GEOGRAPH 220: Geography, Climate, Migration, and Economic Development of the Americas

Flashcards covering geography, climate zones, indigenous civilizations, colonial interventions, and modern economic relationships across Middle, South, and North America.

What are the geographical boundaries of Middle and South America as defined in the lecture?

The region extends from the US-Mexico border south through Central America and South America to Puerto Arenas at the southern tip of South America.

How do vaccine manufacturers utilize the opposing flu seasons of the Northern and Southern Hemispheres?

When the flu season ends in the Southern Hemisphere, vaccine manufacturers sample flu variants that emerged in South America and incorporate them into Northern Hemisphere vaccines alongside standard virus components, reversing the process when the Northern winter season mutates and ends.

Approximately how many annual deaths are attributed to influenza and COVID-19 respectively in the United States?

Influenza kills approximately $50,000-60,000$ people annually in the United States, and COVID-19 currently kills approximately the same number annually.

Why do some geographic arguments classify Mexico within North America rather than Middle America?

Because of deep economic integration through NAFTA (now USMCA), a shared border, and an economy strengthened over the past $20$ years by good economic management.

How do Mexican tourist visas compare to typical tourist visas elsewhere?

Mexican tourist visas allow stays of up to $365$ days, which is far more generous than the typical $90$-day visas permitted elsewhere.

What historical origin defines the concept of 'banana republics' in Middle America?

It emerged from countries where plantation agriculture was the sole economic engine, controlled by multinational companies such as Dole Fruit and United Fruit that maintained compliant governance structures.

How many times has the United States invaded the Dominican Republic to prevent problematic governance?

The Dominican Republic has been invaded by the United States $4$ times.

What occurred in Chile in 1973 involving foreign intervention?

The CIA supported the overthrow of Chile's socialist government, installing a dictatorship that implemented market-oriented neoliberal policies and privatized government-owned entities and services.

How does true capitalism differ from the roles played by modern business figures like Jeff Bezos?

True capitalism specifically means controlling the means of production (exemplified historically by Andrew Carnegie, the Rockefellers, and the Vanderbilts), whereas modern figures are often middlemen organizing subcontracted capital, such as Amazon renting data center infrastructure from Digital Realities and Eliquis.

What statistic was cited to highlight extreme wage inequality in 2023?

A Starbucks CEO earned $6,660\%$ more than a barista in 2023.

What are the tectonic characteristics and peak elevations of the Andes Mountains?

The Andes run north from Chile through Peru and Colombia, with peaks exceeding $22,000\text{ feet}$ ($7,000+\text{ meters}$), situated along the active Pacific Plate subduction zone.

Why is Haiti subject to a double natural hazard?

Haiti sits in an active seismic subduction zone causing earthquakes and is located in 'the slot'—a hurricane corridor between Florida and the Greater Antilles where westbound Atlantic hurricanes frequently pass.

What proportion of Earth's surface freshwater is contained in the Amazon basin?

The Amazon basin holds approximately $20\%$ of Earth's surface freshwater.

What causes the satellite-visible 'freshwater lens' formed by the Amazon River?

It is a massive bulge of fresh water created as the enormous outflow enters the ocean, driven by Earth's rotational centrifugal forces.

What environmental trade-off is associated with lithium mining in the Atacama Desert?

Although its unique geology makes the Atacama a top global lithium producer, extraction requires substantial water extraction, leading to aquifer depletion and environmental degradation in Earth's driest desert.

What did Charles Darwin observe regarding human environmental adaptation in Tierra del Fuego?

He observed indigenous peoples running partially or completely naked in temperate conditions, strategically using mud and skin pigmentation to prevent insect bites, which helped him begin formulating concepts of biological evolution.

What general rule describes the relationship between elevation and temperature?

For every mile of elevation gain, the temperature drops approximately $1.5^\circ\text{F}$.

What ocean mechanism characterizes the El Niño phenomenon?

It is a Pacific Ocean warming event occurring every $2-7\text{ years}$ in which warm water normally near Papua New Guinea shifts eastward toward the Peruvian coast, altering global climate patterns and suppressing local fish catches.

What are the four altitude-based temperature zones in Latin America?

