THE UNITED STATES               VOCABULARY FOR THE OVERVIEW

 

AMERICAN PEOPLE, AMERICAN LAND

 

1.     Culture: The way of life of a group of people

 

2.     Ideals: Important beliefs

 

3.     Ethnic Group: Group of people who share the same customs and language

 

4.     Census: A count of the population

 

5.     Immigrants: People who leave one country to go live in another country

 

6.     Democracy: Government that is run by the people

 

\7.     Republic: Form of government in which people elect representatives to

                                  make laws and run government

 

8.     Constitution: A written plan of government

 

9.     Citizen: A member of a country

 

10.Private Property: Something owned by individual people

 

11.Economy: System for producing and distributing goods and services

 

12.Free Enterprise: Economic system on which people are free to start their

                                                 own businesses and own their own property

 

13.Profit: Money a business has left over after it has paid all its costs

 

14.Supply: Amount of a product that is available

 

15.Demand: Amount of a product that people are willing to buy

 

16.Export: Good that one country sells to another country

 

17.Consumer: Person who buys or uses goods and services

 

18.Entrepreneur: Person who starts a new business, hoping to make a profit

 

19.Region: Large area that has common features that set it apart from other

                               areas

 

20.Geography: Study of earth and how people use it

 

21.Agriculture: Business of growing crops and raising animals

 

22.Irrigation: Method of bringing water to dry land

 

23.Climate: Weather in an area over a long period of time

 

24.Precipitation: Moisture that falls to earth in the form of rain, snow, or sleet

 

25.Interdependent: Needing each other

 

26.Natural Resource: Things found in nature that people can use (water, trees)

 

27.Mineral: Substances found on earth that are neither animal or vegetable

 

28.Fossil Fuel: Fuels formed from the remains of plants and animals that lived

                                       thousands of years ago (coal, oil, natural gas)

 

29.Renewable Resource: Resources that can be renewed or replaced

 

30.Nonrenewable Resource: Resources that cannot easily be replaced

 

31.Conservation: Preserving and protecting natural resources

 

32.Environment: All things that surround us, such as land, water, and trees

 

33.Pollution:  The addition of harmful substances to the air, water, or soil

 

34. Import: A good that one country buys from another