GES Module 5 - Latin America & The Carribean

What are the major attributes of Latin America?

All of the above

What did the colonial powers institute?

A shared language

What are the main languages instituted by the colonial powers?

Spanish and Portuguese

The town designs instituted by the colonial powers is another shared history of Latin America.

True

What is at the center of a typical, Roman gridded street pattern in old towns in Latin America?

A plaza

What does rural-to-urban migration mean?

The process where people move from countryside to cities

What is a primate city?

The biggest city in terms of population, economy, political, and cultural importance

Mexico City is a primate city.

True

What are some push factors that drive people away from rural and towards urban cities?

• A lack of opportunities

• Mechanization (especially agrarian)

What are some pull factors that bring people towards urban cities?

• Opportunities (e.g. financial)

• Amenities (e.g. healthcare)

• Community

How is the economy in Latin America?

There is a very wide wealth gap between the wealthy and the poor

What are informal settlements?

Low quality shelter or homes for those who can’t afford housing.

Informal settlements are illegal and outside of government control.

True

What is the Treaty of Tordesillas?

A treaty in 1494 where the Spanish and Portuguese wanted to split land, of which the Spanish claimed most of Latin America and the Portuguese were claiming the rest and part of Africa.

What is the Gini Coefficient?

A measure to determine the level of equality and inequality distribution of a population’s incomes

What are informal settlements called in Brazil?

Favelas

What is an archipelago?

A group of islands

There are deserts found in northern Mexico because deserts are generally found in ___ degrees north and ___ degrees south of the equator.

30

As you get closer to the equator, the climate in Latin America starts to get wetter.

True

There is a ___________ of numerous tectonic plates in Latin America, in which Central America serves as “ground zero” (focal point) for volcanic activity and earthquakes

convergence

The Central American mountains make their continuation __ ___ ____ _____ of South America in the form of the Andes.

down the west coast

What does mestizo refer to?

It refers to someone with a mix of European background and indigenous background

What are the places that are along the coasts of the Caribbean that European colonialists viewed as important for plantation-style agriculture?

The Mainland and Rimland

What went on in the Rimland of the Caribbean?

Plantations

What were the plantations in the Rimland made for?

Cash crops grown (mainly sugarcane) for exportation (e.g. to Great Britain)

What went on in the Mainland of the Caribbean?

A hacienda economy

What was the Mainland of the Caribbean made for?

Diversified farms for local consumption (with less of Afro-Caribbean influence culturally)

Every Latin American and Caribbean country has a megacity.

True