Download Latin America and the Caribbean

Latin America and the Caribbean
Regions & Landscapes and a brief
History of the region
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Geography Issues
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• Ring of Fire
– Mexico, Central America, west coast of South
America
– Volcanoes and earthquakes
• Chile earthquake in Feb, 2010 (8.8)
• Landslides from earthquakes
• Hurricanes (Caribbean and Central America)
• Caribbean Islands are all volcanoes on edge
of a plate
– Some volcanoes still active
– Haiti earthquake in Jan, 2010 (7.0; 200,000+ dead)
Landslide from
2001 earthquake in
El Salvador
Atacama Desert:
Driest place on earth
Rainfall = <1mm/year
50x more arid than Death
Valley
100 miles x 600 miles
Angel Falls
3,212 ft tall
2,663 ft water drop
Niagara = 167 feet
Falkland Islands
Currently owned by UK (claimed by Argentina)
1982: Argentina invaded to regain control
2 month war – Argentina lost
• Residents are UK citizens
• Reject Argentina’s claim
Three Regions
Gran Chaco
• Last ‘frontier’ of South America
• Dry, largely uninhabited
Pampas
• Very fertile, big for farming
Patagonia
• Southern end of Andes mountains and large flat plains
• Colder climate than rest of South America
– Especially in higher altitudes
• Mining, whaling, sheep and wheat farming, tourism
• Cougars, penguins, flamingos, parakeets, Orca,
elephant seals
Amazon River
• Largest river in the world (water volume)
• 2nd longest in world: 4,000 miles
• 1,000 tributaries
– 7 tributaries are 1,000+ miles long; 1 = 2,000 mi.
• 1/5 of all flowing water on Earth
• Largest drainage basin: 2,669,000 mi2
• Discharges 6,180,000 ft3 of water per second
– 10x more than the Mississippi, 56x more than the
Nile
– Room = 7308 ft3…Amazon = 845.6 rooms!
• Mixes with ocean water 100 miles out
• Through most of Brazil, depth = 150+ feet
History
Areas first populated by Indians ~6000 BC
– Olmec: E. Mexico  1200 – 400 BC
– Maya: S. Mexico and Central America 
250 – 900 AD
• First full Pre-Columbian writing system
• Pioneers in math and astronomy
– Aztecs: Central Mexico  1248 – 1521
• Capital = Tenochtitlan (built on an island in Lake Texcoco)
• Pyramids, monuments
– Incas: Andes  1200s – mid-1500s
• Roads, farmers, terraces, monuments
Tenochtitlan’s Temple District
Maya Temple
Machu Picchu, Peru
Lost Inca settlement
• Columbus
Europeans!
– 1492
– Italian; sailed & claimed for Spain
– Landed in Bahamas = Indians!
• “West Indies”
• After Columbus= Spain and Portugal
– Came for mining, farming and gold
– Pope draws Line of Demarcation = cuts area in 2:
• Portugal gets land east of Line (Brazil), Spain gets west
(everywhere else)
– Explore Caribbean, Mexico and Florida area
• St. Augustine, FL = oldest continuous European
settlement; 1565
Oct 1492
1493-94
1498
1502 – 1504
Notable Spanish and Portuguese
explorers:
• Amerigo Vespucci (Italian, working for Portugal): Explored east coast
of S. America (1500); namesake of “America”
• Ponce de León: Florida (1513); Fountain of Youth?
• Vasco de Balboa: First to cross Isthmus of Panama and first
European to see the Pacific Ocean (1513)
• Ferdinand Magellan: Sailed through Strait of Magellan,
named Pacific Ocean (1520)
• Hernán Cortés: Mexico, wiped out Aztec Empire (1521)
• Francisco Pizzaro: Conquered Inca Empire (1533); established
Lima
• Hernando de Soto: SE US; discovered Miss. River (1541)
• Spanish conquistadors
– Introduces guns, horses, disease (smallpox)
– Hernán Cortéz wipes out Aztecs in 1521
• Claimed Mexico for Spain
• Begins construction of Mexico City
– Francisco Pizarro conquers Inca in 1533
• Indians relocated and used as slaves
– Haciendas = Spanish plantations, ranches
– By 1650, native population fell by ~80%
• Mid 1600s = French, British, Dutch come
– Stick mostly to Caribbean Islands and
South American coastal areas
– Big crop: Indigo
• New land used for different reasons:
– Trading Post – Control area for trade benefit
– Dependency – Establish new area of home
country, small group of settlers control natives
– Plantations – Large scale farms, large group of
3rd party slaves
• Slaves from Africa brought in by several
European nations
– Earliest were in early- to mid-1500s (Portuguese)
• Created new ‘races’:
– Mestizos = European and Indian mix
– Mulattos = European and African mix
Netherlands
France
Portugal
Spain
Great Britain
1674
Independence
• Began in early 1800s
– Haiti was first nation to revolt (1804)
• Led by slaves
– Mexico = 1821
• Military and rich take over; poor suffer
• Today: Most countries are free
– Some islands still parts of European countries
• Constant takeovers and problems
• People are mix of Europeans and Africans
• Language of European colonizers dominates