World War II; a guerrilla fighter in the French underground in World War II
Mara - hare-like rodent of the pampas of Argentina; god of death; opposite of Kama
Marche - a region in central Italy
Maria - valuable timber tree of Panama; a dark region of considerable extent on the surface of the moon
Mariana Islands - a chain of coral and volcanic islands in Micronesia (including Guam and the Northern Marianas) halfway between New Guinea and Japan; discovered by Magellan in 1521
Marmara Denizi - an inland sea in northwestern Turkey; linked to the Black Sea by the Bosporus and linked to the Aegean by the Dardanelles
Marne River - a World War I battle in northwestern France where the Allies defeated the Germans in 1918
Marshall Islands - a group of coral islands in eastern Micronesia; a republic (under United States protection) on the Marshall Islands
Martinique - an island in the eastern Caribbean in the Windward Islands; administered as an overseas region of France
Masqat - a port on the Gulf of Oman and capital of the sultanate of Oman
Massachusetts - a state in New England; one of the original 13 colonies; one of the British colonies that formed the United States; the Algonquian language of the Massachuset; a member of the Algonquian people who formerly lived around Massachusetts Bay
Massif Central - a mountainous plateau in southern France that covers almost one sixth of the country
Massif - a block of the earth's crust bounded by faults and shifted to form peaks of a mountain range
Matterhorn - a mountain in the Alps on the border between Switzerland and Italy (14,780 feet high); noted for its distinctive shape
Maui - the second largest of the Hawaiian Islands
Mauna Kea - an active volcano on north central Hawaii Island; highest peak in the Hawaiian Islands
Mauna Loa - an active volcano on south central Hawaii Island
Mauritania - a country in northwestern Africa with a provisional military government; achieved independence from France in 1960; largely western Sahara Desert
Mauritius - an island in the southwestern Indian Ocean; a parliamentary state on the island of Mauritius
Mbabane - capital of Swaziland; located in northwestern Swaziland
Mecca - a place that attracts many visitors; joint capital (with Riyadh) of Saudi Arabia; located in western Saudi Arabia; as the birthplace of Muhammad it is the holiest city of Islam
Medina - the ancient quarter of many cities in northern Africa; a city in western Saudi Arabia; site of the tomb of Muhammad; the second most holy city of Islam
Mekong River - an Asian river; flows through a large delta in southern Vietnam into the South China Sea
Melbourne - the capital of Victoria state and 2nd largest Australian city; a financial and commercial center; a resort town in east central Florida
Mesopotamia - the land between the Tigris and Euphrates; site of several ancient civilizations; part of what is now known as Iraq
Messina - a port city in northeastern Sicily on the Strait of Messina
Meuse River - an American operation in World War I (1918); American troops under Pershing drove back the German armies which were saved only by the armistice on November 11; a European river; flows into the North Sea
Mexico City - the capital and largest city of Mexico is a political and cultural and commercial and industrial center; one of the world's largest cities
Mexico - a republic in southern North America; became independent from Spain in 1810
Miami - a city and resort in southeastern Florida on Biscayne Bay; the best known city in Florida; a haven for retirees and a refuge for Cubans fleeing Castro; a member of the extinct Algonquian people formerly living in northern Indiana and southern Michigan
Micronesia - the islands in the northwestern part of Oceania; a country scattered over Micronesia with a constitutional government in free association with the United States; achieved independence in 1986
Middle East - the area around the eastern Mediterranean; from Turkey to northern Africa and eastward to Iran; the site of such ancient civilizations as Phoenicia and Babylon and Egypt and the birthplace of Judaism and Christianity and Islam; had continuous economic and political turmoil in the 20th century
Midnight sun - the sun visible at midnight (inside the arctic or antarctic circles)
Midway Islands - an atoll in the Hawaiian Islands some 1300 mile northwest of Honolulu; site of an important United States naval base
Milan - the capital of Lombardy in northern Italy; has been an international center of trade and industry since the Middle Ages
Mindanao - the second largest island of the Philippines at the southern end of the archipelago; mountainous and volcanic
Mindoro - a mountainous island in the central Philippines
Ming - the imperial dynasty of China from 1368 to 1644
Mining - the act of extracting ores or coal etc from the earth; laying explosive mines in concealed places to destroy enemy personnel and equipment
Minnesota - a midwestern state
Misery - a feeling of intense unhappiness; a state of ill-being due to affliction or misfortune
Mississippi River - a major North American river and the chief river of the United States; rises in northern Minnesota and flows southward into the Gulf of Mexico
Missouri River - the longest river in the United States; arises in Montana and flows southeastward to become a tributary of the Mississippi at Saint Louis
Mobile Bay - a bay of the Gulf of Mexico; fed by the Mobile River
Mogadishu - the capital and largest city of Somalia; a port on the Indian Ocean
Mojave Desert - a desert area in southern California and western Arizona
Moldavia - a landlocked republic in eastern Europe; formerly a European soviet but achieved independence in 1991
Moldova - a landlocked republic in eastern Europe; formerly a European soviet but achieved independence in 1991
Molokai - an island of central Hawaii (between Maui and Oahu)
Mombasa - a port city in southern Kenya on a coral island in a bay of the Indian Ocean
Monaco-Ville - the capital of Monaco
Monaco - a constitutional monarchy in a tiny enclave on the French Riviera
Mongolia - a vast region in Asia including the Mongolian People's Republic and China's Inner Mongolia; a landlocked socialist republic in central Asia
Monrovia - the capital and chief port and largest city of Liberia
Mont Blanc - the highest mountain peak in the Alps; on the border between France and Italy south of Geneva (15,781 feet high)
Montana - a state in northwestern United States on the Canadian border
Monte Carlo - a town and popular resort in the principality of Monaco; famous for its gambling casino
Montego Bay - port and resort city in northwestern Jamaica
Montenegro - a former country bordering on the Adriatic Sea; now part of the Union of Serbia and Montenegro
Montevideo - the capital and largest city of Uruguay; a cosmopolitan city and one of the busiest ports in South America
Montserrat - a volcanic island in the Caribbean; in the West Indies
Moravia - a region in the central and eastern part of the Czech Republic; it lies east of Bohemia and west of the Carpathians
Moray Firth - an inlet of the North Sea on the northeast coast of Scotland
Morocco - a kingdom (constitutional monarchy) in northwestern Africa with a largely Muslim population; achieved independence from France in 1956; a soft pebble-grained leather made from goatskin; used for shoes and book bindings etc.
