Chapter 7 Getting Food Key Terms l agriculture
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Chapter 7, Getting Food Key Terms
l agriculture A form of food production that requires intensive working of the land with plows and draft animals and the use of techniques of soil and water control. l carrying capacity The maximum number of people a given society can support given the available resources.
l food collecting A form of subsistence that relies on the procurement of animal and plant resources found in the natural environment. l horticulture A form of small-scale crop cultivation characterized by the use of simple technology and the absence of irrigation.
l hunting and gathering A food-getting strategy involving the collection of naturally occurring plants and animals. l industrialization A process resulting in the economic change from home production of goods to large-scale mechanized factory production.
l neolithic revolution A stage in human cultural evolution (around 10, 000 years ago) characterized by the transition from hunting and gathering to the domestication of plants and animals. l nomadism A lifestyle involving the periodic movement of human populations in search of food or pasture for livestock.
l optimal foraging theory Suggests that foragers will take the animals and plant species that tend to maximize their caloric return for the time they spend searching, killing, collecting, and preparing l pastoralism A food-getting strategy based on animal husbandry found in regions of the world that are generally unsuited for agriculture.
l peasantry Rural peoples, usually on the lowest rung of society’s ladder, who provide urban inhabitants with farm products but have little access to wealth or political power. l shifting cultivation 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 periods of fallow.
l social functions of cattle The use of livestock by pastoralists not only for food and its byproducts but also for purposes such as marriage, religion, and social relationships. l transhumance Movement pattern of pastoralists in which some of the men move livestock seasonally while the other members of their group, including women and children, stay in permanent settlements.
