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Latin%20America

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Title: Latin%20America


1
Latin America
  • Cultural Geography

2
Indian Civilizations
  • Three important native civilizations that began
    in Latin America were
  • Maya
  • Aztec
  • Inca

3
Maya
  • The Maya lived in southern Mexico, Belize, and
    Guatemala. Their civilization was at its peak
    around 250 - 900 AD.
  • The Maya had city states ruled by kings and
    priests. They worshipped the gods by ritual
    sacrifice and blood-letting.
  • The Maya lived in a tropical wet climate with
    rainforests. They practiced slash and burn
    farming and grew squash and corn.
  • noted for the only known fully developed written
    language of the pre-Columbian Americas, as well
    as its art, architecture, and mathematical and
    astronomical systems.

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Tikal was the capital of a conquest state that
became one of the most powerful kingdoms of the
ancient Maya.
6
Aztec
  • The Aztec lived in central Mexico. Their capital
    was called Tenochtitlan and it was located on
    islands in lake Texcoco. Mexico City now stands
    on the ruins of the Aztec capital.
  • The Aztec also practiced sacrifice and built
    large pyramids like the Maya.
  • At its pinnacle Aztec culture had rich and
    complex mythological and religious traditions, as
    well as reaching remarkable architectural and
    artistic accomplishments.
  • The Aztec empire flourished from 1400 to about
    1520, when it was overthrown by the Spanish.

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Tenochtitlan
11
Teotihuacan
12
Inca
  • The Inca lived in South America in Peru and
    Chile.
  • The Inca built a system of roads through the
    Andes Mountains to connect their empire.
  • The Inca did not have a writing system but they
    kept records with a complicated system of ropes
    with knots.
  • In 1533, Spanish Conquistadores led by Francisco
    Pizarro, conquered much of the existing Inca
    territory.

13
Machu Picchu
"The Lost City of the Incas"
14
European Colonization
  • Latin America was colonized by European
    countries
  • Spain colonized Mexico and most of Central
    America and South America.
  • Portugal colonized Brazil.
  • The English colonized Jamaica and Belize.
  • The French colonized Haiti.

15
European Colonization
  • The Europeans converted the natives to Roman
    Catholicism and made them learn their languages.
  • The most wide spoken languages are Spanish and
    Portuguese.
  • The Europeans brought Africans to work on sugar
    plantations as slaves.

16
African Influences
  • Latin America is heavily influenced by African
    culture.
  • Music - Calypso, steel drum bands, and reggae.
  • Religion - Voodoo in Haiti and Candomble in
    Brazil.

17
Mestizos
  • Most of Latin America has a mixed population
    called mestizo.
  • Mestizos are people of mixed Spanish and Native
    ancestry.
  • People in the Caribbean have mixed European,
    Native, and African ancestry.

18
Rigid Social Structure
  • Latin America has a very rigid social structure.
    There are many poor people and a few rich people.
    The middle class is very small. During most of
    its history Latin America was divided among rich
    landlords who owned most of the land.

19
Ejidos
  • The ejido system refers to land that is
    communally owned by farmers. This practice was
    common under the Aztec rule in Mexico but
    disappeared under the Spanish. In the early 20th
    century ejidos were created again.

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Population
  • The population of Latin America is clustered on
    the coast.
  • The interior of South America is difficult to
    settle because of the Andes Mountains and the
    Amazon rainforest.
  • Most of the major cities are on the coast except
    Mexico City and La Paz.

22
Population
  • The population of Latin America is growing
    rapidly and people are moving into the cities in
    a process called urbanization.
  • People are moving into the cities to look for
    jobs (push and pull factors).
  • When poor people move to the city they create
    squatter settlements or shantytowns, areas of
    illegal housing in the city. These areas also
    have a high crime rate.

23
Population
  • Many people from the Caribbean and Mexico are
    entering the United States in search of jobs in a
    process called out-migration.

24
Latin America
  • Economic Geography

25
Economic Activity
  • Most of the countries in Latin America rely
    heavily on primary economic activity such as
    agriculture, mining (for minerals and oil),
    fishing, harvesting timber, and livestock
    ranching.

26
Haciendas
  • A hacienda was a large estate that was similar to
    a plantation. The most common type of activity
    on a hacienda was ranching but haciendas also
    grew food and had mines. The owner of a hacienda
    was very rich and he employed poor laborers to do
    the work.
  • Haciendas were the dominant economic force in
    Latin America until the late nineteenth century.
    In many countries the haciendas were broken up
    and the land was given to poor farmers who then
    practiced subsistence farming.

