Viscount Montgomery Library: October 2006

Glossary of Social Studies Terms, in alphabetical order:

Aboriginal peoples. A term used in a general manner to refer to First Nation peoples, Inuit, and Métis.
Aboriginal Solidarity Day. This day, June 21, was proclaimed by the federal government in 1996 in recognition of the contributions of the First Nation peoples, Métis, and Inuit to the development of Canada.
Absolute location. The location of a point on the earth's surface that can be expressed by a grid reference (e.g., by latitude and longitude).
Acadian. One of the early French settlers of Acadia, or a descendant of these settlers, especially one living in the Maritime provinces or in Louisiana, U.S.A.
Acid precipitation. Any form of precipitation, including rain, fog, and snow, that is more acidic than normal (i.e., less than pH 5.6).
Altitude. The height of something above a reference level, especially above sea level.
Anishinabek. An Algonquin term meaning "the original people". It refers to an alliance of three groups – Odawa, Ojibway, and Pottawatomi – also known as the Three Fires Confederacy. These groups lived around the Great Lakes as well as on Manitoulin Island.
Appalachian Region. A physiographic region along the east coast of North America. It once comprised jagged fold mountains, but millions of years of erosion have reduced the mountains to rolling hills and valleys.

Birth rate. The number of live births per thousand people in one year.

Canadian identity. Distinguishing characteristics of Canada and its people.
Canadian Shield. An area of Precambrian rock that underlies almost half of Canada. This plateau region extends from the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence River to the Arctic Ocean.
Capital (as an economic resource). One of the factors in the production of goods and services. Capital can be goods (e.g., factories and equipment, highways, communication systems) and/or money available to be invested to increase production and wealth.
Capital (town or city). The official seat of government in a political entity, such as a province or country.
Cardinal direction. One of four major points of the compass – N, S, E, and W.
C.E. (Common Era). Referring to dates in the Julian and Gregorian calendars that are also often identified by the abbreviation "A.D." (Anno Domini).
Château Clique. A small group, mostly anglophone and mercantile, who occupied the chief public offices in Lower Canada during the early nineteenth century.
Chivalry. The medieval values and customs of knighthood; the positive qualities to be exemplified in the behaviour of knights, such as bravery, courtesy, honour, and gallantry towards women.
Citizenship. The status of a citizen, with its attendant duties, rights, and responsibilities.
Civics. The study of the rights and duties of citizenship.
Climate. The average weather conditions of an area over an extended period of time.
Climate graph. A graph that combines average monthly temperature and precipitation data for a particular place.
Clustered settlement pattern. A closely spaced grouping of houses, towns, or villages.
Coat of arms. In heraldry, an arrangement of devices, usually depicted on a shield, that indicates ancestry or distinction.
Command economy. An economic system in which the government owns and controls all facets of the economy.
Commercial agriculture. Farm operations undertaken primarily to generate products for sale.
Confederation. The federal union of all of the Canadian provinces and territories.
Constituency. The body of voters represented by an elected official.
Cordilleras. A chain of mountains, especially the principal mountain system of a continent (e.g., Rocky Mountains in North America).
Corn Laws. Laws in Great Britain from 1815 to 1846 that placed tariffs on foreign grain imports and gave British North American colonies preferential trade treatment.
Coureur de bois. A French term meaning "runner of the woods". Coureurs de bois were middlemen in the fur trade between the French and the First Nation peoples.
Cross-sectional diagram. A profile of an object or landform that has been sliced in half and sketched from that perspective.
Culture. Learned behaviour of people, which includes their belief systems and languages, social relationships, institutions and organizations, and their material goods (i.e., food, clothing, buildings, tools, and machines).

Death rate. The number of deaths per thousand people in one year.
Demographics. The statistics for an area's population relating to such aspects as age, sex, income, and education.
Dendritic drainage pattern. Type of drainage that occurs when water flows into a river from various tributaries, which are in turn fed by smaller tributaries. The pattern that results resembles the shape of an apple tree.
Developed country. A basic classification of countries with a high level of per capita income, industrialization, and modernization. Such countries usually have lower levels of population growth.
Developing country. A basic classification of low- and middle-income countries in which most people have a lower standard of living with access to fewer goods and services than do most people in developed countries.
Doric Club. A group of wealthy young English people in Montreal during the early nineteenth century.

