Latin America

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Latin America

• Physical Geography
• 8.1

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Physical Geography

• 8 mil sq. miles (equal to N.A.)
• Made up of Middle America and South America
• Caribbean sometimes debated as part of MA

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Yellow- Caribbean Green- Central America Red-
Middle America Purple- South America All
together is LATIN AMERICA
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Physical Geography

• Caribbean aka West Indies
• 3 parts Lesser Antilles, Greater Antilles,
  Bahamas
• Brazil is largest and most pop. of SAs 13
  countries

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Highlands

• Begins in Pac. Ranges/ Rockies? Mexicos Sierra
  Madre? CAs Central Highlands? SAs Andes
• map pg 195
• Crust collision, sits on Ring of Fire

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Highlands

• Mexicos Sierra Madre
• Sierra Madre Oriental (eastern) Sierra Madre
  Occidental (western) meet at Sierra Madre del Sur
• Surrounds Mxn Plateau
• Mild climate, volcanic soil in South settlement

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Highlands

• Most Caribbean islands part of Central Highlands
  (range goes across sea)
• Volcanic islands
• Some still active

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Highlands

• Andes Mtns
• 4500 miles long, worlds longest
• Cordilleras- several ranges running parallel
• Encircle high plains (altiplano) in Peru Bolivia

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Atacama Desert

• Driest place on Earth!
• Some areas have never received rainfall since
  recordkeeping began
• More than a million ppl live here
• Live near coast, oases, or farm with
  drip-irrigation
• Fog Catching Net
• Fog rolls in? condenses
• on net? drips to pipes?
• water crops

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Highlands

• Mato Grosso Plateau- from eastern Peru Bolivia
  to most of Brazil
• Low pop.
• Brazilian Highlands- from MGP to eastern Brazil,
  ends in escarpment (cliff)

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Lowlands

• Coastal plains along Brazils coast
• Next to escarpment
• Prime area for settlement/tourism
• Llanos (Colombia Venezuela) Pampas (Argentina
  Uruguay)
• Grazing plains, pampas breadbasket
• Cowboys llaneros or gauchos

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WATER

• MAs rivers are small, but SAs are HUGE!
• Rio Grande (Rio Bravo del Norte) is major one,
  though, outside SA
• Amazon- 4000 miles (NYC to Rome, Italy)
• 20 of Earths freshwater, 10X the volume of the
  Mississippi
• Hundreds of sm. rivers join it? Amazon Basin
  (creates a valuable functional region) ? 40 of
  SA
• Only navigable for 2300 miles from Atlantic

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WATER

• Parana, Paraguay, Uruguay? next lrgst water
  system
• Commercial highway, hydroelectricity
• Flow into estuary (Rio de la Plata) before
  Atlantic

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Notice the intense terracing!!

• Lake Titicaca- worlds highest (elev.) navigable
  lake (Andes- Peru Bolivia)
• 12,500 ft above sea level
• Center for Incas

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WATER

• Lake Titicaca is fed by rivers, melting glaciers,
  rainfall
• Losing water with shorter rain seasons less
  glaciers (lowest since 1949)

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Caribbean Sea

• Lake Maracaibo- SAs largest (Venezuela)
• Caribbean inlet
• Rich oil fields

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• Lake Nicaragua- CAs largest lake (b/w Nicaragua
  Costa Rica)
• Smaller than Titicaca
• Has small volcanic islands w/in
• Known for Caribbean pirates!

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Resources

• Oil Gulf of MX and southern Caribbean? MX and
  Venezuela are leaders in world (OPEC)
• Leaders in gold, silver, emeralds, copper
  (ancient civs. prospered with them)
• Problems geography, lack of , social/political
  unrest ? prevent development of resources

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5 Min Video

• Physical geography video