Ch. 6: Subsistence Patterns, Environment, and Economics

Question 1

Horticulture

Answer 1

Small-scale crop cultivation characterized by the use of simple technology and the absence of irrigation.

Question 2

Hunting and gathering

Answer 2

A form of subsistence that depends on a combination of hunting, fishing, and gathering wild foods found in the natural environment.

Question 3

Industrialization

Answer 3

Process that results in the economic change from home production of goods to large-scale mechanized factory production.

Question 4

Intensive agriculture

Answer 4

A form of commodity production that requires intensive working of the land with plows and draft animals and the use of techniques of soil and water control.

Question 5

Neolithic revolution

Answer 5

A stage in human cultural evolution (beginning around 10,000 years ago) characterized by the transition from hunting and gathering to the domestication of plants and animals.

Question 6

Nomadism

Answer 6

The movement pattern of pastoralists that involves the periodic migration of human populations in search of food or pasture for livestock.

Question 7

Patoralism

Answer 7

A food-getting strategy based on animal husbandry; found in regions of the world that are generally unsuited for agriculture.

Question 8

Shifting cultivation (Swidden cultivation, slash-and-burn method)

Answer 8

A form of plant cultivation in which seeds are planted in fertile soil prepared by cutting and burning the natural growth; relatively short periods of cultivation are followed by longer fallow periods.

Question 9

Transhumance

Answer 9

The movement pattern of pastoralists in which some of the men move livestock seasonally.

Question 10

Carrying capacity

Answer 10

The maximum number of people in a given society can support, given the available resources.