Moscow - a city of central European Russia; formerly capital of both the Soviet Union and Soviet Russia; since 1991 the capital of the Russian Federation
Mosul - a city in northern Iraq on the Tigris across from the ruins of Nineveh
Mount Ararat - the mountain peak that Noah's ark landed on as the waters of the great flood receded
Mount Carmel - a mountain range in northwestern Israel near the Mediterranean coast
Mount Everest - a mountain in the central Himalayas on the border of Tibet and Nepal; the highest mountain peak in the world (29,028 feet high)
Mount Fuji - an extinct volcano in south central Honshu that is the highest peak in Japan; last erupted in 1707; famous for its symmetrical snow-capped peak; a sacred mountain and site for pilgrimages
Mount Godwin Austen - a mountain peak in the Karakoram Range in northern Kashmir; the 2nd highest peak in the world (28,250 feet high)
Mount Kilimanjaro - the highest peak in Africa; located in northeastern Tanzania; 19,340 feet high
Mount Logan - a mountain peak in the St. Elias Range in the southwestern Yukon Territory in Canada (19,850 feet high)
Mount McKinley - a mountain in south central Alaska; the highest peak in North America (20,300 feet high)
Mount Olympus - a mountain peak in northeast Greece near the Aegean coast; believed by ancient Greeks to be the dwelling place of the gods (9,570 feet high)
Mount Pinatubo - a volcano on Luzon northwest of Manila; erupted in 1991 after 600 years of dormancy
Mozambique Channel - an arm of the Indian Ocean between Madagascar and southeastern Africa
Mozambique - a republic on the southeastern coast of Africa on the Mozambique Channel; became independent from Portugal in 1975
Mull - an island in western Scotland in the Inner Hebrides; a term used in Scottish names of promontories; verb heat with sugar and spices to make a hot drink; reflect deeply on a subject
Mumbai - a city in western India just off the coast of the Arabian Sea; India's 2nd largest city (after Calcutta); has the only natural deep-water harbor in western India
Murmansk - a port city in northwestern Russia on the Kola Peninsula; the largest city north of the Arctic Circle; an important supply line to Russia in World War I and World War II
Murray River - an southeast Australian river; flows westward and then south into the Indian Ocean at Adelaide
Murrumbidgee River - a river of southeastern Australia; flows westward into the Murray River
Mus - type genus of the Muridae: common house mice; the tips of the upper incisors have a square notch
Mustang - small hardy range horse of the western plains descended from horses brought by the Spanish
Myanmar - a mountainous republic in southeastern Asia on the Bay of Bengal
NATO - an international organization created in 1949 by the North Atlantic Treaty for purposes of collective security
Nairobi - the capital and largest city of Kenya; a center for tourist safaris
Namib Desert - a desert in Namibia extending along the coast between the high plateau and the Atlantic Ocean
Namibia - a republic in southwestern Africa on the south Atlantic coast (formerly called South West Africa); achieved independence from South Africa in 1990; the greater part of Namibia form part of the high Namibian plateau of South Africa
Nan River - a river of western Thailand flowing southward to join the Ping River to form the Chao Phraya
Nanda Devi - a mountain in the Himalayas in northern India (25,660 feet high)
Nanga Parbat - a mountain in the Himalayas in Kashmir (26,660 feet high)
Nara - the independent agency that oversees management of federal government records including presidential libraries and historic collections
Nassau - the capital of the Bahamas
National Park - a tract of land declared by the national government to be public property
Natural gas - a fossil fuel in the gaseous state; used for cooking and heating homes
Natural resources - resources (actual and potential) supplied by nature
Nauru - a small island in the central Pacific Ocean 2,800 miles southwest of Hawaii; in Micronesia west of the Gilbert Islands; an island republic on Nauru Island; phosphate exports support the economy
Neckar River - a river in Germany; rises in the Black Forest and flows north into the Rhine
Negev Desert - a desert in southern Israel
Nepal - a small landlocked Asian country high in the Himalayas between India and China
Netherlands Antilles - a group of islands in the Lesser Antilles just north of Venezuela that are administered by The Netherlands
Netherlands - a constitutional monarchy in western Europe on the North Sea; half the country lies below sea level
Nevis - one of the islands of Saint Christopher-Nevis
New Amsterdam - a settlement established by the Dutch near the mouth of Hudson River and the southern end of Manhattan Island; annexed by the English in 1664 and renamed New York
New Britain - the largest island in the Bismarck Archipelago; part of Papua New Guinea
New England - a region of northeastern United States comprising Maine and New Hampshire and Vermont and Massachusetts and Rhode Island and Connecticut
New Forest - an area of woods and heathland in southern Hampshire that was set aside by William I as Crown property in 1079; originally a royal hunting ground but now administered as parkland; noted for its ponies
New Guinea - a Pacific island north of Australia; the 2nd largest island in the world; governed by Australia and Indonesia
New Hampshire - a state in New England; one of the original 13 colonies; one of the British colonies that formed the United States
New Ireland - an island in the Bismarck Archipelago; part of Papua New Guinea
New Siberian Islands - a group of islands in the Arctic Ocean north of Siberia and east of the Laptev Sea
New York Bay - a bay of the North Atlantic; fed by the Hudson River
New York City - the largest city in New York State and in the United States; located in southeastern New York at the mouth of the Hudson river; a major financial and cultural center
New York State - a Mid-Atlantic state; one of the original 13 colonies
New Zealand - North Island and South Island and adjacent small islands in the South Pacific; an independent country within the British Commonwealth; achieved independence from the United Kingdom in 1907; known for sheep and spectacular scenery
Newfoundland - a breed of very large heavy dogs with a thick coarse usually black coat; highly intelligent and vigorous swimmers; developed in Newfoundland; an island in the north Atlantic
Niamey - the capital and largest city of Niger
Nicaragua - a republic in Central America; achieved independence from Spain in 1821
Niger River - an African river; flows into the South Atlantic
Niger - a landlocked republic in West Africa; gained independence from France in 1960; most of the country is dominated by the Sahara Desert; an African river; flows into the South Atlantic
Nigeria - a republic in West Africa on the Gulf of Guinea; gained independence from Britain in 1960; most populous African country
Nile River - the world's longest river (4150 miles); flows northward through eastern Africa into the Mediterranean; the Nile River valley in Egypt was the site of the world's first great civilization
Norfolk Island - an island territory of Australia in the Pacific Ocean off the eastern coast of Australia; formerly a British penal colony
North America - the nations of the North American continent collectively; a continent (the third largest) in the western hemisphere connected to South America by the Isthmus of Panama
North Carolina - a state in southeastern United States; one of the original 13 colonies; one of the British colonies that formed the United States
North Channel - a strait between Northern Ireland and Scotland that connects the Atlantic Ocean and the Irish Sea
North Island - the smaller but more populous of two main islands of New Zealand; separated from South Island by Cook Strait
North Korea - a communist country in the northern half of the Korean Peninsula; established in 1948
Northern Ireland - a division of the United Kingdom located on the northern part of the island of Ireland
Northern Territory - a territory in north central Australia
Northern - situated in or coming from regions of the north; in or characteristic of a region of the United States north of (approximately) the Mason-Dixon line; coming from the north; used especially of wind; situated in or oriented toward the north; a dialect of Middle English that developed into Scottish Lallans
Northland - any region lying in or toward the north
Norway - a constitutional monarchy in northern Europe on the western side of the Scandinavian Peninsula; achieved independence from Sweden in 1905
Norwegian Sea - the part of the Atlantic that lies off the Norwegian coast north of the North Sea
Nouakchott - capital of Mauritania; located in western Mauritania near the Atlantic coast
Novaya Zemlya - two islands in the Arctic Ocean belonging to Russia; site of a test center for nuclear warheads
Novosibirsk - a city in the Asian part of Russia on the Ob river; largest city in Siberia
Nubia - an ancient region of northeastern Africa (southern Egypt and northern Sudan) on the Nile; much of Nubia is now under Lake Nasser
Nubian Desert - an arid sandstone plateau in northeastern Sudan between the Nile and the Red Sea
Nuclear power - nuclear energy regarded as a source of electricity for the power grid (for civilian use)
Nullarbor Plain - a vast arid plain of southern Australia stretching inland from the Great Australian Bight; has sparse vegetation and no surface water and is almost uninhabited; the site of a major rocket research center
Nusa Tenggara - a chain of islands forming a province of Indonesia east of Java; includes Bali and Timor
Nyiragongo - an active volcano in eastern Congo
OPEC - an organization of countries formed in 1961 to agree on a common policy for the production and sale of petroleum
Oahu - an island of central Hawaii (between Molokai and Kauai); the chief island of the state
Oaxaca - a city of southeastern Mexico
