Latin America
What IS Latin America?
• Reaches from the Rio Grande to Cape Horn.
• Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean islands and South America
Latin America
• For more than 300 years most countries of L.A. were colonies of Spain and Portugal
• The term Latin refers to the Spanish and Portuguese languages
• It also refers to the cultural heritage that Spain and Portugal established in America
Location
• Lies between Atlantic and Pacific oceans. – These oceans link LA
to other parts of the world
– Movement of ideas/religion/goods
Latin and then some
• The cultural heritage of Africa is also a part of Latin culture.
Land and People
• More than 20 nations and many landforms, environments and peoples.
• Some land rich in resources-others have very few.
• Therefore-some places densely populated and others empty of human life.
• Extreme poverty
Landforms
• Include the second highest range of mountains in the world, as well as huge lowland.
• Andes Mountains and the Amazon Basin
Great Rivers
• Central America lacks rivers large enough for ships
• South America has three major river systems– Amazon-Peru-Brazil– Orinoco-Venezuela– Rio de la Plata-
Uruguay-Argentina
Climate and Ecosystems
• More than 1/2 the continent lies between the tropics-therefore the sun is directly overhead for much of the year. This makes it hot everywhere except mountains
• Mountains create their own climates-elevation and distance from the equator.
Three important early civilizations
• The Mayas Yucatan Peninsula & Guatemalan lowlands
• Aztecs in central Mexico
• Incas in the Andes Mountains (present day Peru)
Latin America is carved up
• Portugal took over Brazil
• The Spanish conquered Central America and the western coast of South America
• France, England and the Netherlands claimed certain islands in the Caribbean.
Economic Development
• Mexico-Farming and ranching, tourism, exporting goods.
• The people mainly European and Native American background. Language? Religion?
