Term | Definition |
Culture | The way of life that 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 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 countrys 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. |
confederaition | 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 systen of authorization 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. |
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 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 earths 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 a 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 little technology often located in or near peoples 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 acquisition, processing, and sharing of info such as education or research |
export | an item that is sent out of the country for sale |
import | an item that is brought into the country for sale |