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Ch. 3 & 4 Vocab.
Term | Definition |
---|---|
Culture. | The way that life distinguishes a 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 populations. |
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 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 government 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 chose 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 economic system in which decisions about production, price, and 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 resupply or replace as it as it is used. |
Nonrenewable resource. | A natural resource that cannot be replaced once it is used. |
Fossil fuel. | Any one of the several nonrenewable mineral resources formed from the remains of ancient plants and animals and used for fuel. |
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 produced 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. |
Secondary economic activity. | An economic activity in which people use raw materials to produce or manufacture new products of greater value. |
Cottage industry. | A small-scale manufacturing operation using very 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 materials but pursue activities that serve others; service industry. |
Quaternary economic activity. | An economic activity that focuses on the aquisition, processing, and sharing of information, such as education or research. |
Export. | An item that is sent out of a country for sale. |
Import. | An item that is brought into the country for sale. |