Download Final Exam Study Guide

GEOG 352 – World Regional Geography
Final Exam Study Guide
The eventual test will be made up of 70-80 PowerPoint identification, multiple choice, true/false,
matching, and map questions. Not all of the questions below will end up on the final version of
the exam. Please note that the final is not comprehensive; it will cover only Middle and South
America.
Image Identification
Match the image of Middle American physiographic features on the Power Point slides to their
corresponding physiographic type.
Match the images of Middle American desert ecosystems on the Power Point slides to the type of
desert they represent.
Match the images of tropical and temperate ecosystems in Middle America on the Power Point
slides to the type of ecosystem they represent.
Match the images of plants and animals on the Power Point slides to the agricultural hearth in
which they originate.
Multiple Choice, True/False. Matching, and Map Questions
Does Central America include both Middle America and the islands of the Caribbean?
The "Cockpit Country" is a region of karst hills in the English-speaking island of ________.
Is it true that rainforests grow back slowly after being disturbed and may not return at all if large
portions are destroyed?
Except for lumber, do plants in tropical rainforests have few uses in the modern world?
Are rainforests in Middle America found primarily on the southwest coasts?
Is Mexico's Sierra Madre Occidental in the west while the Sierra Madre Oriental is in the east?
Match the types of physiographic processes or features with the part of Middle America they
have created.
 Greater Antilles
 Lesser Antilles
 Panama
 Sierra Madre Mountains of Mexico
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Do the short (lowest in elevation) islands of the Lesser Antilles tend to receive the greatest
amounts of orographic rainfall?
Is addiction to cocaine less severe in the Andean Highlands -- where coca leaves are grown -because people there have always used it as a folk medicine and traditionally have not used more
potent forms of the drug (i.e. powder cocaine, crack)?
The raising of ________ is causing the greatest amount of destruction of Central and South
American rainforests.
Which major world plantation crop is not found on plantations in Middle and South America?
The preferred drink of Aztec nobility was derived from a product still grown on plantations in
Latin America and West Africa. That product is ________.
Which one of the following was not a native crop in Middle America?
Be able to identify the following on a map of Middle America:
 Cuba
 Hispaniola
 Leeward Islands
 Puerto Rico
 Windward Islands
Be able to identify the following features of Middle America on a map:
 Isthmus of Panama
 Sierra Madre Occidental
 Sierra Madre Oriental
 Valley of Mexico
 Yucatan Peninsula
Be able to identify the following Middle American countries on a map:
 Costa Rica
 Guatemala
 Honduras
 Nicaragua
 Panama
Is the raising and sale of coca leaves illegal in Peru and Bolivia?
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The traditional location for the processing of coca leaves into cocaine and the subsequent
smuggling to North America and Europe is the South American country of ________.
Which part of the coca plant is used to produce cocaine?
The Chupacabra -- the mythical alien "goat sucker" -- was first identified in ________.
When does the rainy season arrive in savanna environments?
The “Southern Exclusion Zone” is necessary on Montserrat because ________ have destroyed
towns and farmsteads on that part of the island.
Be able to identify the following five major ecosystems of Middle America on a map:
 Cold current desert
 Rainshadow desert
 Savanna
 Subtropical high desert
 Tropical rainforest
Be able to identify the various Native groups that existed in Middle America at the time the
Spanish arrived on a map:
 Arawak
 Aztecs
 Carib
 Mayans
Calaveras are one of the most prominent symbols of the Feast of the Dead. What are they?
The Feast of the Dead is celebrated in ________.
Maquiladoras are manufacturing plants found predominantly in northern ________.
The most stable country in Central America is also its oldest democracy, has no standing army,
and is called "the Switzerland of Latin America." That country is ________.
Be able to match the characteristics below with their appropriate Middle American agricultural
operation:
 African slave labor
 bananas, sugar cane, pineapples, etc.
 cattle ranching and grain production
 commercial, Arab-influenced landholding pattern
 created weak, foreign-dominated republics
 created local, indigenous ruling class
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



feudal, Spanish landholding pattern
Indian labor
Mainland
Rimland
Which Central American country has the largest percentage of its population still considered
Indian?
Puerto Rico is a ________ of the United States.
The Mexican state of ________ was the focus of a recent Indian/peasant uprising.
The Aztec language and people today are known as ________.
The name Mexico comes from "Mexica," the original name of the ________.
Was the country of Mexico called "New Spain" before it was known as "Mexico"?
________ are located in tropical lowlands and produce a single cash crop using imported capital
and seasonal labor.
________ was the only Central American country that saw a successful communist insurgency.
Did the Mayans built elaborate cities while the Aztec created only ceremonial centers that were
never important settlements?
What was the Aztec "capital?"
The core area of the Aztec Empire was in ________.
Be able to match the definitions of racial terms in Middle America with the name applied to
them.
Identify the following South American highlands on a map:
 Andean Highlands
 Brazilian Highlands
 Guianan Highlands
Identify the following South American ecosystems on a map:
 marine west coast
 Mediterranean
 prairie
 rainforest
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 savanna
Match the following South American regions with their corresponding characteristics:
 desert environment of Peru and Chile
 prairie environment of Argentina and Uraguay
 savanna environment of Venezuela and Columbia
 savanna environment of Brazil, Bolivia, and Paraguay
 steppe and desert environment of Argentina
Identify the following environmental zones of South America on a map:
 marine west coast
 Mediterranean
 prairie
 savanna
 tropical rainforest
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