Map of Latin America

LANIC: Latin America Network Information Center

FROM PERIPHERY TO SEMIPERIPHERY   The name "Latin" America is based on Spanish and Portuguese cultural traits and colonial relationship. These include language (Spanish is the dominant language) and religion (Roman Catholicism is the dominant religion). Other major colonial legacies include land tenure, governmental practices, legal systems, social structures, and economic systems. Majority: periphery, few: semiperiphery  Process of development slowed by factors linked to colonial era, natural environment

Catholic church in Chile

Macchu  Pichu

Geographic Contrasts   Population size (Brazil 162 million, islands in West Indies 100,000) Economic productivity, incomes, diversity, involvement in global market   Contrasts within countries (i.e., between core and periphery --> shantytowns)   Very noticeable: contrast between rich and poor   Contrasts in rural areas: commercial vs subsistence farming

Geographic Cooperation
Free-trade area: grouping of countries that lower the tariffs and trading restrictions between them
Customs union: takes a further step by blending economic policies and business laws
Common market: combines the features of a customs union with establishing a common business environment through the existence of a central authority that may override national government decisions

  Attempts in Latin America slow until 1990s

  Groupings:
       - Brazil & Mexico large enough to stand on own
       - Central America
       - West Indies
       - Northern Andes
       - Mercosul: Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay

  Boundary disputes (e.g., Ecuador & Peru, Venezuela & Guyana, Guatemala & Belize, Chile, Bolivia & Peru, Paraguay & neighbors)

  Expansionist tendencies or geopolitical ambitions (Argentina, Brazil, Mexico and Venezuela

HISPANIC CULTURES OF LATIN AMERICA

  Native American people: decimation, under class status
  After colonial era: ethnic strife, inherited habits & attitudes, slowed economic growth 

Pre-European Peoples
 

Maya pyramid at Chichen Itza

Mayans   maize base   eastern lowlands of modern south Mexico, Guatemala, western Honduras   200s-900s A.D.

Aztecs   part of tribes from north (1100s)   modern Mexico City - Tenochtitlan   by 1400s - ruled most of Middle America

Aztec death mask (c. 1400)

Inca sun god

Incas   based in southern Peru - mountain city of Cuzco   wars on neighbors   controlled Quito (modern Ecuador) to Paraguay and Chile   gold and silver mining   sophisticated, organized infrastructure

  some more rural, remote tribes managed to avoid colonial takeover

SPANISH COLONIZATION   Spanish administration, Spanish language, Roman Catholic religion   local inhabitants provided cattle, crops, labor for mines   legacy of underdevelopment: entrenched in mining & large landed estates, feudal system   history of resentment, inequality

Brazil/Patagonia, detail: indians, Diogo Homen ,1558

Christopher Columbus' Concept the New World's Location (in yellow) Bartholomew Columbus/Alessandro Zorzi, sketch map

Occupation & Spanish Control 1492- Columbus from Spain   1494- Treaty of Tordesillas: demarcation line between Spanish and Portuguese territories within 50 years- region generally conquered, occupied   lure of riches led to takeover of Aztecs, Incas, expansion southward from Middle America encomienda system: lasted approx 200 years, inefficient, corrupt, left splits in society on account of it stratification of race: peninsulares at the top, Criollos and mestizos in the middle, Amerindians at the bottom

PORTUGUESE COLONIZATION   colonization slower   gold near Rio de Janiero   Brazil OTHER EUROPEAN COLONIZATIONS   French, Dutch, British   Caribbean islands   northeast South America

South America, 1595

INDEPENDENCE   wealth to Spain, Portugal slowed in 1700s   Napoleon - 1790s   independence to many in early 1800s   Middle America, Andean states   boundaries based on Spanish viceroyalties - not well defined --> root of future border conflicts   other post-colonial problems: political instability, mineral exploitation, large estates, poor infrastructure, resentments economic colonialism

Christopher Columbus displays his cartographic prowess with this map of the West Indies

