Transcript 6 - DePaul GIS Collaboratory

Latin America
Introduction
Is comprised of 17 countries
 Share a history of Iberian colonization
 Multiethnic (Amerindian, Iberian, African)
 Export of primary goods (eg, coffee, petroleum)
 Heightened economic integration (eg. FTAA)
 75% urban; prevalence of megacities
 World’s great reserves of biological diversity (eg. Amazon
rain forest, Andes mountains)

Environmental Geography
Western mountains and Eastern shields
The Andes
Created by collision of oceanic and continental
plates
 Geologically young  volcanism, earthquakes
 Geologically complex  rich in minerals
 Divided into

Northern: Venezuela, Colombia
 Central: Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia
 Altiplano
 Southern: Chile, Argentina

Altiplano (elevated plain)

Elevated plateau
straddling the
Bolivian and
Peruvian Andes

Inhabited mostly
by Amerindians

High-altitude lake
(Titicaca, Poopó)
The uplands of Mexico and Central
America
 The
Mexican Plateau
 Mesa
Central (southern end)
 Mexico’s
 The
breadbasket (eg. Mexico City, Puebla)
Volcanic Axis of Central America
 Stretches
from Guatemala to Costa Rica
 Many active volcanoes  rich volcanic soil  bulk of
the agricultural land (produce beef, cotton, and coffee)

Fertile volcanic soils, ample
rainfall, and temperate climate of
the Guatemala highlands have
supported dense populations for
centuries
The Volcano Axis of Central America
The Shields
Large upland areas of exposed
crystalline rock
 Remnants of the ancient landmass
of Gondwanaland
 Brazilian shield
Guiana
Shield

Human settlements: São Paulo, Rio
de Janeiro
 Paranã basalt plateau: fertile red soils
(terra roxa)  coffee, orange


Patagonian shield

Open steppe country with few
settlements  home to wildlife
Brazilian
shield
Paranã
basalt
plateau
Brazilian shield
Oranges are widely cultivated
due to the fertile soil
Patagonia shield
Wildlife (Guanacos) thrives
on the steppe
River Basins and
Lowlands

Amazon basin
Largest river system by volume and
area
 Year-round precipitation
 Sparse settlement


Plata basin
Rivers: Paranã, Paraguay, Uruguay
 Grassland: Chaco, Pantanal, pampas
 Large-scale mechanized agriculture

Amazon
basin
River Basins and
Lowlands

Orinoco basin
 Llanos
 Tropical
grassland
 Has supported large cattle
ranches
 Now becomes the area of
petroleum production
Amazon
basin
Tropical humid
climates
Mirror image of
mid-latitude
climates in the
northern
hemisphere
Tropical, dry, temperate,
and highland climates
Tropical climates
 Tropical
lowlands in the east of
the Andes
 Support forest or savanna
 Average monthly temperatures
show little variation
 Unlike tropical wet climate (Af),
tropical savanna climate (Aw)
has a dry season
Dry climates
 Can
be found in
 The
Pacific coasts of Peru
and Chile
 Patagonia
 Northern Mexico
 Bahia of Brazil
Temperate climates
 Humid
subtropical (Cfa)
 Argentina,
Uruguay, and
parts of Paraguay and Chile
 Mediterranean
 Around
 Marine
 South
(Csb)
Santiago, Chile
west coast (Cfb)
of Conceptión, Chile
Altitudinal Zonation
in temperature by elevation (-3.5 °F for
every 1000 feet; also known as environmental
lapse rate)
 Changes in vegetation by elevation – plant
communities common to the midlatitudes could
thrive in the tropics at higher elevations
 Changes
Altitudinal Zonation
Tropical highland areas support a
complex array of ecosystems
 The Andes, the highlands of Central
America, the Mexican Plateau

El Niño
 Warm
pacific current that usually arrives along
coastal Ecuador and Peru in December, around
Christmastime
 Occurs every decade or so
 Produces torrential rains
 Causes drought
Natural Hazards
Environmental issues
 The
Valley of Mexico
pollution  thermal inversion layer traps pollutants
in the high altitude
 Water
 Air
 Shortage:
water is overdrawn from valley’s aquifer
 Contamination: pollutant run off into the soil, which leach
into the aquifer
 reliance on ground water
 Worsened by poverty and governmental inaction
 Subsidence
 Air
pollution in Mexico
City
 High elevation and
immense size make
management of air
quality difficult
Deforestation

The Atlantic coastal forests of Brazil, and the Pacific
forests of Central America have nearly disappeared as a
result of

Agriculture/Settlement
Rather seen as an agricultural frontier
 Cleared to appease landless peasants


Ranching


Grassification – conversion of tropical forest into pasture
Etc.
Search for gold (Brazil, Venezuela, and Costa Rica)
 Coca leaf production (Peru, Bolivia, and Colombia)

