World Regional Geography

Spring 2005

Chapter 10: Latin America

Common characteristics- language (Spanish or Portuguese,) developed, indigenous populations and cultures, colonial systems- relationships with Europe, social systems and classification, Roman Catholic religion, common economic development and within US sphere of influence (Monroe Doctrine.)

Regions	Population (millions)
Mexico and Central America	138
Caribbean Basin	33
Northern South America	115
Brazil	172
Southern South America	62

Biggest economies (in world middle bracket)- Brazil (8^th largest in world), Argentina and Mexico

Biggest Cities: Sao Paulo (Brazil) and Mexico City (Mexico)- both over 20 million

Basic Exports- minerals (copper, gold, tin and iron,) agriculture (coffee, fruits, cocoa) and oil. Drugs are a major export.

Basic geography- high coastal (2^nd highest) mountain range (Cordellerian- acts like Rockies on US West Coast,) Amazon River basin (world's largest river system,) world's largest tropical rain forest, numerous islands and one of driest deserts (Atacama Desert.) Diverse geography and climates dues to interaction between mountains, coast and river basins.

Regional Cultural History

Maya (200-900 AD)- Southern Mexico (Yucatan) and Central America, political system of city-states

Aztec (1100-1500 AD)- Empire with central rule, based in Tecnochtitlan., slavery was common, Empire throughout Mexico and middle America.

Inca (1400-1500 AD)- Based in Peru- from Columbia to Chile. Well-connected system, of roads and strong leadership. Language- Quechua

Spanish Colonization

By 1550, Spain/Portugal had conquered most of the region

Treaty of Tordesillas (1492)- demarcated land between Spain and Portugal

Spain centered in Cuba

Spanish Control- based upon a land grant system that gave total authority over an area to produce resources from mining and agriculture (encomienda (tribute) system.)

Hacienda- agricultural estate

Socioeconomic class system- peninsulares (Spanish-born, highest offices), Criollis (Spanish born in the colonies) and mestizos (mixed blood European and Native American.)

Portuguese Colonization

Based in Brazil and grew with expansion into Spanish territory. Portuguese were responsible for shipping of over 4 million slaves from Africa- more than any other colonial power. Portuguese Royal Family moved the monarchy and capital of Portugal to Rio de Janeiro during Napoleon's invasion. King Pedro I- crown Prince that returned to Brazil, claimed independence and made himself King in 1822. King Pedro II- ruled until 1889 with a great deal of economic expansion (coffee/rubber) and was overthrown by a military coup that established a Republic. Brazil encouraged a great deal of immigration from Germany, Italy and Japan.

Other European colonies- French in Hispaniola (Haiti/Dominican Republic) Britain in Jamaica and Trinidad, Belize and Guyana. Dutch in Suriname. US takes Cuba and Puerto Rico from Spain in 1898.

Independence- early 1800's. Mexico in 1821 (area from Texas to Panama) the new countries had poorly defined borders which has continued to cause conflict.

Natural Environment

Climate (Important)

Figure 10.6 Page 427

Middle America/Caribbean- hurricanes and topics (equatorial and summer rains) with a arid/semiarid corridor in north central Mexico. Many earthquakes (25 active volcanoes between Mexico and Columbia.)

South America- North is equatorial and summer rains. South is Mediterranean, with southeast coast like north east US and arid /semiarid.

Mountains- Andes mountains mark convergent plate margins.(20,000 ft.) Also contains the central Andes chains of the Cordillera Occidental (West) and Oriental (East.) The plateau in between is called the Altiplano. Pacific coast is made up of narrow coastal plains.

Plateaus and river basins dominate Brazil's geography. Three major basins include the Ornoco (Columbia and Venezuela), Amazon and Parana-Paraguay (southern Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay

Largest Rain forest - Amazon River Basin in Brazil.

