 Culture is the way of life of a group of people who share similar beliefs and customs.

 Dialects- A local form of a language that may have a distinct vocabulary and pronunciation

 Major Religions  Judaism › Abraham  Islam › Muhammad  Hinduism › Unknown  Christianity › Jesus Christ  Buddhism › Siddhartha Gautama

 A Social group develops to help the people of a culture work together to meet basic needs. In all cultures, the family is the most important group. Most cultures are also made up of social classes – groups of people ranked according to wealth,  education, or ancestry. An ethnic group is made of people who share a common language, history, place of origin, or a combination of these elements.

 Economic System—The method used to answer three questions:  1. What goods and services to produce  2. How to produce them  3. Who will receive them

 Types of Government: › Democracy---Power is held by the people › Autocracy– The leader rules by force › Monarchy----- a government led by a king or queen by a ruling family

 To organize their understanding of cultural development, geographers divide the Earch into culture regions – these include countries that have certain traits in common, such as government, economic systems, social groups, histories, religions, art, etc.

 Cultural Diffusion—The Process of spreading ideas, languages, or customs from one culture to another  Globalization—The development of a worldwide culture with an independent economy