Degradation of farmlands
 Agricultural
productivity has declined in recent
decades due to increased aridity and severe soil
erosion
 Modern agriculture is squeezing out indigenous
crops
Urban environmental challenges
 Pollution,
inadequate water, garbage removal
 Squatter settlements – more vulnerable to natural
hazards
 Industrial pollution
 Eg.
Cubatão 1984 oil pipeline explosion
Environmental issues
Population and Settlement
Sparsely populated, youthfulness of population, urbanized
 High variation between urban and rural countries

The Latin American city

Rural-to-urban migration since 1950
1950: 25%  2000: 75%
 Preference for urban life

Cultural: Under Iberian rule, residence in a city conferred status and
offered opportunity
 Economic: primary role in structuring regional economies


Urban primacy
A country has a primate city three to four times larger than any
other city in the country
 Eg. Lima, Caracas, Guatemala City, Santiago, Buenos Aires, and
Mexico City
 Decentralizing effort: Ciudad Guayana, Brasilia

Latin American city model
Latin American city model

Reflects colonial origins and contemporary growth
Colonial origins - existence of CBD(Central Business District)
 Contemporary growth

Zone of Maturity, and In Situ Accretion are radiated out from CBD
 Residential quality declines as one move from core to periphery


Highlights the class divisions
Elite spine – newer commercial and business strip that extends
from the colonial core to newer parts of the city
 Peripheral squatter settlements – straddles the periférico
(beltway highway); limited services and infrastructure; resulted
from (1) rapid inflow of migrants (2) inability of government to
meet presseing needs

CBD(central business district)
Elite Spine (new commercial
center)
Peripheral Squatter
Settlements
Elite Residential Sector
Informal sector
Economic sector that relies on self-employed, low-wage
jobs (eg. street vending, shoe shining, and artisan
manufacturing) that are unregulated and untaxed
 Often includes illegal activities such as drug smuggling,
sale of contraband items such as illegally copies videos
and apes, and prostitutions
 Fundamental force that houses, services, and employs the
inhabitants of squatter settlements
 Effort of the urban poor to make a place for themselves

Patterns of rural settlement

Under the colonial rule

Colonial authorities granted land to the colonists
Latifundia: practice of maintaining large estates
 Minifundia: peasants farmed small plots for their subsistence

Political
turmoil in 20th century
reform – redistribution of lands
Creation of agricultural frontiers
Agrarian
provides
peasants with land
Taps unused resources
Shores up political boundaries
Population growth

High growth rates throughout the 20th century
Natural increase
 Immigration
 Increasing life expectancy


Growth rates have weakened in the late 20th century

TFR has declined (except for rural countries) due to :
Increased participation of women in the labor force
 Higher education levels of women
 State support of family planning
 Better access to birth control

Migration to Latin America

European migration
After gaining independence from Iberia (1870-1930),
government attracted European peasants to populate
 The Southern Cone countries (Argentina, Chile, Uruguay,
Paraguay, and southern Brazil)
 Italian, Portuguese, Spaniards, and Germans


Asian migration

Mid 19th century: Chinese, and Japanese


Eg. Japanese in Peru, Japanese-Brazilian orange farms
Latest: South Korea
International migration in Latin America

Employment opportunities
Venezuela’s oil wealth in 1960s and 1970s
 Argentina attracts Bolivian and Paraguayan laborers
 U.S. attracts Mexican laborers


Political turmoil
Chilean intellectuals in the 1970s
 Nicaraguans in 1979
 Civil war in El Salvador and Guatemala

Transnationalism

Phenomenon in which migrants maintain close contact
with their home country

Develop vital immigrant social networks in host
countries
Principal Latin American
migration flows

Interregional


International within
Latin America


To frontier zones
To Venezuela,
Argentina
International outside
Latin America


To U.S.
To Europe
Cultural Coherence and Diversity
Cultural identity
The Pyramid of the Sun, near
Mexico City – pre-Aztec
Machu Picchu, Peru – Inca

Precontact period: civilization in
the central Mexico, and the Andes

Since 1500s: forced assimilation of
European culture
Religion, language, political
organization
 Dominance of European culture is
explained by the demographic
collapse of native populations

Demographic Collapse

Dramatic loss of indigenous population
47 million (1500)  5 million (1650)
cf. 42 million in western Europe (1500)


Causes are
Epidemics of influenza and smallpox
 Warfare
 Forced labor
 Starvation due to a collapse of food production systems

The Columbian Exchange
An immense biological swap that occurred after
Columbus came; exchange of crops and animal between
Old World and New World
 Introduction of Old World crops



wheat, olives, grapes; sugarcane, coffee
Introduction of New World crops
potato, corn, tomato, squash
 eg, Europe’s rapid population increase in 18th century


