Transcript The Physical Geography of Latin America

The Physical Geography
of Latin America
Mexico
• Mountains dominate
Mexico
– Sierra Madre Occidental
– Sierra Madre Oriental
– Sierra Madre del Sur
• Central Plateau: makes
up more than half of the
country’s area
– Most of Mexico’s people
live in the plateau region
Central America
• Central America is an
isthmus
– Isthmus: a narrow strip of
land that has water on both
sides and joins two larger
bodies of land.
• Narrow plains run along
the coasts
• Between the plains are
mountains
– More then a dozen (12) of
these mountains are active
volcanoes
The Panama Canal
• Human made waterway
• Stretches across the Isthmus of Panama
• Purpose is to shorten travel time between the Atlantic
and Pacific Ocean
The Caribbean
• The Caribbean is made up of two types of islands
– Smaller islands are made up of coral (tiny sea animals that over
hundreds of years meld together to create a rocklike substance)
– Larger islands are the tops of huge underwater mountains
The Caribbean Breakdown
• The Greater Antilles:
– Larger islands (Cuba
Hispaniola, Puerto Rico,
and Jamaica)
• The Lesser Antilles:
– An archipelago: a group of
islands
– From the Virgin Islands
down to Trinidad
• The Bahamas
– Another archipelago
South America
• Andes Mountains run
along the western coast.
– 2nd highest mountain
range in the world
– World’s longest mountain
system
South America
• Highlands are located
in Brazil, Venezuela,
Guyana
• The Brazilian
Highlands end in an
escarpment
– Steep cliff at the edge of
a plateau with a lowland
area below
South America
• The Amazon River Basin
contains the largest
tropical rain forest in the
world
– This rainforest covers more
than 1/3 of South America
South America
• Pampas are flat
grassland regions that
are very similar to the
Great Plains of the
U.S.
– Located in Argentina
and Uruguay
South America
• Patagonia
• Located in the
southernmost part of
Argentina and Chile
• Made up of the Andes
Mountains, plains,
plateaus, and glaciers
South America from Space
Rivers and Lakes
• Amazon River
– second longest river in the
world
– Flows 4,000 miles from Peru
across Brazil
– Contains about 20% of all
the fresh water on Earth
– Collects more than 1,000
tributaries
• Tributaries: the rivers and
streams that flow into a larger
river.
Rivers and Lakes
• The Rio de la Plata is
made up of the Parana,
Paraguay and Uruguay
rivers.
– Form the 2nd largest river
system in Latin America
• The 3 rivers flow into an
estuary
– An area where river
currents and ocean tides
meet
Rivers and Lakes
• Venezuela has the
Orinoco River and
Lake Maracaibo
• Lake Titicaca is
located in the Andes
mountains
– Highest lake in the
world