Economic resource. Land, labour, capital, or entrepreneurial ability; a factor necessary for the economic success of a region.
Economic system. The way in which a particular society produces, distributes, and consumes various goods and services.
Economy. The system of production and consumption of various commodities and services in a country, region, or community.
Electors. Qualified voters in an election.
Emigration. The act of leaving one country or region to settle in another.
Entrepreneur. A person who organizes, operates, and assumes the risk for a business venture.
Entrepreneurial ability (as an economic resource). One of the factors in the production of goods and services. An entrepreneur recognizes a business opportunity and is able to combine land, labour, and capital to take advantage of the opportunity and make a profit.
Equator. Latitude zero degrees; an imaginary line running east and west around the globe and dividing it into two equal parts.

Family Compact. A small group who upheld their belief in British institutions through control of government and the judiciary in Upper Canada from the 1790s to the 1830s.
Fenians. Irish-Americans who were part of a secret revolutionary organization formed in 1857 and dedicated to the overthrow of British rule in Ireland. They conducted a series of raids across the border into Canada between 1866 and 1870.
Feudalism. The political and economic system of Europe from the ninth to about the fifteenth century, based on the holding of all land in fief or fee and the resulting relation of lord to vassal, and characterized by homage, legal and military service of tenants, and forfeiture.
Filles du roi. A French term meaning "the king's daughters" – more than 700 women who came to New France between 1663 and 1673, under the financial sponsorship of Louis XIV of France, in an attempt to correct the imbalance between the number of males and the number of females in New France.
Fils de la Liberté. A group of young French Canadians in Montreal in the 1830s who directly opposed the Doric Club.
First Nation(s). The term used to refer to the original inhabitants of Canada, except the Inuit.
Five themes of geography. Location/ place, environment, region, interaction, and movement. These themes provide a framework to help focus investigation in geography.
Flow resource. A resource that is neither renewable nor non-renewable, but must be used when and where it occurs or be lost (e.g., running water, wind, sunlight).
Francophonie. Officially, the International Organization of Francophonie. An intergovernmental organization of French-speaking nations that promotes the education and culture of French speakers, as well as peace, democracy, human rights, and economic cooperation and development in the French-speaking world.

Globalization. The idea, popularized in the 1960s, that the entire world and its inhabitants are becoming one large community with interconnected needs and services.
Governor General. In Canada, the resident representative of the Crown, i.e., of Queen Elizabeth II.
Great Lakes-St.Lawrence lowlands. The area that surrounds the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence River, including the densely populated portions of Ontario and Quebec. This area of gently rolling hills and flat plains provides an excellent physical base for agriculture and settlement and is often described as the country's heartland.
Grid. A pattern of lines on a chart or map, such as those representing latitude and longitude, which helps determine absolute location and assists in the analysis of distribution patterns.
Grist mill. A mill for grinding grain.
Gross domestic product (GDP). The value of all the goods and services produced in a country in one year.
Gross national product (GNP). Gross domestic product with the addition of goods and services from other countries used in producing goods and services in the home country.

Haudenosaunee. An Iroquoian term that means "People of the Longhouse". It refers to an alliance of five nations – Seneca, Cayuga, Onondaga, Oneida, and Mohawk. A sixth nation – Tuscarora – joined in 1724.
Human development index. An annual ranking of countries in which the health, education, and wealth of each nation's citizens is examined. Life expectancy, educational achievement, and standard of living are measured.

Immigration. The movement of people into an area or country.
Intermediate directions. The points of the compass that fall between the four cardinal points (e.g., Northeast, Southeast, Southwest, Northwest).