Tierra Caliente (sea level to $3,000\text{ feet}$), Tierra Templada ($3,000-6,000\text{ feet}$), Tierra Fría ($6,000-12,000\text{ feet}$), and Tierra Helada (above $12,000\text{ feet}$).

What crops and agricultural benefits define the indigenous 'Three Sisters' complex?

Corn, beans, and squash grown together; beans fix nitrogen in the soil, corn provides structural support, squash spreads ground cover, and consuming all three produces an enzyme profile yielding complete protein equivalent to red meat.

What physiological adaptation allows Quechua and Incan populations to live above $10,000\text{ feet}$?

They developed shorter bodies with larger lung capacities, allowing effective respiration in environments where oxygen levels decrease substantially.

What occurred during the 1995 Soufriere Hills volcanic event on the island of Montserrat?

The volcano erupted with lethal pyroclastic flows composed of rock, ash, and superheated gas travelling hundreds of miles per hour, destroying roughly three-quarters of the island and creating exclusion zones.

What is religious syncretism, and how does the Day of the Dead illustrate it?

Syncretism is the blending of external cultural or pre-contact elements into a larger belief system while preserving core religious ties; Day of the Dead maintains pre-contact rituals integrated within Roman Catholicism.

When did human Out-of-Africa migrations begin?

Out-of-Africa migrations of Homo sapiens began roughly $200,000$ to $350,000\text{ years ago}$.

What was Beringia, and what timeline governed human passage across it?

Beringia was an exposed grassland-steppe land bridge between modern-day Alaska and Siberia active during the Ice Age, allowing back-and-forth movement for roughly $15,000\text{ years}$ until rising sea levels severed the connection around $14,000\text{ years ago}$.

What 2022 archaeological discovery at White Sands, New Mexico provided evidence for early coastal migration?

Geologically dated fossilized footprints preserved in rock from approximately $35,000\text{ years ago}$, including prints from a male aged $14-18\text{ years}$ and prints showing a person setting down a child after crossing a stream.

What artifact characterizes the Clovis people throughout North America?

Clovis Points, which are distinct stone spear points roughly the size of a human hand found widely across North America from California to Nova Scotia.

What was the estimated indigenous population of North America in 1492, and what was the revised population size of Cahokia?

North America had an estimated $35$ to $50\text{ million}$ indigenous inhabitants in 1492; remote sensing in Cahokia, Missouri reveals settlement patterns indicating a population closer to $250,000$ or more rather than the original $50,000$ estimate.

What was North America's only domesticated animal at the time of European contact?

The turkey was the only domesticated animal; modern wild turkeys are hybrids derived from domesticated birds brought to Europe, bred, returned to North America, and escaped into the wild.

When was the word 'genocide' created and in what historical context?

The term was coined in 1946 by legal and human rights scholars seeking to define the orchestrated atrocities committed during the Holocaust.

What deliberate act of biological warfare did Lord Jeffrey Amherst propose?

As a British general, he wrote proposing that military officers distribute smallpox-infected blankets to Native Americans to eliminate them.

What economic benefit did Canada's return of Nunavut and the Northwest Territories provide to First Nations peoples?

These territories contain abundant rare earth mineral deposits, providing indigenous groups with substantial wealth through mining rights and resource profits.

What defined the early American 'double economy'?

An economy bifurcated between industrial technology, manufacturing, and innovation in the North, and agrarian plantation slavery in the South, where $12\%$ of the population owned all the land.

How did the completion of the Erie Canal by the 1840s reshape North American trade and urban growth?

It linked the Atlantic Ocean directly to the Great Lakes, allowing continuous waterborne freight from New York to Chicago, establishing New York City as the premier coastal financial center and Chicago as the inland resource-gathering hub.

What strategy did Canadian equipment manufacturers Bauer and CCM use to avoid northern border tariffs on $469$ hockey sticks?

Because the sticks are manufactured in China and Vietnam, the companies rerouted incoming shipments directly into the Port of Long Beach, California instead of crossing the US-Canada land border.

Where does Canada rank among the top merchandise trading partners of the United States?

Canada is the second-largest trading partner of the United States, behind Mexico in first place and ahead of China in third place.