Humanities

Key terms

Geography:
the study of the diverse environments, places, and spaces of Earth’s surface and their
interactions.

Climate:
conditions of the atmosphere at a particular location over a long period of time.

Weather:
state of the atmosphere at a particular place during a short period of time. It involves such
atmospheric phenomena as temperature, humidity, precipitation (type and amount), air
pressure, wind, and cloud cover.

Global Warming:
the unusually rapid increase in Earth's average surface temperature over the past century
primarily due to the greenhouse gases released by people burning fossil fuels.

Continents:
a large continuous mass of land conventionally regarded as a collective region. There are seven
continents: Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Antarctica, Europe, and Australia.

Latitude:
a point on Earth's surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that
passes through that point and through (or close to) the center of the Earth.(0*)

Equator.
an imaginary circle around Earth. It divides Earth into two equal parts: the Northern Hemisphere
and the Southern Hemisphere.

Longitude:
a point on Earth's surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian
that passes through that point. (0*)

Hemispheres:
a half of the earth, usually as divided into northern and southern halves by the equator, or into
western and eastern halves by an imaginary line passing through the poles.

Compass:
an instrument containing a magnetized pointer which shows the direction of magnetic north and
bearings from it.