Labour (as an economic resource). One of the factors in the production of goods and services. Labour is the collection of people employed within a region.
Latitude. The distance north and south of the equator, measured in degrees.
Legend. An explanatory description or key to features on a map or chart.
Legislature. An officially elected or otherwise selected body of people, such as the House of Commons in Ottawa, or Queen's Park in Ontario, that is vested with the responsibility and power to make laws for a political unit.
Lieutenant-Governor. In Canada, the representative of the monarch in a province, appointed by the federal government acting for the Crown.
Life expectancy rate. The average number of years that a person is expected to live at the time of his or her birth.
Linear settlement pattern. A narrow grouping of houses or settlements along a river, road, or valley.
Literacy rate. The percentage of the adult population who can read and write.
Lower Canada. A British colony at the lower end of the St. Lawrence River in the southern portion of the modern-day province of Quebec. Lower Canada was eventually merged with Upper Canada to form the single colony of the Province of Canada.
Loyalists. Those in the American colonies who declared their loyalty to Britain before the conclusion of the American Revolution (1775-83) and emigrated elsewhere, the Maritimes and present-day Ontario and Quebec being common destinations.

Magna Carta. The document, signed by King John of England in 1215, that limited the king's power and guaranteed certain basic rights. It is considered the beginning of constitutional government in England.
Manifest Destiny. The nineteenth-century doctrine that the United States had the right and duty to expand throughout North America.
Manufacturing. Changing from original state by machine or by hand.
Map projection. A method used to transfer the physical features of the globe onto a flat surface of a map.
Market economy. An economic system in which individual producers own and determine the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services.
Medieval. The historical period from roughly the fifth century to the fourteenth century. It is the time between the fall of the Roman Empire and the Renaissance.
Métis. An individual or group having partial Aboriginal ancestry, usually of mixed First Nation and European ancestry.
Migration. The movement of people from one place or country to another, for the purpose of settlement.
Mixed economy. An economic system that uses aspects of more than one of the three basic types of economic systems (subsistence, command, and market).
Multiculturalism. The preservation of distinct cultural identities among varied groups within a unified society.
Myth/mythology. A traditional story, or a collection of stories, of unknown origin that explains a natural phenomenon, cultural practice, belief, or historical event.

Natural resource. Something found in nature that people find useful or valuable.
Natural vegetation. Plant life that develops naturally in an area.
New France. The territory colonized by France in northeastern North America from the explorations of Jacques Cartier in 1534 to the loss of the last of the territories to Great Britain in 1763.
New World. The Western Hemisphere of the earth as originally named by European explorers.
Non-pictorial symbols. These are shapes used on maps to represent features (e.g., a dot to represent an entire city).
Non-renewable resource. A finite resource that cannot be replaced once it is used up (e.g., petroleum, minerals).
North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). A trade agreement between Canada, the United States, and Mexico that became law in 1993. The main purpose of NAFTA is to facilitate and increase trade among the three countries.

Opinion. A belief or conclusion held with confidence but not substantiated by positive knowledge or proof.
Opposition. In a parliamentary government, the principal party opposed to the party in power.

Pacific Rim. A term referring to the countries and economies bordering the Pacific Ocean. The Pacific Rim extends from Chile to Alaska on the east side and from New Zealand to Japan and Russia on the west side.
Parliament Buildings. The buildings in Ottawa where the Canadian Parliament meets.
Parties (political). Established political groups organized to promote and support principles and candidates for public office.
Patriots. Those in the American colonies who rebelled against the British during the American Revolution.
Physical feature. An aspect of a place or area that derives from the physical environment.
Pictorial symbols. Specific shapes or icons used on maps to identify such features as houses, schools, and airports.
Political deadlock. Inability to make decisions because of the disagreement of an equal number of voters.
Population density. The number of individuals occupying an area; calculated by dividing the number of people by the area they occupy.
Population distribution. The pattern of habitation in an area.
Premier. The head of the government of a province or territory of Canada.
Primary industries (resource industries). Industries that harvest raw materials or natural resources (e.g., agriculture, ranching, forestry, fishing, extraction of minerals and ores).
Primary sources. Artefacts and oral, print, media, or computer materials that are the earliest or first of a kind.
Prime Minister. The head of the government in Canada, and the leader of the party that is in power and that normally has the majority of the seats in the House of Commons.
Pull factors. In migration theory, the social, political, economic, and environmental attractions of new areas that draw people away from their previous locations.
Push factors. In migration theory, the social, political, economic, and environmental forces that drive people from their previous locations to search for new ones.