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Subsistence Farming
  • The most common type of farming in Latin America
    is subsistence farming. This is when a person
    has a small farm and grows barely enough food to
    survive. The farmer may have some surplus food
    that is sold at a local market.

29
Plantation Farming
  • A plantation is a large commercially owned farm
    that employs many workers and normally grows cash
    crops for export.

30
Cash Crops
  • Cash crops are crops that are grown primarily for
    export such as
  • Cocao
  • Coffee
  • Sugar
  • Palm Oil

31
Slash and Burn Farming
  • Slash and burn farming is a common method of
    farming in tropical areas with large rainforests.
    Farmers cut down trees and burn them in order to
    fertilize the soil. After a few years this
    process must be repeated and it leads to
    deforestation.

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Deforestation
  • Deforestation is the most common environmental
    problem in Latin America. Most of the islands in
    the Caribbean and the countries of Central
    America have very little forest left.
  • The Amazon Rainforest is being cut down for
    farmland, urban development, and the export of
    wood.

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Cattle Ranches
  • The pampas in Argentina has many cattle ranches.
    Argentinian Cowboys are called gauchos. Brazil
    is also one of the leading exporters of beef in
    the world. Most of the cattle ranches in Brazil
    are located on the cerrados.

39
Mineral Resources
  • Ecuador, Venezuela, and Mexico all have large oil
    reserves. Venezuela is one of the leading
    exporters of oil to the United States. Venezuela
    is also a member of OPEC, the Organization of
    Petroleum Exporting Countries that controls the
    price and production of oil.
  • All Oil is socialized meaning it is under the
    control of the government

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Hugo Chavez
Chávez's policies have evoked controversy in
Venezuela and abroad, receiving everything from
vehement criticism to enthusiastic support.
During the presidency of George W. Bush the
government of the United States stated at various
points that Chávez was a threat to democracy in
Latin America.
44
Mineral Resources
  • Some countries in Latin America have many
    resources such as copper, iron ore, gold,
    bauxite, and silver.
  • Chile has large deposits of copper.
  • Venezuela and Brazil have large deposits of iron
    ore.

45
Mineral Resources
  • The countries in the Caribbean and Central
    America have very few mineral resources. These
    countries rely on farming, timber, and tourism.

46
Ecotourism
  • Ecotourism is responsible travel to fragile,
    pristine, and usually protected areas that
    strives to be low impact and (often) small scale.
    It helps educate the traveler provides funds for
    conservation directly benefits the economic
    development and political empowerment of local
    communities and fosters respect for different
    cultures and for human rights
  • Costa Rica, Brazil, Argentina are among some of
    the countries that cater to this type of tourism

47
Tapantí National Park in Costa Rica
48
NAFTA
  • NAFTA stands for the North American Free Trade
    Agreement. Canada, the United States, and Mexico
    are members of NAFTA.
  • NAFTA abolishes most tariffs on imported goods
    between these countries increasing trade.

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NAFTA
  • NAFTA has a downside. Since NAFTA was signed
    many industries from the United States moved to
    Mexico because of the cheap labor. They set up
    factories across the border called maquiladoras
    and export the products, such as textiles, back
    to the U.S.

51
Distribution of Wealth
  • Society can be broken into three classes. The
    lower class, middle class, and upper class. In
    general the upper class is very rich and the
    lower class is not so well off. Latin America
    tends to have a very small middle class and a
    huge lower class. This is called disparity of
    income distribution.

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54
Snapshots
  • Largest Population Brazil (192 million)
  • Government Structures Presidential Legislative
    Democracies
  • Literacy Rates Lowest (Haiti _at_ 55), Highest
    (Cuba _at_ 99)
  • Per Capita GDP Lowest (Haiti _at_ 1300), Highest
    (Chile _at_ 14,900)
  • Spanish is 2nd most spoken language in the world
    329 million speakers
  • Religion Roman Catholicism

55
Current Issues
  • Cuba Changing of the guard?
  • Migration to USA and in between
  • Oil Venezuelas place at the table
  • Boom or Bust? Brazils new role as an economic
    superpower
  • Changing of the guard Female presidents set new
    tone (Argentina, Chile)
  • Drug Trafficking will it ever end?
  • Human Trafficking
  • Political Instability Honduras coup
  • Economy governments going bankrupt
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