Pampas- grasslands of central Argentina and Uruguay

Altitudinal Zonation- position along the Andes where mountain relief creates zones of vegetation ranging from equatorial to glacial (here altitude defines climate zones similar to latitude.)

Atacama Desert (central west coast)

Why is Atacama desert so dry?

http://geography.about.com/library/weekly/aa102698.htm

You have to see the National Geographic Article

http://magma.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0308/feature3/

Explore the Atacama- Interpret Satellite Photos

http://www.musc.edu/cando/geocam/atacama/atacama.html

Atacama Robotics Project (Carnegie Mellon)

http://www.ri.cmu.edu/projects/project_153.html
http://www-2.cs.cmu.edu/afs/cs/project/lri-13/www/atacama-trek/photo_gallery/MikePhotoComments.html

Natural Resources

Water- Amazon carries more than twice the next largest river (Congo)

Mineral and metal ores. Natural gas and oil

Soils- alluvial soils of Amazon basin and the pampas have good agricultural soils

Native American Impact upon the world

Crops- corn, beans, potatoes, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, chilies

Silver- influx upset the foundation of the Ottoman Empire's economy, based upon silver. Gives Spain the edge with gold, the new standard

Indian Givers

http://books.historywiz.org/moreinfo/indiangivers.htm

Jack Weatherford (wrote "Indian Givers")

http://www.macalester.edu/anthropology/weatherford.htm

North America

http://www.mu.edu/library/neh/general/index.htm

Environmental Problems

Tropical deforestation (very important web sites)

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Library/Deforestation/

http://eospso.gsfc.nasa.gov/ftp_docs/Deforestation.pdf

http://www.bsrsi.msu.edu/rfrc/deforestation.html

Good basics

http://darwin.bio.uci.edu/~sustain/bio65/lec10/b65lec10.htm#Brazil

Check out this hardwood plantation

http://tropicaltreefarms.com/

Soil erosion- major problem, especially where rain forest has been cleared,

Impacts coastal environments- coral (kills the ecosystem)

Air pollution- Mexico City (located in a bowl-shaped depression that traps pollutants.)

World Roles

Miami, Florida- Gateway to Central and South America- due to large Hispanic populations, air networks and sea ports.

PanAmericanism

http://www.partt.org/castro_significance.html

http://www.zmag.org/chomsky/year/year-c06-s02.html

Global Cities- Mexico and Sao Paulo (financial, cultural and business capital of Brazil)

Latin American Population Densities- mainly coastal, islands have high densities, Mexican distribution is through the Mexico City valley connecting both coasts,

Mexico

Second largest population (100 million) in the region (after Brazil- 170 million.) Largest economy in region- linked to US (looks northward.) Has industry and oil

Political History- independence in 1821 from Spain- power struggles until 1871 (Porfirio Diaz dictatorship) 1911 Revolution- created the PRI party which dominated Mexican politics for 70 years. 2000- Vincente Fox’s PAN party defeats PRI opening a new era of Mexican politics.

Zapatistas- Chiapas, Mexico- defying Mexican government in support of Native American rights- do not support NAFTA- set up their own government along side the local Mexican government. Revolutionary Tourists- travel to the region to support the cause of the Zapatistas.

http://www.eco.utexas.edu/faculty/Cleaver/zapsincyber.html

http://lanic.utexas.edu/project/Zapatistas/

Really good site

http://flag.blackened.net/revolt/zapatista.html

Mexico People- very Urban,(75%) Migration is to the cities and the US- border towns are growing very fast with little infrastructure development. Ethnic- Native American (30%), European (9%) and mixed- Mestizos (60%.) Religion- 90% Roman Catholic

Mexican TV- dominates the region with its high quality soap operas (remember the episode of “Friends” where they watch Mexican soaps- telenovelas?

Mexico City: 20 million people- 75% of manufacturing industry of Mexico- Squatter settlements are huge (some estimates put Mex. City at 25 million due to squatters.) Lack of infrastructure, air and water pollution has caused infant mortality to be high in this area.

