Chapter 10 Flashcards
Define agriculture
Deliberate modification of earths surface. Farming
Define crop
Any plant cultivated by people
What are the characteristics of a hunter-gatherer society?
- Small groups
- Men hunt, women gather berries and nuts
- Based on animals migration patterns and seasonal growth of plants
How many hunter-gatherers are there today? Where do they live?
- A quarter million, less than .005%
- Spinifex=Australia’s Great Victorian deserts, -Sentinelese= India’s Andaman Island
- Bushmen=Botswana+Namibia
What was the agricultural rev.?
When humans first domesticated plants+animals, and didn’t rely entirely on hunting+gathering
Define subsistence agriculture
Producing food primarily for eating by the farmers family
Define commercial agriculture
Producing food for selling and making a profit
What are the three main features that separate commercial agriculture from subsistence agriculture?
- The % of farmers in the labor force
- The use of machinery
- Farm size
Define food security
Access to safe and nutritious food in order to have a healthy life
How much of the world does not have food security?
1/8
Define undernourishment
Not having enough food to meet dietary needs
How many people in the world suffer from undernourishment? Where are those places?
870 million people- 99% in LDC’s. #1. India (225 mill) #2. China (130 mill) 1/4th of people in Sub-Saharan Africa
What is pastoral nomadism? What type of climate is it usually found in?
- A form of subsistence agriculture based on the herding of domesticated animals
- Dry climates, where planting crops is impossible
What regions of the world are currently occupied by this practice?
Central+SE Asia, North Africa
How do pastoral nomads obtain grain (many ways)
- Trade w/t sedentary farmers, (trade animals)
- Women+children plant crops, might hire workers to practice sedentary agri. for grain+protection, sow grain in recently flooded areas, return later, remain in 1 place, cultivate the land when rain is copious
What animals are chosen? And where? (in pastoral nomadism)
Camel, sheep, goats= North Africa+SW Asia
Horse= Central Asia
Describe territoriality among pastoral nomads
Every group controls a piece of territory and will invade another groups territory only in a emergency or if war is declared. Goal of groups:Control a territory large enough to contain the forage+water needed for survival. Amt. of land=based on wealth+power
What is transhumance?
Seasonal migration of livestock b/w mountains and lowland pasture areas. Heavy in: China, Kazakhstan, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Syria. several in SW Asia
In what way do modern gov.’s currently threaten pastoral nomadism?
Gov.’s force groups to give up pastoral nomadism so they can use the land for transportation, technology, profit, mining, petroleum. Forcing groups to roam in fixed boundaries
In what climate does shifiting cultivation predominate?
Tropical
Identify the two distinctive features of shifting cultivation
- Farmers clear land for planting by slashing vegetation+burning the debris
- Farmers grow crops on a clear field for only a few yrs. until soil nutrients are depleted, then leave it fallow for many yrs. so the soil can recover
What is swidden?
The cleared area before planting
What is potash?
Potassium, the only fertilizer from burning debris
How long are swiddens used?
3 yrs. or less
How is land owned in a typical village that practices shifting cultivation?
- Land was owned by a village instead of each resident
- The chief/ruling council would allocate a patch of land to each family and allowed them to keep the output
What % of the world’s land area is devoted to shifting cultivation? What % of the worlds people work it?
- 1/4th
- less than 5%
What is meant by “intensive”
Farmers must work intensively to subsist on a parcel of land
Where is intensive subsistence agri. practiced? Why there?
East, South+SE Asia b/c it is densely populated, farms are much smaller, no waste of land alternate land is used
What is “wet rice”
Rice planted on dry land in a nursery and then moved to a flooded field to promote growth
What is “sawah”? What is a “paddy”?
- A flooded field in the Austronesian language, widely spoken in Indonesia+Java
- Paddy:Malay word for wet rice, Europeans+NA’s use it often but it is incorrect
What is double cropping?
Harvesting two crops per year from one field
Where is double cropping possible? Where is it not?
- Warm winters-Southern China+Taiwan
- Not places w/t dry winters, rare in India
In areas of intensive subsistence agri. where wet rice is not dominant, what is the major crop?
Wheat, then barley
How are multiple harvests made possible in these less mild regions?
Crop rotation, the practice of rotating use of different fields from crop to crop each yr. to avoid exhausting the soil
Where is mixed crop and livestock farming common?
U.S.-West of the Appalachians and in much of Europe from France to Russia
Describe the irony b/w the amt. of land devoted to crops vs. animals and the income generated by each in this region
Most of the crops are fed to animals rather than consumed directly by humans, gets most of the income from sale of animal products
How does this type of agri. allow farmers to move evenly “distribute their workload” (majority of income of farmers coming from animal products)
Fields require less attention in the winter than the spring, while livestock require full attention- reduces seasonal variation of income