Introduction of Old World animals

Introduces Animal-borne disease; used for plowing; wool;
diversity to diet
Indian survival
Largest indigenous populations can be found in Mexico,
Guatemala, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia
 Occurs in isolated settings through the link to land
 Amerindians’ political control

Eg. Comarcas in Panama – areas of land set aside for indigenous
Amerindians
 Eg. The first Amerindian president in Peru

Complex ethnic blend

Racial mixing is the norm
Mestizo: Spaniard + Indian
 Mulattoes: European + African


Racial caste system under Spanish rule:
Blanco (European ancestry)
 Mestizo (mixed ancestry)
 Indio (Indian ancestry)
 Negro (African ancestry)

Languages

2/3 Spanish

1/3
Portuguese
in Brazil

Indigenous
languages in
the Central
Andes,
Mexico, and
Guatemala
Religions

90% Roman Catholic

Syncretic religions
Blends of different belief
systems
 Animist practices +
Christian worship

Churches are important religious and
social centers in Latin America
Machismo and Marianismo
Cultural traits assigned to men and women
 Machismo



Marianismo


Honor, risk-taking, self-confident
Patient, loving, gentle, willing to suffer in silence, keeper of
home, nurturers of childen, deferential to husbands
Fading stereotype
Global reach of Latino culture
 Telenovelas
 Popular
 National
 Dance
nightly soap opera exported worldwide
identities
and music tradition
 Tango
(Argentina), Samba (Brazil), mariachi (Mexico)
 Literature
 Gabriel
Garcia Marquez, Isabel Allende
Geopolitical Framework
 Since
1500s Iberian rule has shaped political
landscape profoundly
 In 1900s, declared independence
 Political instability persists until recently
Iberian conquest

Treaty of Tordesillas
(1494)
 Division of New
World by Spain and
Portugal
Iberian conquest (~1800s)

Portuguese
Settled in the coast of Brazil since 1500
 Brazilwood, sugar estates, slave trade (late 16th century)
 Gold in the Brazilian interior (17th century)


Spanish
Silver in Central Mexico, Central Andes (mid 16th century)
 Cacao, sugar, and livestock

Revolution and
independence

Portuguese colony


Became independent
republic (1808-89)
Spanish colonies

Experienced fragmentation
in the 19th century
Gran Colombia – led by
Simon Bolivar
 United Provinces of Central
America

Persistent border conflicts

Sparsely populated interior became a source of border
conflicts
War of the Pacific (1879-82): Chile, Bolivia
 Mexican War (1846-48): U.S., Mexico
 War of the Triple Alliance (1864-70): alliance of Argentina,
Brazil, and Uruguay against Paraguay
 Chaco War (1932-35): Bolivia, Parguay
 Falkland (1981): U.K., Argentina
 Territorial claims to Antarctica


Antarctic Treaty (1959) – should be used for peaceful purposes
Trend toward democracy

Long independence, but political instability has been a
problem
250 constitutions have been written since independence
 Military coups are frequent


After 1980s
Democratically elected governments
 Market-driven policy by free-market reformers
 However, problems still persist

Trend toward economic integration
Trade blocks are established to foster internal trade and
reduce trade barriers
 Mercosur (1991)

Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay
 Chile, Bolivia as an associate member
 $19 billion interregional trade


NAFTA
U.S., Canada, Mexico
 $700 billion interregional trade
 Impetus to the vision of FTAA (Free Trade Area of the America)

Free Trade Area of the America
(FTAA)
Proposed in 1994
 34 states (excluding Cuba) in the Western Hemisphere
 Pledges to establish free trade zone stretching from Alaska
to Cape Horn by 2005
 Embodies the ideals of Neoliberalism


Increased trade and economic integration will improve the
standard of living for people in the America
Insurgencies, drug traffickers, and
protest

Insurgency group


Shining Path (Peru), FARC and ELN (Colombia)
Drug trade
Often seen as the root of many of the regions’ problem
 Brings in currency, but damages judicial system



Eg. Colombia – highest crime rate
Protest

Zapatista rebellion in Mexico – supported by Amerindian
peasant; protest the consequences of globalization; how
increased foreign trade and investment hurt rural peasant
Coca-growing
areas in South
America
 Peru, Bolivia
 Colombia

Economic and Social Development
 Primary
export dependency
 Entrenched informal sector
 Experimented with various development strategies
 From
 World
import substitution to neoliberalism
“periphery”?