Economic development

GDP- one of highest in Latin America w/ a diversified economy

Mexico City Urban Region- 2/3 of country's population, include Mex. City, Guadalajara, Veracruz and Leon.

Maquiladora Program- border towns can import components w/o duty. Gave foreign business incentive to reach US markets from Mexico with cheap labor. Maquila Industrial Zone- human landscape along the US border- mixes US/Mexican culture with lots of pollution.

East Coast- oil and natural gas (oil = 40% Mexico's foreign exchange)

Southern Mexico- less developed- area with Zapatista problems.

Central America

Isthmus- landbridge

Countries- (Guatemala, Belize, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama) Common Hispanic culture- Belize was a British colony (high percentage of people with African heritiage.)

A poor area of this region.

Banana Republics- due to economic dependence on one or two export crops- Coffee.

Issues (Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua)-

§ Civil unrest

§ Natural Disasters

§ Broken social fabric

§ Physical infrastructure

§ Economies

Guatemala- 1/2 population is Native American with little economic/political clout

Panama- carved out of Columbia in 1903 (US ran this country like a colony- invaded it in 1989.)

People

Language- Spanish, Religion- Roman Catholic

Demographics- similar to poor countries- large numbers of young people with small group of elders.

Economic Development

Coffee, light manufacturing- Panama manages the canal.

Honduras- one of the poorest countries in Western Hemisphere

Costa Rica- long democratic experience, more prosperous and diversified economy- attracts investors

The Caribbean Basin and Environs

Countries

Main changes- local inhabitants killed by introduced, European diseases, forced migrations of Africans to the islands and extensive sugar cultivation.

Greater Antilles- (chain of islands) Cuba, Hispaniola, Puerto Rico and Jamaica.

Lesser Antilles- smaller island chain, north of Venezuela- include Grenada

Bahamas- (700 islands) north of the Caribbean, east of Florida

Settled by Spanish, Dutch, French, British, Americans and African slaves

Martinque, Guadeloupe and French Guiana- part of France and claim membership in the EU.

People

Few indigenous people left. Mobile population- move to jobs within area, Europe and US. Around 5 million slaves went here.

Economic Legacy of the Colonial Past

Agriculture has declined and tourism risen sharply (2/3 from US.) Cruise ships- result is economic leakage (foreign owned business removes money spent from the local economy.)

Haiti- poorest country in the Americas. Occupied by US from 1915-34 and in 1994 (ended a military takeover.) Lack of tourism due to political instability, poverty and high rate of HIV/AIDs- economy has collapsed.

Northern Andes

Region of rugged terrain and high relief. Traditional mountain culture groups. Illegal drug trade has created an illegal elite class- one of the world's primary drug-producing regions.

West- high mountain climate

East- tropical rain forest

Peru coast- very arid

Countries (Columbia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia)

Venezuela- economy is linked to oil (and mineral)

Columbia- minerals, agriculture, manufacturing and drugs (growth is limited by political instability and civil strife.)

Rest- limited economies- tied to cycles

Pacific War

http://www.zum.de/whkmla/military/19cen/pacwar187984.html

http://www.onwar.com/aced/data/papa/pacific1879.htm

Peru's history

http://www.gci275.com/peru/chile.shtml

Naval war

http://members.lycos.co.uk/Juan39/WAR_WITH_CHILE.html

People

Large number if young people in the population/high level of urban living. Rural to urban migration created large shantytowns

Lima, Peru- 7.5 million

Native Americans- control highland regions, not taken by Europeans or mestizos. Amazon River lowlands also contain indigenous groups (tribes.)