Occidental - denoting or characteristic of countries of Europe and the western hemisphere; an artificial language; a native inhabitant of the Occident
Oder River - a European river; flows into the Baltic Sea
Odessa - a port city of south central Ukraine on an arm of the Black Sea; a city in western Texas
Odyssey - a long wandering and eventful journey; a Greek epic poem (attributed to Homer) describing the journey of Odysseus after the fall of Troy
Ohio River - a river that is formed in western Pennsylvania and flows westward to become a tributary of the Mississippi River
Ohio - a midwestern state in north central United States in the Great Lakes region; a river that is formed in western Pennsylvania and flows westward to become a tributary of the Mississippi River
Oil - oil paint containing pigment that is used by an artist; a slippery or viscous liquid or liquefiable substance not miscible with water; any of a group of liquid edible fats that are obtained from plants; verb cover with oil, as if by rubbing; administer an oil or ointment to ; often in a religious ceremony of blessing
Ojos del Salado - a mountain in the Andes on the border between Argentina and Chile (22,572 feet high)
Okefenokee Swamp - a large swampy area of northeast Florida and southeast Georgia
Okinawa - a campaign in the closing days of World War II in the Pacific (April to June 1945); in savage close-quarter fighting United States marines and regular army troops took the island from the Japanese; considered the greatest victory of the Pacific campaign for the Americans; the largest island of the central Ryukyu Islands
Oklahoma - a state in south central United States
Olduvai Gorge - a gorge in northeastern Tanzania where anthropologists have found some of the earliest human remains
Olympus - a mountain peak in northeast Greece near the Aegean coast; believed by ancient Greeks to be the dwelling place of the gods (9,570 feet high)
Oman - a strategically located monarchy on the southern and eastern coasts of the Arabian Peninsula; the economy is dominated by oil
Omsk - a city in the Asian part of Russia
Orange River - a river in South Africa that flows generally westward to the Atlantic Ocean
Oregon - a state in northwestern United States on the Pacific
Orinoco River - a South American river 1,500 miles long; flows into the South Atlantic
Orkney Islands - an archipelago of about 70 islands in the North Atlantic and North Sea off the northeastern coast of Scotland
Osaka - port city on southern Honshu on Osaka Bay; a commercial and industrial center of Japan
Oslo - the capital and largest city of Norway; the country's main port; located at the head of a fjord on Norway's southern coast
Ottawa River - a river in southeastern Canada that flows along the boundary between Quebec and Ontario to the Saint Lawrence River near Montreal
Outer Hebrides - a 130-mile long archipelago northwest of Scotland
Outer Mongolia - a landlocked socialist republic in central Asia
Overpopulation - too much population
Ozarks - an area of low mountains in northwestern Arkansas and southeastern Missouri and northeastern Oklahoma
Ozone hole - an area of the ozone layer (near the poles) that is seasonally depleted of ozone
Pacific Northwest - a region of the northwestern United States usually including Washington and Oregon and sometimes southwestern British Columbia
Paget - English pathologist who discovered the cause of trichinosis (1814-1899)
Pakistan - a Muslim republic that occupies the heartland of ancient south Asian civilization in the Indus River valley; formerly part of India; achieved independence from the United Kingdom in 1947
Palau - a chain of more than 200 islands about 400 miles long in the western central Pacific Ocean; a republic in the western central Pacific Ocean in association with the United States
Palestine - an ancient country in southwestern Asia on the east coast of the Mediterranean Sea; a place of pilgrimage for Christianity and Islam and Judaism; a former British mandate on the east coast of the Mediterranean; divided between Jordan and Israel in 1948
Pamir Mountains - a mountain range in central Asia that is centered in Tajikistan but extends into Kyrgyzstan and Afghanistan and Pakistan and western China
Pampas - the vast grassy plains of northern Argentina
Panama Canal - a ship canal 40 miles long across the Isthmus of Panama built by the United States (1904-1914)
Panama City - the capital and largest city of Panama; a resort and fishing town on the Gulf of Mexico in northwest Florida
Panama - a republic on the Isthmus of Panama; achieved independence from Colombia in 1903; a stiff hat made of straw with a flat crown
Papua New Guinea - a parliamentary democracy on the eastern half of the island of New Guinea
Papua - a Pacific island north of Australia; the 2nd largest island in the world; governed by Australia and Indonesia
Paraguay - a landlocked republic in south central South America; achieved independence from Spain in 1811
Paramaribo - the capital and largest city and major port of Surinam
Parks - United States civil rights leader who refused to give up her seat on a bus to a white man in Montgomery (Alabama) and so triggered the national civil rights movement (born in 1913)
Parnassus - (Greek mythology) a mountain in central Greece where (according to Greek mythology) the Muses lived; known as the mythological home of music and poetry
Patagonia - region in southern South America between the Andes and the South Atlantic
Paulo Afonso Falls - a major waterfall in northeastern Brazil
Peacekeeping - of or relating to the preservation of peace between hostile groups by international military forces; the activity of keeping the peace by military forces (especially when international military forces enforce a truce between hostile groups or nations)
Pearl Harbor - a harbor on Oahu west of Honolulu; location of a United States naval base that was attacked by the Japanese on 7 Dec 1941
Pearl River - a river in Mississippi that flows southward to the Gulf of Mexico; a river in southeast China that flows into the South China Sea
Peat - partially carbonized vegetable matter saturated with water; can be used as a fuel when dried
Pecos River - a tributary of the Rio Grande that flows southeastward from New Mexico through western Texas
Peloponnese - the southern peninsula of Greece; dominated by Sparta until the 4th century BC
Pen - female swan; a writing implement with a point from which ink flows; an enclosure for confining livestock; a correctional institution for those convicted of major crimes; a portable enclosure in which babies may be left to play; verb produce a literary work
Peninsula - a large mass of land projecting into a body of water
Pennine Chain - a system of hills in England that extend from the Scottish border in the north to the Trent River in the south; forms the watershed for English rivers
Pennsylvania - a Mid-Atlantic state; one of the original 13 colonies; one of the British colonies that formed the United States; a university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Pentecost - seventh Sunday after Easter; commemorates the emanation of the Holy Spirit to the apostles; a quarter day in Scotland; (Judaism) Jewish holy day celebrated on the sixth of Sivan to celebrate Moses receiving the Ten Commandments
Permafrost - ground that is permanently frozen
Persia - an empire in southern Asia created by Cyrus the Great in the 6th century BC and destroyed by Alexander the Great in the 4th century BC; a theocratic Islamic republic in the Middle East in western Asia; Iran was the core of the ancient empire that was known as Persia until 1935; rich in oil
Persian Gulf - a shallow arm of the Arabian Sea between Iran and the Arabian peninsula; the Persian Gulf oil fields are among the most productive in the world
Perth - the state capital of Western Australia
Peru - a republic in western South America; achieved independence from Spain in 1821; was the heart of the Inca empire from the 12th to 16th centuries
Petersburg - the final campaign of the American Civil War (1864-65); Union forces under Grant besieged and finally defeated Confederate forces under Lee; a town in southeastern Virginia (south of Richmond); scene of heavy fighting during the American Civil War
Petroleum - a dark oil consisting mainly of hydrocarbons
Philippines - an archipelago in the southwestern Pacific including some 7000 islands; a republic on the Philippine Islands; achieved independence from the United States in 1946
Phnom Penh - the capital and largest city of Kampuchea
Pico de Orizaba - an extinct volcano in southern Mexico between Mexico City and Veracruz; the highest peak in Mexico (18,695 feet)
Ping River - a river in western Thailand; a major tributary of the Chao Phraya
Pittsburgh - a city in southwestern Pennsylvania where the confluence of the Allegheny River and Monongahela River forms the Ohio River; long an important urban industrial area; site of Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Pittsburgh
Plate tectonics - the branch of geology studying the folding and faulting of the earth's crust
Plateau - a relatively flat highland
Platte River - a river in Nebraska that flows eastward to become a tributary of the Missouri River
Po River - a European river; flows into the Adriatic Sea
Poitou - a low-lying region of west central France on the Bay of Biscay
Poland - a republic in central Europe; the invasion of Poland by Germany in 1939 started World War II
Pollution - undesirable state of the natural environment being contaminated with harmful substances as a consequence of human activities; the act of contaminating or polluting; including (either intentionally or accidentally) unwanted substances or factors; the state of being polluted
Population - the act of populating (causing to live in a place); (statistics) the entire aggregation of items from which samples can be drawn; a group of organisms of the same species populating a given area; the people who inhabit a territory or state; the number of inhabitants (either the total number or the number of a particular race or class) in a given place (country or city etc.)
