The shared way of life of a group of people Culture The shared way of life of a group of people

Becoming Civilized The transformation from a nomadic hunter and gatherer society to a one that is sedentary and built cities required the development of agriculture. The cultural hearth of farming is found in Mesopotamia and the Fertile Crescent of the Middle East, where the world’s fist civilizations formed.

Cultural Divergence When cultures stay separate, do not mix, or even move even further apart. Those cultures are often very different and opposed. Ex:-India’s partition into Hindu India and Muslim Pakistan Arab Israeli conflict

Cultural convergence When multiple cultures blend and mix together Globalization leads to cultures coming more into contact with each other through immigration and trade. Ex: the American melting pot, Sikhism blends Hinduism and Islam, Olympic games, etc.

Ethnic Group Based on shared culture and national origin, not necessarily race

Assimilation When immigrants give up their old culture and adapt the new way of live Starts with learning the language Leads to integration into mainstream culture

Ethnocentrism The believe that ones culture is better than others. Can lead to racism and intolerance

Multiculturalism The peaceful coexistence of cultures next to each other Respecting to be different Minority rights in a democracy

Innovation A new invention with the potential to change society and culture drastically

World Languages

Language Family: A group of broadly related languages with a shared common origin Dialect: A local version the same language. Two people of different dialects should be able to understand each other if they speak the same language Dialects are in decline because of national media, more trade and travel, as well as the global internet.

Some major language families Romance: Italian, Spanish, Portuguese and French are rooted in Latin from the Ancient Roman Empire Germanic: English, German, Dutch, Danish, Swedish, and Norwegian are spoken in Northern/ Central Europe Slavic: Russian, Polish, Czech, etc are found in Eastern Europe.

Romance and Germanic languages have diffused to many countries of the world during the age of European colonization. British Empire and English, Spanish Empire, Portuguese in Brazil, French in Quebec etc.

Swahili Africa has a large diversity of native local languages Swahili developed as a common second languages for merchants traveling to be able to communicate across cultural boundaries, similar to English as today’s international language