Japanese in Peru (many people of various ethnic backgrounds immigrated)

http://www.wfu.edu/users/muroaf1/asia-pacific/background.htm

http://www.atimes.com/japan-econ/AJ16Dh01.html

Peruvian Japanese Deported to US Detainment during WWII

http://www.historynewsnetwork.org/articles/1198.html

http://www.modelminority.com/article211.html

President Fujimori

http://www.guardian.co.uk/print/0,3858,4094354-105806,00.html

Economic Development

Export-Led Underdevelopment- reliance upon export boom mining and agricultural booms. This led to a greater reliance on imported goods.

Peru- 2^nd largest fishery, oil, iron and S. America's largest gold mine. Peru is the world's largest producer of cocaine.

Bolivia- world's 2^nd largest producer of cocaine. Former silver exporter. Have oil, minerals and gold.

Ecuador's Galapagos Islands- tourism is impacting the environmental quality of the islands.

Venezuela- oil and internal strife

A different take on Venezuela

http://www.zmag.org/venezuela_watch.cfm

Live your dream in Venezuela

http://www.escapeartist.com/venezuela/venezuela.htm

Civil Society Coup

http://worldpolicy.org/journal/articles/wpj02-2/Encarnacion.pdf

Columbia- More diversified economy than other countries in region. 2^nd largest exporter of coffee- biggest legal agricultural crop. Other agricultural crops include marijuana, coca and poppies.

Brazil

Largest country in terms of area, population (170 million) and economy (8^th).

Language- Portuguese, Religion- Roman Catholic

Flavor of Brazil- Portuguese, African, Caribbean and indigenous traditions

Regions of Brazil

60% of Brazil drained by Amazon Basin

Deforestation is rampant in parts of Amazon Basin

Main economic development occurred around Rio de Janeiro

Soybeans now surpass coffee as main agricultural export

People

World's largest Roman Catholic Country (social practices differ from church)

Sao Paulo- 19 million, one of world's biggest cities. Produces 1/2 of GDP and 2/3 of manufacturing output. (Brazil is very urban)

Rio de Janeiro- 2^nd biggest city (11 million)

Rio web cams (lots of dead links)

http://www.iis.com.br/~mbotelho/

Rio Tourism

http://ipanema.com/contents.htm#top

http://www.carnaval.com/cityguides/brazil/rio/

Favelas- shantytown- 7 million in Sao Paulo and 6 million in Rio de Janeiro. No services or infrastructure and large bands of street children.

Killing of Street Children

http://pangaea.org/street_children/latin/brazil.htm

Causes of Brazilian Poverty

§ Multinational corporations

§ International banking and development institutions

§ Intergovernmental trade relations

§ Government dept

§ Resources-export economic goals

Ethnic Variety- original native population is much reduced. European people make up the largest group with highest concentration in southern states. African slave descendents live along northeastern coast and southern cities. Japanese Brazilians make up the largest Japanese community outside of Japan.

Economic Development

Mining- iron, tin bauxite (1/3 world supply) and gold

New industry- Soybeans, coffee now less than 10% agricultural products. Automobiles and truck production is growing (Ford and Volkswagen collaboration.)

Hyperinflation (2,000%)- rising prices feed a cycle of inflation- in Brazil 50%/month and 1,0005/year.

http://www.libertyhaven.com/countriesandregions/brazil/hyperinflation.html

http://www.econ.puc-rio.br/gfranco/How%20Brazil%20Beat%20Hyperinflation.htm

Southern South America

Large agricultural areas (except Chile) with Andes dividing East and West Coast.

Countries- Chile, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay.

People- Spanish and Roman Catholic. Highest percentage of people of European descent on the continent. Chile- 40% direct European descent. All (except Paraguay- 95% mestizo) have over 85% European descent.) Climate like Europe and few indigenous people. Very urban populations.

Buenos Aires- largest city (13 million)- 1/3 of country.

Economic Development- Area of economic isolation.

Uruguay/Paraguay- Agriculture and lumber

Chile- diversified economy- one of the hopes for the region. Copper mining (2 largest mines in the world)

Argentina- drilling oil w/ UK (Falkland Islands.) Larger manufacturing base.