Port Louis - capital and chief port of Mauritius; located on the northwestern coast of the island
Port Moresby - the administrative capital and largest city of Papua New Guinea
Port Sudan - port city in Sudan on the Red Sea
Port Vila - capital of Vanuatu
Port-au-Prince - the capital and largest city of Haiti
Port-of-Spain - the capital and largest city of Trinidad and Tobago on the west coast of the island of Trinidad
Porto - port city in northwest Portugal; noted for port wine
Portugal - a republic in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula; Portuguese explorers and colonists in the 15th and 16th centuries created a vast overseas empire (including Brazil)
Poverty - the state of having little or no money and few or no material possessions
Prague - the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic in the western part of the country; a cultural and commercial center since the 14th century
Precipitation - an unexpected acceleration or hastening; the act of casting down or falling headlong from a height; the falling to earth of any form of water (rain or snow or hail or sleet or mist); the process of forming a chemical precipitate; the quantity of water falling to earth at a specific place within a specified period of time; overly eager speed (and possible carelessness)
Pretoria - city in the Transvaal; the seat of the executive branch of the government of South Africa
Prince Edward Island - an island in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence; the smallest province of Canada
Puerto Rico - the smallest and easternmost of the Greater Antilles in the Caribbean; a self-governing commonwealth associated with the United States occupying the island of Puerto Rico
Puget Sound - an inlet of the North Pacific in northwestern Washington State
Pun - a humorous play on words; verb make a play on words
Punjab - a historical region on northwestern India and northern Pakistan
Purus River - a Brazilian river; tributary of the Amazon River
Pyrenees - a chain of mountains between France and Spain
Qatar - a peninsula extending northward from the Arabian mainland into the Persian Gulf; an Arab country on the peninsula of Qatar; achieved independence from the United Kingdom in 1971; the economy is dominated by oil
Queen Maud Land - a region of Antarctica between Enderby Land and the Weddell Sea; claimed by Norway
Quito - the capital of Ecuador
Rabat - the capital of Morocco; located in the northwestern on the Atlantic coast
Radioactivity - the spontaneous emission of a stream of particles or electromagnetic rays in nuclear decay
Rainfall - water falling in drops from vapor condensed in the atmosphere
Recife - a port city of northeastern Brazil on the Atlantic
Red River - a tributary of the Mississippi River that flows eastward from Texas along the southern boundary of Oklahoma and through Louisiana
Red Sea - a long arm of the Indian Ocean between northeast Africa and Arabia; linked to the Mediterranean at the north end by the Suez Canal
Redonda - an island in Antigua and Barbuda
Reforestation - the restoration (replanting) of a forest that had been reduced by fire or cutting
Republic of Korea - a republic in the southern half of the Korean Peninsula; established in 1948
Republic of Maldives - a republic on the Maldive Islands; achieved independence from the United Kingdom in 1965
Republic of Singapore - a country in southeastern Asia on the island of Singapore; achieved independence from Malaysia in 1965
Republic of the Congo - a republic in west-central Africa; achieved independence from France in 1960
Republic - a form of government whose head of state is not a monarch; a political system in which the supreme power lies in a body of citizens who can elect people to represent them
Research - systematic investigation to establish facts; a search for knowledge; verb inquire into; attempt to find out in a systematically and scientific manner
Rhine River - a major European river carrying more traffic than any other river in the world; flows into the North Sea
Rhineland - a picturesque region of Germany around the Rhine river
Rhodope Mountains - a mountain range in the Balkan peninsula in southeastern Europe; extends along the border between Greece and Bulgaria
Rhone River - a major French river; flows into the Mediterranean near Marseilles
Rhone - a major French river; flows into the Mediterranean near Marseilles
Rift Valley - a valley with steep sides; formed by a rift in the earth's crust
Riga - a port city on the Gulf of Riga that is the capital and largest city of Latvia; formerly a member of the Hanseatic League
Rio Grande - a North American river; boundary between the United States and Mexico; flows into Gulf of Mexico
Rio de Janeiro - the former capital and 2nd largest city of Brazil; chief Brazilian port; famous as a tourist attraction
Rio de la Plata - an estuary between Argentina and Uruguay
River - a large natural stream of water (larger than a creek)
Riyadh - joint capital (with Mecca) of Saudi Arabia located in the central oasis; largest city in Saudi Arabia
Roads - a partly sheltered anchorage
Robinson Crusoe - the hero of Daniel Defoe's novel about a shipwrecked English sailor who survives on a small tropical island
Rockies - the chief mountain range of western North America; extends from British Columbia to northern New Mexico; forms the continental divide
Rocky Mountains - the chief mountain range of western North America; extends from British Columbia to northern New Mexico; forms the continental divide
Roman Catholic Church - the Christian Church based in the Vatican and presided over by a pope and an episcopal hierarchy
Romania - a Balkan republic in southeastern Europe
Rome - the leadership of the Roman Catholic Church; capital and largest city of Italy; on the Tiber; seat of the Roman Catholic Church; formerly the capital of the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire
Ross Sea - an arm of the southern Pacific Ocean in Antarctica
Rostov na Donu - a seaport on the Don River near the Sea of Azov in the European part of Russia
Rwanda - a landlocked republic in central Africa; formerly a German colony
Saale River - a river that rises in central Germany and flows north to join the Elbe River
Saba - a island in the Netherlands Antilles that is the top of an extinct volcano
Sabah - a region of Malaysia in northeastern Borneo
Sacramento Mountains - mountain range in New Mexico east of the Rio Grande
Sacramento River - a river in northern California rising near Mount Shasta and flowing south to the San Francisco Bay
Sahara Desert - the world's largest desert (3,500,000 square miles) in northern Africa
Saint John - a port in eastern Canada; the largest city in New Brunswick; a river that rises in Maine and flows northeastward through New Brunswick to empty into the Bay of Fundy; (New Testament) disciple of Jesus; traditionally said to be the author of the 4th Gospel and three epistles and the book of Revelation
Saint Joseph - a town in northwest Missouri on the Missouri River; in the 19th century it became the eastern terminus of the pony express; a Christian holy day
Saint Kitts and Nevis - a country on several of the Leeward Islands; located east southeast of Puerto Rico; achieved independence from the United Kingdom in 1983
Saint Louis - the largest city in Missouri; a busy river port on the Mississippi River near its confluence with the Missouri River; was an important staging area for wagon trains westward in the 19th century; king of France and son of Louis VIII; he led two unsuccessful crusades; considered an ideal medieval king (1214-1270)
Saint Lucia - a volcanic island in the Windward Isles south of Martinique; a country on the island of Saint Lucia; gained independence from Great Britain in 1979
Saint Martin - an island in the western Leeward Islands; administered jointly by France and the Netherlands
