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World Geography
Chapter 3 and 4 Vocabulary
Term | Definition |
---|---|
Culture | The way of life that distinguishes people, for example, government, language, religion, customs, and beliefs. |
Population Density | The average number of people living in a given area. |
Birthrate | The number of live births each year per 1,000 people. |
Immigrant | A person who moves into a country. |
Emigrant | A person who leaves a country to live elsewhere. |
Urbanization | The growth of city population. |
Rural | Of, or characteristic of, the countryside. |
Culture Hearth | A place in which important ideas begin and thereafter spread to surrounding cultures. |
Cultural Convergence | The contact and interaction of one culture with another. |
Diffusion | The process by which a cultural element is transmitted from one group or individual to another. |
Cultural Divergence | The restriction of a culture from outside influences. |
Sovereignty | A country's freedom and power to decide on policies and actions. |
Unitary System | A system of government in which one central government holds most of the political power. |
Federation | A government structure in which some powers are given to the national government and other powers are reserved for more local governments. |
Confederation | A system of government in which individual political units keep their sovereignty but give limited power to a central government. |
Authoritarian | Descriptive of a system of government in which the leaders hold all political power. |
Dictatorship | A system of government in which absolute power is held by a small group or one person. |
Totalitarianism | A system of governemnt in which a central authority controls all aspects of society. |
Monarchy | A system of authoritarian government headed by a monarch-a king, queen, shah, or sultan-whose position is usually inherited. |
Democracy | A system of government in which the people are invested with the power to choose their leaders and determine government policy. |
Traditional Economy | An economic system in which families produce goods and services for their own use, with little surplus and exchange of goods; also known as a subsistence economy. |
Market Economy | An econmic system in which decisions about production, price, snd other economic factors are determined by the law of supply and demand. |
Command Economy | An economic system that is controlled by a single central government. |
Natural Resource | A material in the natural environment that people value and use to satisfy their needs. |
Renewable Resource | A natural resource that the environment continues to supply or replace as it is used. |
Nonrenewable Resource | A natural resource that cannot be replaced once it is used. |
Fossil Fuel | Any one of several nonrenewable mineral resources formed from the remains of ancient plants and animals and used for fuels. |
Nuclear Energy | A type of energy produced by fission-the splitting of uranium atoms in a nuclear reactor, releasing stored energy. |
Water Power | Energy produced from falling water to move machinery or generate electricity. |
Geothermal Energy | Energy produced from the earth's intense interior heat. |
Solar Energy | Energy replaced by the sun. |
Primary Economic Activity | An economic activity that takes or uses natural resources directly, such as fishing or mining. |
Subsistence Farming | Farming that provides only enough for the needs of a family or village. |
Commercial Farming | The raising of crops and livestock for sale in markets. |
Cottage Industry | A small-scale manufacturing operation using little technology, often located in or near people's homes. |
Commercial Industry | A large-scale manufacturing operation that employs many people and produces large quantities of goods. |
Tertiary Economic Activity | An economic activity in which people do not directly gather or process raw material but pursue activities that serve others; service industry. |
Quaternary Economic Activity | An economic activity that focuses on the acquisition, processing, and sharing of information, such as education or research. |
Export | An item that is sent out of the country for sale. |
Import | An item brought into the country for sale. |
Secondary Economic Activity | An economic activity in which people use raw materials to produce or manufacture new products of greater value. |