Culture
the behaviors and belied characteristics of a particular group
Cultural Landscape
a geographic area the includes cultural resources and natural resources associated with the interactions between nature and human behavior
Sequent-Occupance
notion that successful societies leave their cultural imprints on a place each contributing to the cumulative cultural landscape
Carl Sauer
Argued that cultural landscapes should be the focus of human geography
Derwent Whittlesey
Coined sequent-occupance
Irredenta
a region that is related ethically/historically to one country, but is ruled by another
Irredentism
policy of cultural extension and potential political expansion aimed at a national group living in a neighboring country
Language
means of communicating by sounds and/or symbols
Franglais
terms or expressions borrowed from the English language, A term used by the French for English words that have entered the French language.
Culture Hearth
place of origin of a major culture
Civilization
a society in an advanced stage of development
Cold War (1945-1991)
period of time after WWII where nuclear threats and confrontation were high between the USA and USSR, rather than actual warfare
Dialect
the language/vocabulary of a specific group of people
Colonialism
attempt by one country (usually hegemonic power) to establish settlements and to impose its economic and cultural principles in another country
Hegemonic Power
one main power controlling everything else
Imperialism
policy of extending rule over other countries
Balkanization
process of division of a region/state into smaller regions/states that are often hostile with each other
Ideograms
a character that indicates the meaning of a thing without indicating the sounds to say it (e.g. - Chinese, Korean, Russian)
Mesopotamia
site of several ancient civilizations in present day Iraq
Mesoamerica
site of several ancient civilizations in present day Mexico and Central America
Ottoman Empire
Muslim empire that controlled southeastern Europe, the Middle East, and most of North Africa between the 16th - 18th centuries
Supranationalism
method of decision making in multi-national political communities
Carrying Capacity
population size an environment can sustain/take care of
Cultural (Spatial) Diffusion
the spread of ideas, knowledge or innovation from its origin to other cultures and areas where they are adopted
Expansion
an idea or innovation developed in a source area, remain strong there, and also spreading (a type of diffusion)
Contagious
nearly all adjacent individuals are affected (a type of diffusion)
Hierarchical
main channel of diffusion is some segment of those who are susceptible to or adopting what is being diffused (a type of diffusion)
Stimulus
an idea of innovation is not immediately adopted, yet does have an impact (a type of diffusion)
Relocation Diffusion
requires the actual movement of individuals who have already adopted the idea or innovation and carry it to a new location where they disseminate it (a type of diffusion)
Migrant
the idea or innovation loses its strength/population at the site of the origin (a type of diffusion)
Accultration
process in which one culture substantially changes through interaction with another (one-way transfer)
Transcultration
two-way exchange of culture traits between societies in close contact
Syncretism
two cultures come together and create a brand new culture
Time-Distance Decay
the further from it's source/longer it takes, the less likely the innovation is to be adopted
Culture Barriers
prevailing attitudes and/or taboos
Culture v. Ethnicity
culture is learned, ethnicity is cultural history & lifestyles
Devolution
process where regions in a state demand and gain political strength and growing autonomy at the expense of a central government
Lingua Franca
common language used by speakers of different languages
Antecedent
preceding in time or order
Subsequent
following in time or order
Superimposed
on or above something else (layers)
Relict
surviving remnants of something when most all of it is gone
Boundaries
a line determining the limits of something
Prorupt
burst through (a type of boundary)
Elongated
stretched in length (a type of boundary)
Fragmented
disconnected/broken (a type of boundary)
Perforated
series of small holes (a type of boundary)
Compact
compressed (a type of boundary)
Nation-State
people with a shared identity and culture (a nation) who possess their own territory and state government (e.g. - Aboriginal nation-state government within a country) (a type of boundary)
Nation
grouping of people who share history, culture, language or ethnic origin, often possessing/seeking its own government. (a type of boundary)
State
territory occupied within a nation that has the authority to make rules/govern its people (a type of boundary)
Cultural Landscape
The distinct imprint of cultures on the land
Cultural Hearths
Several sources, crucibles, of cultural growth and achievement developed in Eurasia, Africa, and America.
Cultural Perception
Culture groups have varying ideas and attitudes about space, place, and territory.
Cultural Environments
This area deals with the role of culture in human understanding, use, and alteration of the environment.
Political Ecology
And area of inquiry fundamentally concerned with the environmental consequences of dominant political-economic arrangements and understandings.
assimilation
The taking into or absorption of cultural traits
culture trait
A single attribute of culture
culture complex
A combination of traits not necessarily defined to a culture
culture system
Various culture complexes may have traits in common, making it possible to group them together
culture realm
Grouping together of cultural systems
Agricultural revolution
The time when human beings first domesticated plants, believed to have happened in the FERTILE CRESCENT, in a region close to the Tigris and the Euphrates rivers.
deglaciation
the gradual melting away of a glacier from the surface of a landmass
Fertile Crescent
Where the Agricultural revolution occurred, near Tigris and Euphrates.