Sajama - a mountain peak in the Andes in Bolivia (21,391 feet high)
Salton Sea - a saltwater lake in southeastern California
Salvador - a republic on the Pacific coast of Central America
Saman - large ornamental tropical American tree with bipinnate leaves and globose clusters of flowers with crimson stamens and seed pods that are eaten by cattle
Samara - a winged often one-seed indehiscent fruit as of the ash or elm or maple
Samaria - an ancient city in central Palestine founded in the 9th century BC as the capital of the northern Hebrew kingdom of Israel; the site is in present-day northwestern Jordan
Sambre River - a river in western Europe that rises in northern France and flows generally east into Belgium where it joins the Meuse at Namur
Samoa - a group of volcanic islands in the South Pacific midway between Hawaii and Australia; its climate and scenery and Polynesian culture make it a popular tourist stop; a constitutional monarchy on the western part of the islands of Samoa in the South Pacific
San Andreas fault - a major geological fault in California; runs from San Diego to San Francisco; the source of serious earthquakes
San Francisco Bay - a bay of the Pacific in western California
San Joaquin River - a river in central California that rises in the Sierra Nevada and flows northwest to form a large delta with the Sacramento River
San Juan Mountains - a mountain range in southwestern Colorado that is part of the Rocky Mountains
San Juan - the capital and largest city of Puerto Rico
San Marino - the smallest republic in the world; the oldest independent country in Europe (achieved independence in 301); located in the Apennines and completely surrounded by Italy; the capital and only city of San Marino
San Salvador - the capital and largest city of El Salvador; has suffered from recurrent earthquakes
Sanaa - the capital and largest city of Yemen; on the central plateau
Santos - a port city in southwestern Brazil on an offshore island near Sao Paulo
Sarajevo - capital and largest city of Bosnia; scene of the assassination of Francis Ferdinand in 1914 which precipitated World War I
Sarawak - a region of Malaysia on northwestern Borneo
Sardinia - an island in the Mediterranean west of Italy; the Italian region on the island of Sardinia; the kingdom of Sardinia was the nucleus for uniting Italy during the 19th century
Saudi Arabia - an absolute monarchy occupying most of the Arabian Peninsula in southwest Asia; vast oil reserves dominate the economy
Savannah River - a river in South Carolina that flows southeast to the Atlantic
Sayan Mountains - a range of mountains in southern Siberia west of Lake Baikal; contain important mineral deposits
Scenery - the painted structures of a stage set that are intended to suggest a particular locale; the appearance of a place
Scheldt River - a river that rises in France and flows northeast across Belgium and empties into the North Sea
Scotland - one of the four countries that make up the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland; located on the northern part of the island of Great Britain; famous for bagpipes and plaids and kilts
Sea of Azov - a bay of the Black Sea between Russia and the Ukraine
Sea of Japan - an arm of the Pacific between China and Japan
Sea of Marmara - an inland sea in northwestern Turkey; linked to the Black Sea by the Bosporus and linked to the Aegean by the Dardanelles
Sea of Okhotsk - an arm of the Pacific east of Asia
Seattle - a major port of entry and the largest city in Washington; located in west central Washington on the protected waters of Puget Sound with the snow-capped peaks of the Cascade Range and Mount Ranier visible to the south and east; an aerospace and computer center; site of the University of Washington
Seine River - a French river that flows through the heart of Paris and then northward into the English Channel
Selkirk - Scottish sailor who was put ashore on a deserted island off the coast of Chile for five years (providing the basis for Daniel Defoe's novel about Robinson Crusoe) (1676-1721)
Senegal - a republic in northwestern Africa on the coast of the Atlantic; formerly a French colony but achieved independence in 1960
Seoul - the capital of South Korea and the largest city of Asia; located in northwestern South Korea
Serbia - a historical region in central and northern Yugoslavia; Serbs settled the region in the 6th and 7th centuries
Serengeti Plain - a vast plain in Tanzania west of the Great Rift Valley known for its wildlife
Severn River - a river in England and Wales flowing into the Bristol Channel; the longest river in Great Britain; a river in Ontario that flows northeast into Hudson Bay
Sevilla - a city in southwestern Spain; a major port and cultural center; the capital of bullfighting in Spain
Seville - a city in southwestern Spain; a major port and cultural center; the capital of bullfighting in Spain
Seward Peninsula - a peninsula in western Alaska that projects westward into the Bering Sea just below the Arctic Circle
Seychelles - a group of about 90 islands in the western Indian Ocean north of Madagascar; a republic on the Seychelles islands; achieved independence from the United Kingdom in 1976
Seyhan River - a Turkish river flowing south southwest into the Mediterranean
Shan - a branch of the Tai languages
Shetland Islands - an archipelago of about 100 islands in the North Atlantic off the north coast of Scotland
Shikoku - the smallest of the four main islands of Japan; south of Honshu and east of Kyushu; separated from Honshu by the Inland Sea; forested and mountainous
Shipping - conveyance provided by the ships belonging to one country or industry; the commercial enterprise of moving goods and materials
Siberia - a vast Asian region of Russia; famous for long cold winters
Sicily - the largest island in the Mediterranean; the Italian region on the island of Sicily
Sierra Leone - a republic in West Africa; achieved independence from the United Kingdom in 1961
Sierra Madre Occidental - a mountain range in northwestern Mexico that runs south from Arizona parallel to the Pacific coastline
Sierra Madre Oriental - a mountain range in northeastern Mexico the runs parallel to the coastline of the Gulf of Mexico
Sierra Nevada Mountains - a mountain range in eastern California; contains Mount Whitney
Sierra - a Spanish mackerel of western North America; a range of mountains (usually with jagged peaks and irregular outline)
Sikkim - a geographical area and former kingdom in northeastern India in the Himalaya Mountains between Nepal and Bhutan
Simpson Desert - a desert region of central Australia
Sinai Peninsula - a peninsula in northeastern Egypt; at north end of Red Sea
Singapore Island - an island south of the Malay Peninsula
Singapore - an island south of the Malay Peninsula; a country in southeastern Asia on the island of Singapore; achieved independence from Malaysia in 1965; the capital of Singapore; one of the world's biggest ports
Skagerrak - a broad strait of the North Sea between Jutland and Norway
Skopje - capital of modern Macedonia
Slave trade - traffic in slaves; especially in Black Africans transported to America in the 16th to 19th centuries
Slovak Republic - a landlocked republic in central Europe; separated from the Czech Republic in 1993
Slovakia - a landlocked republic in central Europe; separated from the Czech Republic in 1993
Slovenia - a mountainous republic in central Europe; formerly part of the Habsburg monarchy and Yugoslavia; achieved independence in 1991
Snake River - a tributary of the Columbia River that rises in Wyoming and flows westward; discovered in 1805 by the Lewis and Clark Expedition
Soil erosion - the washing away of soil by the flow of water
Solar energy - energy from the sun that is converted into thermal or electrical energy