Most Latin American countries are “middle income”, but extreme poverty exist
Agricultural production

~1950s: commercial agriculture for export

Each country specializes in one or two commodities
Costa Rica (Banana, coffee), Nicaragua (coffee, cotton), Brazil (coffee)
 Peru, Chile, and Colombia (coca)


1960s~: diversification/mechanization of agriculture
Conversion of plains into fields
 Agricultural production increases while fewer people are
employed by it (eg. Agriculture labor force in Peru: 45%  7%)


1990s~: efforts to conserve the ecosystem
Mining
 Oil
 Venezuela,
 Tin,
Mexico, Ecuador, Colombia
Copper
 Bolivia,
Chile
 Mechanized  more production with fewer miners
Gold
Tropical
regions of Venezuela, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica
Labor-intensive  offer employment
Logging
Exportation of boards and wood pulp
 Short-term infusion of cash into a local economy, but
makes the system of extraction unsustainable
 Plantation forestry

Brazil, Venezuela, Chile, and Argentina
 Eg. Chile’s booming export economy

Entrenched informal sector

Provides goods and services without the benefit of
government regulation, registration, or taxation

Estimated nearly 60% of the total non-agricultural
employment in 1998

Reflects the inability of the formal economies of the region
to absorb labor
Development strategies

Self-sufficiency policy since the 1950s
Import substitution - foster domestic industry by imposing
inflated tariffs on all imports
 State-run nationalized industries
 Agrarian reform


Neoliberalism emerges recently
Privatization of industries; direct foreign investment (DFI)
 Establishment of trade blocks

Industrial center
Emphasized manufacturing since the 1960s
 National support

Growth poles (planned industrial center)
 Eg. Ciudada Guayana (Venezuela), Ciudad Juárez, Tijuana
(Mexico)


Local investment
Industrial sectors developed without direct state support
 Eg. Monterrey (Mexico), Medellín (Colombia), São Paulo
(Brazil)

São Paulo, Brazil
Industrial giant of Latin America
 Financial center of Brazil
 The city of 18 million
 Began to industrialize in the early 1900s

City’s coffee merchants started to diversity their investments
 Since then, industries have agglomerated
 Produce automobiles, aircraft, chemicals, process foods, and
construction materials within a 60-mile radius of the city center

Foreign investment
 Realize
the benefit of attracting foreign investment
taking advantage of relatively cheap labor, and lax
government regulation
 eg.
Maquiladoras
 The
Mexican assembly plants that line the border with U.S.
 Manufacturing systems in an increasingly globalized
economy
 Mexico’s competitive advantage is
Its location along the U.S. border
 Membership in NAFTA

Maquiladoras – opportunities and
challenges

Opportunities
Between 1994 and 2000, 3 out of 10 new jobs in Mexico were in
Maquiladoras
 Account for nearly half of Mexico’s exports


Challenges
U.S. workers lost jobs
 Industrial pollution due to lax government regulation
 Poorly integrated with the rest of the economy

Latin America in the Global Economy
 Why
does Latin America’s economy suffer?
 Dependency theory (1960s)
Expansion
of European capitalism created the
region’s underdevelopment
For the developed “cores” of the world to prosper,
the “peripheries” became dependent and
impoverished
Support self-sufficiency policy, and agrarian reform

Disproportionate flow of
exports to the U.S.
80% of Mexican exports
 40% of all Central
American and Andean
export
 15% of Mercosur trade


Anyhow, increase in
intraregional trade is
recognized as a positive
sign of greater economic
independence for Latin
America
Argentina in early 2002
from the view of dependency theory

Shows how dependent economies can be vulnerable to the
fluctuation in a global economy
Financial crisis in the late 1990s (Asia, Russia)
 Reduction in DFI in Latin America
 Devaluation of currency
 Cheaper Brazilian products
 Trade instability with Argentina
 Worsened Argentina’s already unstable economy

 So
do you think FTAA will benefit all (in the
hemisphere) or benefit only U.S. eventually?
Neoliberalism as globalization
 By
the 1990s most Latin American political leaders
area embracing neoliberalism
 Neoliberal policies stress privatization, export
production, direct foreign investment, and few
restrictions on imports
 Eg.
Chile’s economic growth: 5.6% (1990s)
 Social
and environmental costs associated with
neoliberal policies are not known yet
Dollarization
A process by which a country adopts the U.S. dollar as its
official currency
 To address the problems of currency devaluation and
hyperinflation
 Ecuador (2000), Panama (1904)
 No long has control of its monetary policy
 Political cost
 Indicator of the prominence of the dollar in a global
economy

Social development
 Social
indicators have improved last three decades
 Lower than MDC, but higher than other
developing countries despite economic downturns
 Role of grassroots and nongovernment
organizations (NGOs)
 Extreme variations between rural and urban areas,
between regions, and along race and gender lines
Race and inequality
 The
complex racial and ethnic mix fostered
tolerance for diversity
 More often than not, link between race and poverty
can be found
 Southern
 Race
Mexico(Indian), Northeastern Brazil(Black)
does not necessarily determine one’s
economic standing, but it certainly influences it
For the last three
decades, the status of
women has improved