CONTINUING EXTERNAL INFLUENCES   moves toward modernization, self-sufficiency   1823- Monroe Doctrine   loan woes   global economy - policies   trends toward regional cooperation, interaction   North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) - 1993

predominantly tropical    Andes- 2nd highest mountain system Amazon- world's largest river   90o latitude= variety of climates, vegetation, soils pronounced differences in elevation and topography

Andes Mountains

Range of climate/ biome types: - tropical rainforest:  southern Mexico, Amazon - tropical savanna: between Tropics of Capricorn and Cancer - humid subtropical: pampas in Argentina  - Mediterranean: central  Chile - marine west coast:  southern Chile - desert: Atacama Desert

tierra caliente: tropical rainforest, tropical savanna;  plantation agriculture tierra templada: commercial agriculture tierra fria: frost; subsistence agriculture; potatoes tierra helada/paramos: large-scale mining

Atacama Desert, one of the driest places on the planet

Dry Climates and Factors That Produce Them Andes Mts. block moisture bearing air masses; rain shadow effect Precipitation depends on whether the land faces the direction from which moist air arrives Atacama Desert     Hurricanes and tropical storms

El Niño El Niño Theme Page What is an el Niño? Animations

Fishing is an important source of income for Peru. In what way might El Niño affect coastal fishing in Peru?

Plate Tectonics: Andes, Middle America, Caribbean
 
 

TROPICAL RAIN FOREST - AMAZON Latin American rain forest largest in world; least cut approx. 20 million acres (7%) cleared world's most diverse ecosystem nutrients: in biomass

Typical structure of a tropical rainforest

impact of clearing impact of commercial agriculture, logging, cattle ranching, boom cycles, large projects, Trans-Amazon HWY impact of settlement policy

Coffee plantation in Brazil

Slash and burn agriculture is used to clear land for agriculture and for grazing cattle

Deforestation in Amazon Basin in Brazil

Satellite Images of Para State, Brazil  (images from Dr Mausel's Amazon research, ISU/UI) 

	1985
	1988
	1991
	1996

 Deforestation: The Global Assault Continues

Other Environmental Problems: soil erosion; air and water pollution

 

POPULATION GEOGRAPHY OF LATIN AMERICA marginalization and shantytowns indigenous peoples; role of diseases rapid population growth and urbanization demographic transition: Latin America is now 70% urban urban migration:  push - pull factors

A shantytown in Lima, Peru clings to a bare hillside with houses made of reed mats. More than one third of Lima's population is believed to live in such makeshift settlements.

Chilean copper mine

LAND REFORM:  Problem:  Those who own the land are not the people who farm the land.   Two problems impact land reform in Latin America:  One is historical, since colonial times. Large landholdings (latifundia) are efficient ways of doing business and accumulating wealth.  The second problem concerns the minifundia; breaking up small plots into ever smaller landholdings satisfies a desire to own land but is less efficient at doing business as time passes. ejidos (communally owned farms) account for 50% of cultivated land in Mexico and produce 70% of beans, rice, and corn, a success story in land reform. minerals and mining:  distribution and benefits

History of Chiapas
Zapatista movement in Chiapas

ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHY OF LATIN AMERICA

Core and  Periphery 

many Latin American countries are heavily in debt: Brazil, Mexico
many nations of Latin America do not have sophisticated, high technology industrial capabilities and must rely on exports of raw materials (minerals) and cash crops as sources or revenue.
NAFTA agreement 1993
Mexican monetary crisis 1994
maquiladora

Maquiladoras - Recent Growth Trends
Chiapas Reaction to NAFTA

tourism

Political Geography:  Fragmentation and Instability

core area spatial separation
infrastructure underdeveloped in terms of railroads, international road system 
contrasts to USA and Canada
role of the USA
-- economic development
-- Panama Canal
-- repeated military intervention based on Monroe Doctrine
(and the 20th century Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe  Doctrine) Panama, Grenada; 
role of military advisors 

narco-terrorism

insurrection as a governing norm: Guatemala, Panama, Chiapas, Haiti
illegal immigration to USA; Proposition 187