Solar radiation - radiation from the sun
Solomon Islands - the southern Solomon Islands that since 1978 form an independent state in the British Commonwealth; the northernmost islands are part of Papua New Guinea; the remainder form an independent state within the British Commonwealth
Solway Firth - a large firth on the west coast of Britain between England and Scotland
Somalia - a republic in extreme eastern Africa on the Somali peninsula; subject to tribal warfare
Somme River - battle in World War I (1916); battle of World War II (1944)
Sonoran Desert - a desert in southwestern Arizona
South Africa - a republic at the southernmost part of Africa; achieved independence from the United Kingdom in 1910; first European settlers were Dutch (known as Boers)
South Australia - a state in south central Australia
South Island - the larger but less populous of two main islands of New Zealand; separated from North Island by Cook Strait
South Korea - a republic in the southern half of the Korean Peninsula; established in 1948
South Pole - the southernmost point of the Earth's axis
South - situated in or facing or moving toward or coming from the south; adv. in a southern direction; any region lying in or toward the south; the region of the United States lying south of the Mason-Dixon line; the cardinal compass point that is at 180 degrees; the southern states that seceded from the United States in 1861
Sovereignty - the authority of a state to govern another state; government free from external control; royal authority; the dominion of a monarch
Soviet Union - a former communist country in eastern Europe and northern Asia; established in 1922; included Russia and 14 other soviet socialist republics (Ukraine and Byelorussia and others); officially dissolved 31 December 1991
Spain - a parliamentary monarchy in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula; a former colonial power
Spanish Sahara - an area in northwestern Africa with rich phosphate deposits; under Moroccan control since 1992
Spice Islands - a group of island in eastern Indonesia between Celebes and New Guinea; settled by the Portuguese but taken by the Dutch who made them the center for a spice monopoly, at which time they were known as Spice Islands
Sri Lanka - a republic on the island of Ceylon; became independent of the United Kingdom in 1948
Steel industry - the industry that makes steel and steel products
Stevenson - United States politician and diplomat (1900-1968); Scottish author (1850-1894)
Stockholm - the capital and largest city of Sweden; located in southern Sweden on the Baltic
Stoker - a mechanical device for stoking a furnace; a laborer who tends fires (as on a coal-fired train or steamship); Irish writer of the horror novel about Dracula (1847-1912)
Stony Tunguska - a river in Siberia that flows northwest to become a tributary of the Yenisei River
Strait of Dover - the strait between the English Channel and the North Sea; shortest distance between England and the European continent
Strait of Georgia - the strait separating Vancouver Island from the Canadian mainland
Strait of Gibraltar - the strait between Spain and Africa
Strait of Hormuz - a strategically important strait linking the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman
Strait of Magellan - the strait separating South America from Tierra del Fuego and other islands south of the continent; discovered by Ferdinand Magellan in 1520; an important route around South America before the Panama Canal was built
Strait of Messina - the strait separating Sicily from the tip of Italy
Sudan - a region of northern Africa south of the Sahara and Libyan deserts; extends from the Atlantic to the Red Sea; a republic in northeastern Africa on the Red Sea; achieved independence from Egypt and the United Kingdom in 1956
Suez Canal - a ship canal in northeastern Egypt linking the Red Sea with the Mediterranean Sea
Sugarcane - tall tropical southeast Asian grass having stout fibrous jointed stalks; sap is a chief source of sugar; juicy canes whose sap is a source of molasses and commercial sugar; fresh canes are sometimes chewed for the juice
Sulawesi - a mountainous island in eastern Indonesia
Sumatra - a mountainous island in western Indonesia
Sunda Islands - a chain of islands in the western Malay Archipelago
Sunlight - the rays of the sun
Suriname River - a river in Suriname that flows northward to the Atlantic
Suriname - a republic in northeastern South America on the Atlantic; achieved independence from the Netherlands in 1975
Swaziland - a landlocked monarchy in southeastern Africa; member of the commonwealth that achieved independence from the United Kingdom in 1968
Sweden - a Scandinavian kingdom in the eastern part of the Scandinavian Peninsula
Swiss - of or relating to Switzerland or its people or culture; the natives or inhabitants of Switzerland
Switzerland - a landlocked federal republic in central Europe
Sydney - the largest Australian city located in southeastern Australia on the Tasman Sea; state capital of New South Wales; Australia's chief port
Syria - an Asian republic in the Middle East at the east end of the Mediterranean; site of some of the world's most ancient centers of civilization
Syrian Desert - a desert of northern Arabia occupying western Iraq, southern Syria, eastern Jordan, and northern Saudi Arabia
Tabasco - very hot red peppers; usually long and thin; some very small; very spicy sauce (trade name Tabasco) made from fully-aged red peppers; a Mexican state on the Gulf of Campeche
Tacitus - Roman historian who wrote major works on the history of the Roman Empire (56-120)
Tagus River - a European river; flows into the North Atlantic
Tahiti - an island in the south Pacific; the most important island in French Polynesia; made famous by Robert Louis Stevenson and Paul Gauguin
Taipei - the capital of Nationalist China; located in northern Taiwan
Taiwan - an island in southeastern Asia 100 miles off the coast of mainland China in the South China Sea; a government on the island of Taiwan established in 1949 by Chiang Kai-shek after the conquest of mainland China by the communists led by Mao Zedong
Tajikistan - a landlocked mountainous republic in southeast central Asia north of Afghanistan; formerly an Asian soviet
Taklimakan Desert - a desert in western China
Tamil Nadu - a state in southeastern India on the Bay of Bengal (south of Andhra Pradesh); formerly Madras
Tampa Bay - an arm of the Gulf of Mexico in west central Florida
Tanga - a port city in northeastern Tanzania on the Indian Ocean; 100 tanga equal 1 Tajikistani ruble
Tangshan - an industrial city of northeastern China in Hebei province
Tanzania - a republic in eastern Africa
Tarawa - battles in World War II in the Pacific (November 1943); United States Marines took the islands from the Japanese after bitter fighting; national capital of Kiribati
Tashkent - the capital of Uzbekistan
Tasmania - an island off the southeastern coast of Australia; an Australian state on the island of Tasmania
Taymyr Peninsula - a peninsula in northern Siberia
Tbilisi - the capital and largest city of Georgia on the Kura river
Technology - the practical application of science to commerce or industry; the discipline dealing with the art or science of applying scientific knowledge to practical problems
Tegucigalpa - the capital and largest city of Honduras
Tehran - the capital and largest city of Iran; located in northern Iran
Temperature - the degree of hotness or coldness of a body or environment (corresponding to its molecular activity); the somatic sensation of cold or heat
Tennessee - a state in east central United States; a river formed by the confluence of two other rivers near Knoxville; it follows a U-shaped course to become a tributary of the Ohio River in western Kentucky
