Transcript People and Economics of Latin America

Terms, People, Places and
Economics of Latin America
Mexico
Population and Cities
• Mexican citizens are
moving to the cities
because of economic
opportunities there.
• Mexico’s population has
doubled since 1970 and
is largely very young.
NAFTA
• Mexico is a member of
NAFTA( North American
Free Trade Agreement)
along with the United States
and Canada. This
agreement has created a
huge zone of cooperation
on trade and economic
issues. It is expected to
contribute to the prosperity
of the members
Oil and Manufacturing
• Mexico’s economy
includes a large industry
based on it’s oil
reserves in and along
the Gulf of Mexico.
• Profits from oil have
helped finance
development.
Maquiladoras
• Many new factories are
located in northern
Mexico. These are
called Maquiladoras,
factories where
imported materials are
assembled into finished
goods for export to the
United States.
Emigration
• Many workers leave
Mexico to work in the
United States.
• Many send money back
to their families and
villages.
• Mexico shares a 2000
mile border with the
United States.
Work and School
• Rapidly growing population and government
policies have contributed to a shortage of
jobs.
• Without education and training, young
workers cannot find jobs. Attendance in
schools has improved.
• Education will become even more important
as Mexico becomes more industrialized.
Central America
Culture of Central America
• Central America blends
two major elements:
Native American
influences with those of
Spanish settlers.
• Spanish language is
dominate in the region
and Catholicism is the
major religion.
Culture of the Caribbean
• Residents of the islands
are of Native American,
European, African and
mixed ancestry.
• Africans brought to
work on the sugar
plantations left a lasting
mark on all aspects of
culture in the islands.
Cultural Hearth
• Central America is a
cultural hearth. A
cultural hearth is the
heartland or place of
origin of a major
culture. The Mayan
people built a great
civilization in the
region.
Caribbean
Caribbean Influences
• Africans were brought by
slave traders to replace
Taino natives working on
plantations.
• By the 19th century, the
Spanish, French, British,
Dutch, and Danish all
claimed islands in the
Caribbean. Most Europeans
were there to profit from
sugar trade.
Farming
• Sugar cane plantations
in the Caribbean
provide the largest
export crop.
• Many people work on
the plantations but pay
is poor, and as a result,
average per-capita
income in the
Caribbean is very low.
Terrace Farming
• Terrace farming is a
type of farming that
was developed first by
the Inca people. This
method of farming uses
"steps that are built into
the side of a mountain
or hill.
South America
Education
• Literacy rates in South America are higher
than in other parts of Latin America.
• A higher literacy rate means more people are
educated and can get a better job.
Brazil Industrial Power
• Natural resources (Iron,
gold, silver, titanium) make
Brazil an industrial power.
• More than a 1,000 rivers
including the Amazon flow
through Brazil, meaning
Power Plants are located
along these rivers producing
electricity.
• Also large reserves of Oil
and Natural gas contribute
to its industrial might.
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Chile
Chile is South America’s greatest success
story, due to participation in the global
economy by trading the products in its
mines and fields as far as Japan
Chile is an associate member of Mercosur
Mercosur is an economic common
market that began operating in the
southern cone of South America in 1995.
** Goals of a free-trade zone among
member nations:
1. to make member economies more
stable;
2. to increase trade within region and
thereby
decrease dependency on unstable global
markets;
3. to channel some of the profits of
improving
economies to those people and groups
that most
need help.
Doldrums
• Sailors noticed the stillness of the rising (and not blowing) air near
the equator and gave the region the depressing name "doldrums.
• “ The doldrums, usually located between 5° north and 5° south of the
equator, are also known as the Intertropical Convergence Zone or
ITCZ for short.
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The trade winds converge in the region of the ITCZ, producing
convectional storms that produce some of the world's heaviest
precipitation regions.
• The ITCZ moves north and south of the equator depending on the
season and solar energy received. The location of the ITCZ can vary
as much as 40° to 45° of latitude north or south of the equator based
on the pattern of land and ocean. The Intertropical Convergence
Zone is also known as the Equatorial Convergence Zone or
Intertropical Front.
• http://daphne.palomar.edu/pdeen/Animations/23_WeatherPat.swf
Columbian Exchange
• The Columbian Exchange was a dramatically widespread exchange of
animals, plants, culture, human populations (including slaves),
communicable disease, and ideas between the Eastern and Western
hemispheres (Old World and New World).
• The Columbian Exchange greatly affected almost every society on Earth.
New diseases introduced by Europeans, to which the indigenous peoples of
the Americas had no immunity, depopulated many cultures.
Cordillera
• A cordillera is an
extensive chain of
mountains or
mountain ranges,
that runs along a
coastline (e.g. the
Andes).
Isthmus of Panama
• The Isthmus of
Panama, is the
narrow strip of land
that lies between the
Caribbean Sea and
the Pacific Ocean,
linking North and
South America.
Altiplano
• in west-central South
America, where the
Andes are at their
widest, is the most
extensive area of
high plateau on Earth
outside of Tibet.
Mesoamerica
• is a region and culture area in the Americas, extending
approximately from central Mexico to Belize, Guatemala, El
Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica,
• This region shares cultural factors identifying it as a cultural region
such as language, remnants of Spanish colonization, flourishing
societies.
2010 Haiti Earthquake
• United States Geological Survey (USGS) called it the strongest earthquake
since 1770 in what is now Haiti
• The quake struck on January 12, 2010 at 4:53 p.m.
• The 7.0 magnitude quake's epicenter hit just 10 miles west of Porte-auPrince and its 2 million inhabitants
• 3 million people in need of emergency aid after major earthquake
• The major quake sent 33 aftershocks ranging in magnitude from 4.2 to 5.9
South America’s Size
▄4th largest continent
▄ 6,879,000 sq miles
▄ 12% of the earth’s land
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Latin
America’s
Population
Distribution
Deforestation in the Amazon
Original Forest Cover
Current Forest Cover
Future Forest Cover
Amazon River
▄ 4,300 miles long
▄ Flows through
6 countries
▄ No bridges cross it
▄ 2nd Longest River in the
world
▄ Satellite View
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Deserts
▄ Atacama Desert is the worlds’ driest
◄
▄ Patagonian Desert►
Largest in Americas/5th in the world
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Rainforest
Half of the rainforest
in the world is in the
Amazon region
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Andes Mountains
.
Andes stretch 4,000
miles
from the north to the
south, thus making it
the longest mountain
range in the world. In
Chile, it rises to over
20,000 feet.
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Desertification
•Conversion of marginal
rangeland or cropland to a
more desert like land type.
Desertification can be
caused by overgrazing, soil
erosion, prolonged drought,
or climate change
Panama Canal
• Panama Canal is a shipping canal that cuts across
Central America, connecting the Atlantic and Pacific
Oceans.
• The canal made possible the exchange of both goods
and ideas.