Grade 7 Social Science key terms

A document, object, image, or recording created by someone who witnessed or took part in an event at the time it happened. Examples include letters, diaries, laws, coins, and photographs.

An account written later by someone who did not experience the event firsthand, often interpreting primary sources. Textbooks, encyclopedias, and scholarly articles are common examples.

A slant or preference in how information is selected or presented, which can make a source one-sided. Historians check who made a source, for what audience, and for what purpose.

Confirming a claim by comparing it with information from other independent sources. When several unrelated sources agree, the evidence is generally considered stronger and more reliable.

The arrangement of events in the order they occurred in time. Timelines and BCE/CE dating help historians show sequence and identify causes that came before their effects.

A reasoning pattern linking why something happened to what resulted from it. Historians distinguish long-term causes, immediate triggers, and consequences when explaining events such as revolutions or migrations.

A historical thinking skill that asks what stayed the same and what shifted across a period. It prevents treating history as a single break and helps compare life before and after an event.

Dividing the past into named blocks of time, such as the Middle Ages or the Early Modern Era, to organize study. The boundaries are chosen by historians and can be debated.

The position or perspective from which a person writes or speaks, shaped by role, culture, and experience. Identifying it helps readers judge what a source emphasizes or leaves out.

A large, organized society with cities, specialized workers, government, and shared culture. Writing, trade networks, and social classes often appear in the civilizations studied in world history.

An independent political unit made up of a city and the farmland around it, with its own government. Ancient Sumerian cities and Greek poleis such as Athens are classic examples.

A large political unit in which one ruler or government controls many territories and peoples. Empires often expand through conquest and must manage diversity through law, roads, or local officials.

The spread of ideas, technologies, religions, or customs from one society to another through trade, migration, or conquest. It changes both the receiving and the giving cultures.

A network of overland trade routes linking China, Central Asia, the Middle East, and Europe. Goods moved along it, but so did religions, technologies, and diseases.

A period of renewed interest in classical Greek and Roman learning that began in Italian cities around the 1300s. It produced new art, humanist scholarship, and printing technology.

A Renaissance outlook that emphasized human potential, reason, and the study of classical texts. It encouraged education in history, poetry, and moral philosophy rather than only religious subjects.

The 1500s movement that challenged the authority of the Roman Catholic Church and led to new Protestant churches. Printing and growing literacy helped reform ideas spread quickly across Europe.

A machine that reproduced text and images quickly using movable type, developed in Europe in the 1400s. It lowered the cost of books and sped up the spread of new ideas.

The widespread transfer of plants, animals, people, and diseases between the Americas and Europe, Africa, and Asia after 1492. It reshaped diets and populations on both sides of the Atlantic.

A system in which a monarch claims unlimited authority, often justified by divine right. Louis XIV of France is a frequently studied example of a ruler who centralized power this way.

The belief that a ruler's authority comes directly from God and therefore cannot be limited by subjects. It was used to defend absolute monarchy in early modern Europe.

An 1700s European intellectual movement that applied reason to questions of government, rights, and knowledge. Thinkers such as Locke and Montesquieu influenced later democratic revolutions.

Rights that thinkers like John Locke argued belong to every person by birth, such as life, liberty, and property. Governments, in this view, exist to protect them.

The idea that people agree to obey a government in exchange for protection of their rights. If rulers break the agreement, the people may change the government.

The distance north or south of the equator, measured in degrees. Latitude strongly influences climate because it determines how directly sunlight strikes a place.

The distance east or west of the prime meridian, measured in degrees. Lines of longitude converge at the poles and are used together with latitude to fix location.

The typical weather patterns of a region averaged over many years. It is shaped by latitude, elevation, ocean currents, and distance from water.

Weather is the short-term condition of the atmosphere, while climate is the long-term average pattern. A single cold week does not disprove a warming climate trend.

A large region defined by its climate and the plant and animal communities adapted to it, such as desert, rainforest, or tundra. Latitude and rainfall are key controls.

A method of showing the curved surface of Earth on a flat map. Every projection distorts some combination of shape, area, distance, or direction.

Conditions that drive people away from a place, such as conflict or drought, and conditions that attract them elsewhere, such as jobs or safety. They explain migration patterns.

The average number of people living in a given area, usually per square kilometer or mile. It reveals where settlement clusters, though it hides uneven distribution within a region.

The growing share of a population living in cities, often driven by rural-to-urban migration. Rapid urbanization can strain housing, sanitation, and transportation systems.

A path along which goods, people, and ideas move between regions, by land or sea. Control of important routes has often brought wealth and political power.

A territory ruled by a distant country, which often exploits its resources and labor. Colonies usually lack full self-government and serve the interests of the controlling power.

A system in which citizens vote on laws and policies themselves rather than electing representatives. Ancient Athens used a limited form of it, excluding women, slaves, and foreigners.

A form of government in which citizens elect representatives to make decisions on their behalf. The Roman Republic and the United States are common examples studied in civics.

The principle that political power ultimately belongs to the people. It underlies constitutions, elections, and the idea that governments can be dissolved if they lose consent.

Dividing government authority among branches, such as legislative, executive, and judicial, so no single group holds all power. Montesquieu argued this protects liberty.

Powers that let each branch of government limit the others, such as a veto or judicial review. The goal is to prevent any branch from abusing its authority.

The principle that everyone, including leaders, must obey the law and that laws are applied consistently. It stands in contrast to rule by an individual's arbitrary will.

A written or unwritten framework that sets out the structure of government, its powers, and limits. It often lists citizens' rights and the process for making and changing laws.

The basic economic problem that resources are limited while wants are unlimited. It forces individuals and societies to make choices about what to produce and consume.

The value of the next best alternative given up when a choice is made. It applies to individuals, businesses, and governments deciding how to use scarce resources.

A decision to gain one benefit at the cost of giving up another. Analyzing trade-offs helps people compare the costs and benefits of competing options.

The resources used to make goods and services: land (natural resources), labor, capital, and entrepreneurship. How much of each a place has shapes what it produces.

The relationship in which sellers offer goods at various prices and buyers want them at various prices. Their interaction tends to set market prices and quantities.

A system in which private individuals and businesses make most economic decisions through buying and selling. Prices guide production and distribution with limited government direction.

A system in which the government owns or controls key resources and decides what to produce. Production quotas and central planning replace market prices as the main guide.

An economic system combining private ownership and markets with government regulation and public services. Most modern countries, including the United States, are mixed economies.

The voluntary exchange of goods and services between people, regions, or countries. It allows each side to specialize in what it produces best and obtain the rest.

Focusing production on a limited range of goods or tasks to become more efficient. It encourages trade because a specialist must exchange for other needed goods.

An early modern economic policy aiming to increase a nation's wealth by exporting more than it imports and by controlling colonial trade. Colonies supplied raw materials and markets.