Holocene epoch
The most recent 12,000 years of Earth history: the warm phase following the ice age.
interglaciation
sustained warming phase between glaciations during an ice age
Late Cenozoic Ice Age
The last great ice age that ended 10,000 years ago, lasting for the past 2 million years.
Paleolithic
The earliest and longest stage of the Stone Age,
plant domestication
when people cultivate or "care for" crops for agriculture
social stratification
the condition of being arranged in social strata or classes within a group
Stone Age
The period where people used Stone tools
Ziggurat
The tallest structure in Mesopotamia; a tower of the the great temple
dialect
the usage or vocabulary that is characteristic of a specific group of people
Indo-European
predecessor language of English and most of the European languages, LAAAAAAAARGEST family
isogloss
A boundary that separates regions in which different language usages predominate
language family
A collection of languages related to each other through a common ancestor long before recorded history.
language group
A collection of languages within a branch that share a common origin in the relatively recent past and display relatively few differences in grammar and vocabulary.
language subfamily
a smaller group of related languages within a language family
linguistic diversification
variety of different languages being spoken
preliterate society
a society that can speak a language but cannot write it
standard language
The form of a language used for official government business, education, and mass communications.
Amerind
the oldest, largest, and most widely distributed superfamily spread from the shores of Hudson Bay to the coast of Tierra del Fuego
Austronesian
the family of languages spoken in Australia and Formosa and Malaysia and Polynesia
conquest theory
the theory that early Proto-Indo-European speakers spread westward on horseback, overpowering earlier inhabitants and beginning the diffusion and differentiation of Indo-European tounges
deep reconstruction
process by which an extinct language is recreated
Eskimo-Aleut
Family of languages spoken by those concentrated along arctic and near-Arctic shore.
Fijian
a discrete Malayo-Polynesian offshoot spoken in Fiji
Malayo-Polynesian
The forerunner of a large number of languages, a subfamily of Austronesian
Na-Dene
Family diffused in NW Canada and Alaska, second oldest & largest family. Less widely diffused.
Nostratic
hypothesized ancestral language of Proto-Indo-European, as well as other ancestral language families.
Polynesian
the language of New Zealand's Maori people, also from the Austro-Tai family
sound shifts
The changing of a word over different languages
creolization
refers to the process in which a pidgin becomes the native language for a given group
Esperanto
A made-up Latin-based language, which its European proponents in the early twentieth century hoped would become a global language. (failed, pl0x. Less QQ, more piu piu)
lingua franca
a common language used among speakers of different languages for the purposes of trade and commerce, "language of the land
monolingual states
countries in which only one language is spoken
multilingual states
a state that uses many languages
official language
The language adopted for use by the government for the conduct of business and publication of documents.
pidgin
a lingua franca that has been simplified and modified through contact with other languages
toponymy
The study of place names
animal domestication
When animals are tamed and used for food and profit.
Ottoman empire
Centered in Constantinople, the Turkish imperial state that conquered large amounts of land in the Middle East, North Africa, and the Balkans, and fell after World War I.
Artifacts
Tools and instruments used by a culture
Mentifacts
The central, enduring elements, ideas and beliefs
Sociofacts
links between individuals and groups that unite a culture, family structure and political, educational and religious institutions.
Mesoamerica
Central America
Andean America
Southwest coast of South America
West Africa
[North] Western most region of Africa
Nile Valley
Surrounding areas of the Nile River/Egypt
Indus Valley
Western border of India
Ganges Delta
South Asia/Western border of India/Bengal
Wie/Huang Rivers
Surrounding areas of the Wie and Huang Rivers/East China
Franz Boas and Alfred Kroeber
Coined environmental possibilism
Weber
Coined environmental determinism
Torsten Hagerstrand
another famous geographer that wrote about cultural diffusion
Agricultural Origins and Dispersals
Written by Sauer in 1952
ethnocentrism
The practice of judging another culture by the standards of one's own culture
cultural relativism
The practice of judging another culture by its own standards (putting aside his her cultural preferences)
universalizing religions
Religions that appeal to everyone, regardless of where they live
ethnic religions
Appeal primarily to one group living in one place
Branches
Large and basic division of a religion
Denominations
Divisions of branches that unite local groups in a single administrative body
Sects
Relatively small groups that do not affiliate with the more mainstream denominations
shamanism
An ethnic religion is which people follow their shaman, a religious leader and teacher believed to connect with the supernatural
animism
The belief that inanimate objects have spirits
agriculture theory
the theory which states that with increased food supply and increased population, speakers from the hearth of Indo-European languages migrated into Europe
Renfrew/Anatolian model
a belief by Colin Renfrew that argues that the first speakers of Proto-Indian-European lived 2,000 years before the Kurgans, in eastern Anatolia, part of present-day Turkey