Ternate - of a leaf shape; consisting of three leaflets or sections
Texas - the second largest state; located in southwestern United States on the Gulf of Mexico
Thailand - a country of southeastern Asia that extends southward along the Isthmus of Kra to the Malay peninsula
Thames River - the longest river in England; flows eastward through London to the North Sea
Thar Desert - a desert east of the Indus River in northwestern India and southeastern Pakistan
The Netherlands - a constitutional monarchy in western Europe on the North Sea; half the country lies below sea level
Thessaly - a fertile plain on the Aegean Sea in east central Greece; Thessaly was a former region of ancient Greece
Thrace - a region and ancient country and wine producing region in the east of the Balkan Peninsula north of the Aegean Sea; colonized by ancient Greeks; later a Roman province; now divided between Bulgaria and Greece and Turkey
Tibet - an Asian country under the control of China; located in the Himalayas
Tibur - a town twenty miles east of Rome (Tibur is the ancient name); a summer resort during the Roman empire; noted for its waterfalls
Ticino - an Italian-speaking region of southern Switzerland
Tierra del Fuego - an archipelago off southern South America; separated from the continent by the Strait of Magellan; islands are administered by Chile and by Argentina
Tigris River - an Asian river; a tributary of the Euphrates River
Timber - a beam made of wood; a post made of wood; (music) the distinctive property of a complex sound (a voice or noise or musical sound); land that is covered with trees and shrubs; the wood of trees cut and prepared for use as building material
Timbuktu - a city in central Mali near the Niger river; formerly famous for its gold trade
Timor Sea - an arm of the eastern Indian Ocean between Timor and northern Australia
Tobacco - leaves of the tobacco plant dried and prepared for smoking or ingestion; aromatic annual or perennial herbs and shrubs
Tocantins River - a river in eastern Brazil that flows generally north to the Para River
Togo - a republic on the western coast of Africa on the Gulf of Guinea; formerly under French control
Tokyo - the capital and largest city of Japan; the economic and cultural center of Japan
Tom - male cat; contemptuous name for a Black man who is abjectly servile and deferential to Whites; male turkey
Tonga - the language of the Tongan people of south central Africa (Zambia and Rhodesia); a monarchy on a Polynesian archipelago in the South Pacific; achieved independence from the United Kingdom in 1970
Torres Strait - a strait between northeastern Australia and southern New Guinea that connects the Coral Sea with the Arafura Sea
Tourism - the business of providing services to tourists
Transcaucasia - a geographical region south of the Caucasus Mountains and north of Turkey that comprises Georgia and Armenia and Azerbaijan
Transmigration - the passing of a soul into another body after death
Trinidad and Tobago - an island republic in the West Indies off the northeastern coast of Venezuela; achieved independence from the United Kingdom in 1962
Trinidad - island in West Indies
Tripoli - the capital and chief port and largest city of Libya; in northwestern Libya on the Mediterranean Sea; founded by the Phoenicians in the 7th century BC; a port city and commercial center in northwestern Lebanon on the Mediterranean Sea; a weathered and decomposed siliceous limestone; in powdered form it is used in polishing
Trondheim Fjord - a long narrow inlet of the Norwegian Sea
Tundra - a vast treeless plain in the arctic regions between the ice cap and the tree line
Tunis - the capital and principal port of Tunisia
Tunisia - a republic in northwestern Africa on the Mediterranean coast; achieved independence from France in 1956
Turkey - large gallinaceous bird with fan-shaped tail; widely domesticated for food; an event that fails badly or is totally ineffectual; flesh of large domesticated fowl usually roasted; a Eurasian republic in Asia Minor and the Balkans; achieved independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1923; a person who does something thoughtless or annoying
Turkmenistan - a republic in Asia east of the Caspian Sea and south of Kazakhstan and north of Iran; an Asian soviet from 1925 to 1991
Tuscany - a region in central Italy
Tuvalu - a group of coral islands in Micronesia southwest of Hawaii; a small island republic on the Tuvalu islands; formerly part of the British colony of Gilbert and Ellice Islands until it withdrew in 1975 and became independent of the United Kingdom in 1978
Tyne River - a river in northern England that flows east to the North Sea
Tyre - hoop that covers a wheel; a port in southern Lebanon on the Mediterranean Sea; formerly a major Phoenician seaport famous for silks
Tyrrhenian Sea - an arm of the Mediterranean between Italy and the islands of Corsica and Sardinia and Sicily
Uganda - a landlocked republic in eastern Africa; achieved independence from the United Kingdom in 1962
Ukraine - a republic in southeastern Europe; formerly a European soviet; the center of the original Russian state which came into existence in the ninth century
Ulaanbaatar - the capital and largest city of Mongolia
Ulysses - (Roman mythology) Roman spelling for Odysseus
United Arab Emirates - a federation of seven Arab emirates on the eastern Arabian peninsula; achieved independence from the United Kingdom in 1971; rich in oil reserves
United Kingdom - a monarchy in northwestern Europe occupying most of the British Isles; divided into England and Scotland and Wales and Northern Ireland
United States of America - North American republic containing 50 states - 48 conterminous states in North America plus Alaska in northwest North America and the Hawaiian Islands in the Pacific Ocean; achieved independence in 1776
United States - North American republic containing 50 states - 48 conterminous states in North America plus Alaska in northwest North America and the Hawaiian Islands in the Pacific Ocean; achieved independence in 1776; the executive and legislative and judicial branches of the federal government of the United States
United - characterized by unity; being or joined into a single entity; of or relating to two people who are married to each other; involving the joint activity of two or more
Upper Volta - a desperately poor landlocked country in western Africa; was formerly Upper Volta under French rule but gained independence in 1960
Ural Mountains - a mountain range in western Russia extending from the arctic to the Caspian Sea; forms part of the traditional boundary between Europe and Asia
Urban - located in or characteristic of a city or city life; relating to or concerned with a city or densely populated area
Uruguay River - a South American river that arises in southern Brazil and flows south to the Rio de la Plata; the northern section forms the boundary between Argentina and Brazil and the southern section forms the boundary between Argentina and Uruguay
Uruguay - a South American republic on the southeast coast of South America; achieved independence from Brazil in 1825
Utah - a state in the western United States; settled in 1847 by Mormons led by Brigham Young
Uzbekistan - a landlocked republic in west central Asia; formerly an Asian soviet
Vaduz - the capital and largest city of Liechtenstein
Valletta - the capital of Malta; located on the northeastern coast of the island
Vancouver Island - an island off southwestern Canada (off the southwestern coast of British Columbia); the largest island off the west coast of North America
Vanua Levu - a volcanic island in the Fijis
Vanuatu - a volcanic island republic in Melanesia; independent since 1980
Vatican City - the capital of the State of the Vatican City
Vatican - the residence of the Catholic Pope in the Vatican City
