Gock

Latin America consists of all the lands south of U.S. known at latin america because the majority of langages spoken originated from latin 65% spanish 30% portugesee 527 mill people majority catholic brazil is the largest nation with almost 200 mill people brazil also has the largest cathoilic pop in the world mexico is second largest nation in LA 107 mill poeple its is very diversified unlike most developing nation LA live predominately in cities geography of latin america LA consists of various geographic feature these features contributed to the developement of the economic cultural and political devolopment of the region mountains the andes are the largest chain in LA these are found in the western side of continent they are abundant in recources especially silver gold and cooper they also create several problems problems for the nations in the mountain chain like volcanic earthquake and limited communication lake titkaka- highest lake in the world mt. Aconcagua- highest mnt in chili or in Andes Plains South america has flat grasslands located in both in the northern and southern part of the continent pampas-the plains o fargentina this region is used for cattle ranching and agriculture it provides an abundant source of food for argentina and the surrounding region Llanos these are the flt plains of columbia and venezuela also provide agriculture and cattle herding river the amazon, the plata, and orinoco largest in LA deforestation is the result of logging agriculture, pasture, and industrialization it leads to soil erosion severe flooding and droughts grassification-the conversion of tropical rainforest into pasture contributed to depletion of rainforest since cattle pastures are seen as profitable business many have made efforts to convert forests into these grasslands deserts patagonian dessert largest in LA Located in chile driest place early history westeren hemisphere had several prosperous civilizations throughout history three main famous are aztec maya and inca starting in 1492 the spanish became the first europeans to explore LA after conquering the carribean they moved to mainland in search for riches to avoid conflict between spain and portugal the 1493 treaty of tordesillas diveded the world between spain and portugal created imaginary line in the atlantic ocean every east would go to portugal and west go to spain as a result spain revieved most america portugal was able to get brazil from treaty after the conquest to the aztecs in 1521 and the inca 1532 spain contolled to majority of the western hemisphere spain transformed territories into profitable markets plantations were set up along coast grew cacao sugar and tabaccoo Encomienda system was set up was a labor system that the spanish applied to their colonies old world brought weat sugar coffee, horses cows pigs, small pox measles new world brought corn patatos bean cocoa, metals gold silver, tabaccoo encomienda system-mix european native american although latin america in predominatly catholic many areas blended their old religious practices with their newly adopted faith this created syncretic religions where different belief systems were blended together religionalism** loyalty and pride in ones region over the nation in LA many subnational organization exist these are groups the represent people in a nation based along ideological or ethnic boundries in cases groups have been fightting to achieve independence or overthrow goverment supernational organizations- governing bodies that include several states who focus on improving economic relations.. free trade groups include LAFTA, NAFTA, and Mercosur Urban migration 19602 large numbers of people began migraing from frual to urban migration was caused by the need for better jobs and living conditions new technologies were also causing people to leave their farmlands in LA most of the farmlands were owned by the europeans under the encomienda system ownership of large tracts of lands was a symbol of wealth and power in LA history population growth rapid increase in pop in LA cause by increaing life expectency and high fertility rates the average latin american women had 6 to 7 children today TFR is between 2 and 3% caused by urbanization women becoming more educated women joining workforce availibility of controceptives caribbean island region bewtween the US and SA 26 different nations 45 mill people most comon language spanish english and fench majority of the people catholic and protestant these were the first part of the new world to be explored and settled by europeans geagraphy-greater antille which has jamaica cuba hispaniola and puerto rico all islands are independant except for puerto which is u.s. territory lesser antilles-consits of micro states “vatican” rim nations mainland nation consist of belize guyana suriname and fench guiana french guinana is still a territory of france very used as a space center for the european agency rim nations are also the most forested region of the caribbean demographic trends like in LA opo of the carribbean is mainly urban during the colonial era mortality rates were very high due to inhumane treatment and malnutrition this lead to the increase demand for african slaves conditions began to improve once slavery ended in 19th century declining fertility rates in caribbean caused by educatoin and birth control cuba .3% NIR puerto.4% haiti 3.5% NIR us 2% emigration limited economic oppertunities many people in caribbean have emigrated throughout the west since 1950s circular migration- stay within other islands men leave family and find work save money and later return home transnation migration-people who go back and forth between birth and host county dominican immigrants good ex move between nation and us nations suffer from brain drain where educated people leave the country to seek work in the west