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Cultural diffusion is the spreading of ideas or products from one culture to another.

Direct diffusion of culture occurs when two distinct cultures are very close together. Over time, direct contact between the two leads to an intermingling of the cultures. Historically this occurred through trade, intermarriage, and sometimes warfare because members of the various cultures interacted with each other for long periods.

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**Cultural diffusion**, as first conceptualized by the in his influential 1940 paper //Stimulus Diffusion//, or **trans-cultural diffusion** in later reformulations, is used in cultural anthropology and cultural geography to describe the spread of [|cultural] items—such as ideas, styles, religions, technoliges, languages, etc.—between individuals, whether within a single culture or from one culture to another. It is distinct from the [|diffusion of innovations] within a single culture.
 * **Direct diffusion** is when two cultures are very close to each other, resulting in intermarriage, trade, and even warfare. An example of direct diffusion is between the United States and Canada, where the people living on the border of these two countries engage in hockey, which started in Canada, and baseball, which is popular in American culture.
 * **Forced diffusion** occurs when one culture subjugates (conquers or enslaves) another culture and forces its own customs on the conquered people. An example would be the forced chirstiton of the populations of the Americas by the Spanish, French, English and Portuguese.
 * **Indirect diffusion** happens when traits are passed from one culture through a middleman to another culture, without the first and final cultures ever being in direct contact. An example could be the presence of
 * [|food] in Canada, since a large territory (the United States) lies in between.


 * Cultural diffusion**, as first conceptualized by the [|Alfred L. Kroeber] in his influential 1940 paper //Stimulus Diffusion//, or **trans-cultural diffusion** in later reformulations, is used in [|cultural anthropology] and cultural geography.