Vegetation - inactivity that is passive and monotonous, comparable to the inactivity of plant life; an abnormal growth or excrescence (especially a warty excrescence on the valves of the heart); all the plant life in a particular region or period; the process of growth in plants
Veld - elevated open grassland in southern Africa
Venezuela - a republic in northern South America on the Caribbean; achieved independence from Spain in 1811; rich in oil
Venice - the provincial capital of Veneto; built on 118 islands within a lagoon in the Gulf of Venice; has canals instead of streets; one of Italy's major ports and a famous tourist attraction
Veracruz - a major Mexican port on the Gulf of Mexico in the state of Veracruz
Vermont - a state in New England
Vesuvius - a volcano in southwestern Italy on the Mediterranean coast; a Plinian eruption in 79 AD buried Pompeii and killed Pliny the Elder; last erupted in 1944
Victoria Falls - a large waterfall on the border between Argentina and Brazil; a waterfall in the Zambezi River on the border between Zimbabwe and Zambia; diminishes seasonally
Victoria Nyanza - the largest lake in Africa and the 2nd largest fresh water lake in the world; a headwaters reservoir for the Nile River
Vientiane - the capital and largest city of Laos
Vietnam - a communist state in Indochina on the South China Sea; achieved independence from France in 1945; a prolonged war (1954-1975) between the communist armies of North Vietnam who were supported by the Chinese and the armies of South Vietnam who were supported by the United States
Vilnius - the capital and largest city of Lithuania; located in southeastern Lithuania
Virgin Islands - a group of islands in northeastern West Indies (east of Puerto Rico) discovered by Christopher Columbus in 1493; owned by United States and Britain
Virginia - a town in northeastern Minnesota in the heart of the Mesabi Range; a state in the eastern United States; one of the original 13 colonies; one of the Confederate States in the American Civil War; one of the British colonies that formed the United States
Visayan Islands - group of islands in the central Philippines
Vistula River - a European river; flows into the Baltic Sea
Viti Levu - a volcanic island in the Fijis
Vladivostok - a seaport in the Asian part of Russia
Volcano Islands - a group of Japanese Islands in the northwestern Pacific Ocean north of the Marianas
Volga River - a Russian river; the longest river in Europe; flows into the Caspian Sea
Volgograd - a city in the European part of Russia on the Volga; site of German defeat in World War II in the winter of 1942-43
Wales - one of the four countries that make up the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland; during Roman times the region was known as Cambria
Warsaw - the capital and largest city of Poland; located in central Poland
Water pollution - pollution of the water in rivers and lakes
Weddell Sea - an arm of the south Atlantic in Antarctica east of the Antarctic Peninsula
Weisshorn - a mountain in the Alps in Switzerland (14,804 feet high)
Wellington - the capital of New Zealand; British general and statesman; he defeated Napoleon at Waterloo; subsequently served as Prime Minister (1769-1852); (19th century) a man's high tasseled boot
Weser River - a rive in northwestern Germany that flows north to the North Sea near Bremerhaven
West Bank - an area between Israel and Jordan on the west bank of the Jordan river; populated largely by Palestinians
West Bengal - a state in eastern India
West Country - the southwest of England (including Cornwall and Devon and Somerset)
West Germany - a republic in north central Europe on the North Sea; established in 1949 from the zones of Germany occupied by the British and French and Americans after the German defeat; reunified with East Germany in 1990
West Malaysia - the region of Malaysia on the Malay Peninsula
Western Islands - a group of more than 500 islands off the western coast of Scotland
Western Sahara - an area in northwestern Africa with rich phosphate deposits; under Moroccan control since 1992
Western Samoa - a constitutional monarchy on the western part of the islands of Samoa in the South Pacific
White Nile - a headstream of the Nile; joins the Blue Nile at Khartoum to form the Nile
White Sea - a large inlet of the Barents Sea in the northwestern part of European Russia
Whitney - the highest peak in the Sierra Nevada range in California (14,494 feet high); United States inventor of the mechanical cotton gin (1765-1825)
Willamette River - a river in western Oregon that flows north into the Columbia River near Portland
Windhoek - capital of Namibia in the center of the country
Windward Islands - a group of islands in the southeastern West Indies; the southern part of the Lesser Antilles
Windward Passage - a channel between eastern Cuba and western Haiti that connects the Atlantic Ocean with the Caribbean Sea
Windward - on the side exposed to the wind; adv. away from the wind; the direction from which the wind is coming
Wisconsin - a midwestern state in north central United States; a tributary of the Mississippi River in Wisconsin
Witwatersrand - a rocky region in the southern Transvaal in northeastern South Africa; contains rich gold deposits and coal and manganese
World Bank - a United Nations agency created to assist developing nations by loans guaranteed by member governments
World War I - a war between the allies (Russia, France, British Empire, Italy, United States, Japan, Rumania, Serbia, Belgium, Greece, Portugal, Montenegro) and the central powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary, Turkey, Bulgaria) from 1914 to 1918
Yalu River - a battle in the Korean War (November 1950); when UN troops advanced north to the Yalu River 200,000 Chinese troops crossed the river and drove them back; river in eastern Asia; rises in North Korea and flows southwest to Korea Bay (forming part of the border between North Korea and China)
Yangtze River - the longest river of Asia; flows eastward from Tibet into the East China Sea near Shanghai
Yell - a loud utterance; often in protest or opposition; a loud utterance of emotion (especially when inarticulate); verb utter or declare in a very loud voice; utter a sudden loud cry
Yellow River - a major river of Asia in northern China; flows generally eastward into the Yellow Sea; carries large quantities of yellow silt to its delta
Yellowstone National Park - the first national park in the United States; located in the border area between Wyoming and Montana and Idaho; spectacular wilderness; famous for Old Faithful geyser and for buffalo and bears
Yemen - a republic on the southwestern shores of the Arabian Peninsula on the Indian Ocean; formed in 1990
Yenisey River - a Russian river in Siberia; rises in mountains near the Mongolian border and flows generally northward into the Kara Sea
Yokohama - port city on southeastern Honshu in central Japan
Yukon River - a North American river that flows westward from the Yukon Territory through central Alaska to the Bering Sea
Yukon Territory - a territory in northwestern Canada; site of the Klondike gold rush in the 1890s
Yuma - the Yuman language spoken by the Yuma; a town in southwestern Arizona on the Colorado River and the California border; a member of the North American Indian people of Arizona and adjacent Mexico and California
Zaire - the basic unit of money in Zaire; a republic in central Africa; achieved independence from Belgium in 1960
Zambia - a republic in central Africa; formerly controlled by Great Britain and called Northern Rhodesia until it gained independence within the commonwealth in 1964
Zimbabwe - a landlocked republic in south central Africa formerly called Rhodesia; achieved independence from the United Kingdom in 1980

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