Ch 5, L1-2 Geography

culture

a learned system of shared beliefs that guide a person's behavior

ethnic groups

cultural groups of people who share learned beliefs and practices

multicultural

a mixture of different cultures within the same country

race

a group of people who share inherited physical or biological traits

acculturation

the process of cultural changes that result from long term contact with another society

symbol

a word, shape, color, flag, or other sign that stands for something else

domestication

the growing of a plant or taming of an animal by a people for their own use

subsistence agriculture

a type of farming where farmers grow just enough food for themselves and their families

commercial agriculture

a type of farming where farmers produce food for sale

civilization

a highly complex culture with growing cities and economic activity

demography

branch of geography that studies human populations

population density

average number of people living within a sq. mile or sq. kilometer

urbanization

movement of people from farms and rural areas to cities

birthrate

annual number of births per 1,000 people

death rate

annual number of deaths per 1,000 people

economy

system that includes all activities that people do to earn a living - producing, buying, selling, and trading goods and services

primary industries

economic activities that directly involve natural resources or raw materials, i.e. farming, mining

secondary industries

economic activities that change raw materials created by primary industries into finished products

tertiary industries

economic activities that handle goods that are ready to be sold to consumers

quaternary industries

economic activities that include specialized skills or knowledge and work mostly with information

gross national product (GNP)

value of all goods and services that a country produces in one year within or outside the country

gross domestic product (GDP)

value of all goods and services produced within a country

developed countries

industrialized countries that have strong secondary, tertiary, and quaternary industries

literacy rate

percentage of people who can read and write

developing countries

countries in different stages of moving toward development

free enterprise

economic system in which people, not government, decide what to make, sell, or buy

democracy

political system in which a country's people elect their leaders and rule by majority

communism

ecomonic and political system in which the government owns or controls almost all of the means of production, industries, wages, and prices