Raw material. The material that a manufacturing industry processes into a more finished state (e.g., crude oil to gasoline, trees to paper).
Reciprocity. A mutual or cooperative interchange of favours or privileges (e.g., the exchange of trade privileges between nations).
Refugee. A person who flees for safety from political upheaval or war to a foreign country and is unable to return home.
Region. An area of the earth having some characteristic or characteristics that distinguish it from other areas.
Relative location. The location of a place or region in relation to other places or regions (e.g., northwest or downstream).
Renewable resource. A resource that can be regenerated if used carefully (e.g., fish, timber).
Resources. The machines, workers, money, land, raw materials, and other things that can be used to produce goods and services. There are renewable, non-renewable, and flow resources.
Responsible government. A system of government in which the cabinet or executive branch is responsible to the wishes of an elected legislature.
Riding. The legislative district represented by a member of Parliament or a member of a provincial legislature.
Rights. Entitlements recognized and protected by the law.
Rupert's Land. A historical region of Canada consisting of all the land in the Hudson Bay drainage system, including part of the present-day Northwest Territories, most of the present-day Prairie provinces, and present-day northern Ontario and Quebec. The land was granted to the Hudson's Bay Company by Charles II in 1670 and sold to Canada in 1870.

Scale. On maps, the measurement that represents an actual distance on the earth's surface. Scattered settlement pattern. Settlement mainly in rural areas where houses are scattered in no apparent pattern. The amount of space between dwellings depends on the amount of land that is required to grow enough food for the family living in each dwelling.
Secondary industries (manufacturing industries). Industries that convert raw materials into finished industrial products (e.g., car manufacturing).
Secondary sources. Oral, print, media, and computer materials that are not primary or original.
Seigneurial system. A system in New France in which land was granted to nobles, the church, and military and civil officers.
Settlement pattern. The distribution and arrangement of individual buildings or of rural and urban centres.
Site. The specific physical features defining the location of a place.
Situation. The general location of a place in relation to other places or larger features.
Specialized agriculture. A large-scale production of one specific product (e.g., sugar cane, cotton, coffee).
Subsistence agriculture. A type of farming in which livestock is raised and crops are cultivated for local food and energy requirements rather than for sale.
Sustainable development. Development that meets the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs.

Technology. The application of knowledge to meet the goals and provide the goods and services desired by people.
Tertiary industries (service industries). Industries that provide services (e.g., banking, retailing, education) rather than products.
Thematic map. A map pertaining to one specific subject or theme.
Timeline. A graphical display of events or people in a chronological order.
Topographic map. A map whose primary purpose is to show the relief of the land through the use of contour lines or other methods.
Trade goods. Articles such as brass kettles, iron axe-heads, guns, coloured cloth, and glass beads offered by Europeans to First Nation peoples in exchange for furs and hides.
Traditional economic system. An economic system in which decisions are made on the basis of customs, beliefs, religion, habit, and so on.
Traditions. Elements of a culture passed down from generation to generation.
Trellis drainage. A pattern of river tributaries lying in the parallel valleys of a steeply folded region.

United Nations. An international organization formed in 1945 to promote peace and economic development.
Upper Canada. An early name for the land at the upstream end of the St. Lawrence River north of lakes Ontario and Erie. Upper Canada formed the southern part of the present-day province of Ontario.
Urbanization. A process in which there is an increase in the percentage of people living and/or working in urban places as compared to rural places.

Weather. The conditions of the atmosphere, including temperature, precipitation, wind, humidity, and cloud cover, at a specific place and time.

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