World Cultures Flashcards
traditional economy
An economic system in which the basics of subsistence are met.
command economy
An economic system in which a central authority plans the economic decisions.
market economy
An economic system in which individuals and businesses make choices.
mixed economy
The actual economic system used by most countries, it blends individual choice with central control.
democracy
a system of government by the whole population or all the eligible members of a state, typically through elected representatives
authoritarian government/dictatorship
A system of government in which all power is held by a single person or small group.
unitary system
a system of political organization in which most or all of the governing power resides in a centralized government, in contrast to a federal state
federal system
A system of government in which power is distributed between central, regional, and local government.
Bureaucracy
A system of government in which appointed, not elected, officials run the government.
Pharaoh
a ruler in ancient Egypt.
Economics
The system of collecting and distributing the resources of a society.
Papyrus
A precursor to paper, this writing surface was made with the leaves of a water plant.
hieroglyphic
writing consisting of hieroglyphs used by Egyptians.
Government
A system for organizing and controlling a culture.
Monarchy
Monarchy is a political system in which supreme authority is vested in the monarch, an individual ruler who functions as head of state.
Atlantic slave trade
A several hundred year system in which Europeans would capture, or buy, indigenous African people and then transport these human beings across the Atlantic to work on colonies.
Coloniasm
A system of government in which one country controls another through settlers and resource extraction.
apartheid
The Apartheid (1948 to 1994) in South Africa was the racial segregation under the all-white government of South Africa
artifacts
Artifacts are objects made by human beings, such as tools or weapons.
Fossils
Fossils are hardened remains of living things that lived a long time ago.
hunter-gatherers
A nomadic lifestyle in which food is acquired by hunting, fishing and gathering wild plants.
Deforestation
the action of clearing a wide area of trees.
desertification
The process in which once fertile land becomes barren.
Metacognition
Big brain! To think about thinking.
culture
A way of life, shared by a group of people.
identity
The collection of traits that make individuals unique.
language
An organized system of communication.
religion
A method for making sense of the origins and purpose of human existence.
art
The creative expression of human imagination.
customs
The rules and common way of doing activities in a culture.
traditions
A custom that has been done for a long period of time and is meant to pass on meaning.
cultural diffusion
The spread of cultural traits from one location to another.
geography
the study of the physical features of the earth and its atmosphere, and of human activity as it affects and is affected by these, including the distribution of populations and resources, land use, and industries.
location
a particular place or position.
relative location
the position of something relative to another landmark.
absolute location
the precise geographic coordinates of a specific point on the Earth’s surface, usually expressed in terms of latitude and longitude.
place
The collection of human and physical features of a location. Also, the identity of a location.
region
an area or division, especially part of a country or the world having definable characteristics but not always fixed boundaries.
movement
The spread of people, goods, and/or ideas from one location to another.
HEI (human-environment interaction)
The ways in which people both change, and are changed by, the environment around them.
political map
a type of map that represents political divisions, or human-created boundaries, of the world, continents and major geographic regions.
physical map
a type of map that shows the physical features and sometimes elevation of a particular area or region in a two-dimensional format.
special purpose map/thematic map
They highlight features, data, or concepts, and these data may be qualitative, quantitative, or both.
stereotype
A widely believed, but incomplete, assumption about a group of people’s identity.
identifiers
a person or thing that identifies something.
Indigenous
The species of organisms originally from a specific location.
surplus
Having more of something than is needed.
Bantu Migration
The spread of the Bantu people from their indigenous home in central Africa to eastern and southern Africa.
Songhai Empire
the third Songhai empire, great trading state of West Africa (flourished 15th–16th century), centered on the middle reaches of the Niger River
Mali empire
the second Established by King Sundiata Keita, known as the “Lion King,” the Mali Empire brought wealth, culture, and Islamic faith to West Africa.
Kingdom of Ghana
the first a West African classical to post-classical era western-Sahelian empire based in the modern-day southeast of Mauritania and western Mali.
Multiculturism
The presence of several different cultures within a single country, place, or region.
paleolithic era
The Paleolithic Age, meaning Old Stone Age, is the period of prehistory from approximately 3.3 million years ago to around 12,000 years ago, during which hominins (early humans) developed the use of basic stone tools and artifacts (man-made objects).
