GEOG 202: Chapter 4 Notes (Latin America)

Panama Canal

powerful symbol of Latin America's role in global trade and US involvement; opened in 1914; continuously expanding

Wang Jing

Chinese billionaire who sought to build a Nicaraguan Canal, but lost fortune to black market a real later

Nicaraguan Canal

construction devastated environment; potential economic and political power is daunting

Latin America

distinct region, outlined by the Rio Grande (Bravo) and ending at Tierra del Fuego; named for predominance of Romance languages; major exporter of soy; greatest reserves of biological diversity; has not yet experienced environmental degradation (as in Europe)

1850s-1950s Latin America

exports to North America and Europe fuels economy; specialized in bananas and coffee, meats and wool, wheat and corn, petroleum and copper

Neoliberal Policies

encourage foreign investment, export production, and privatization; adopted by many states

Neotropics

tropical ecosystems in the Western Hemisphere; diversity and uniqueness attractive to naturalists; inspired Darwin's theory of evolution

Latin American Challenges

balance economic benefits of extraction with principles of sustainable development; improve environmental quality of cities

Shields

humid lowlands interspersed with large upland plateaus on the Atlantic side of South America; one of the most important areas of settlement; arable land, mild climate, sufficient rainfall

Andes

younger mountains that extend from northwestern Venezuela to Tierra del Fuego; ecologically and geologically complex; created by collision of oceanic and continental plates; series of folded and faulted sedimentary rocks with crystalline and volcanic rock

Altiplano

treeless high plain of Peru and Bolivia; ranges from 11,800 feet to 13,000 feet in altitude

Mexican Plateau

large, tilted block that ranges from 4000 to 8000 feet in elevation; Mesa Central at southern end contains largest population centers (Mexico City and Puebla)

Volcanic Axis

chain of more than 40 volcanoes that stretches from Guatemala to Costa Rica; soil yields variety of domestic and export crops; most of Central America's population is concentrated in the zone

South American Shields

Brazilian Shield (larger and covers Amazon Basin to Plata Basin), Patagonian shield (southern tip of South America), and Guiana Shield

Amazon Basin

largest river system in world; largest city if Belem; active settlement has boosted population; developing through towns, roads, dams, farms, and mines

Brazilian Government

plans to build up to 30 new dams in its portion of Amazon (most contested-Belo Monte)

La Plata Basin

made up of Parana, Paraguay, and Uruguay Rivers;economically productive through large-scale mechanized agriculture (soybean production); many areas support livestock; contains major dams (Itaipu Dam generates electricity for Paraguay)

Orinoco Basin

1/7 of the Amazon; meanders through much of southern Venezuela and eastern Colombia; associated with Llanos (tropical grasslands)

Climate in Latin America

little variation in temperatures, except for precipitation patterns (distinct wet and dry seasons); tropical and humid forest or savanna (depends on rainfall); arid along Pacific coasts, Patagonia, northern Mexico, and Bahia of Brazil

Altitudinal Zonation

relationship between cooler temperatures at higher elevations and changes in vegetation; temperature shifts based on changes in elevation

Alexander von Humboldt

found that altitudinal zonation is innately understood by inhabitants; found declines in temperature in higher elevations (environmental lapse rate)

Environmental Lapse Rate

declines in air temperature in higher elevations; temperature declines approx. 3.5F for every 1000 feet in elevation (6.5C for every 1000); changes in vegetation by elevation

El Nino

weather phenomena (flooding) in Latin America that occurs when a warm Pacific current arrives along the normally cold coastal waters of Ecuador and Peru in December; change in temperature happens every few years and produces torrential rains; results in drought

Rate of Increase in GHG

dramatically lower than in all other developing regions (except for Sub-Saharan Africa); due to lower average energy consumption, higher reliance on renewable energy and public transportation

Climate Change

negatively influencing agricultural productivity, water availability, changes in composition and productivity of ecosystems; increased vector-born disease; more apparent in higher elevations (highlands are particularly vulnerable)

Atlantic Coastal Forests

disappearing due to agriculture, settlement, and ranching (NAFTA stimulating commercial logging in Mexico-->falling confers forests)

Latin American Forests

6% of Earth's landmass; agricultural frontier divided by state governments to give land away; 60% of Brazil forests have been deforested (expansion of industrial mining and logging, growth in corporate farms, development of roads and dams, man-made wildfires, population growth)

Grassification

conversion of tropical forest into pasture; encourage deforestation to make room for cattle (preference for ranching due to vaqueros); dramatic in Central American countries (Guatemala, Costa Rica, Panama)

Paramos

high altitude grasslands surrounding metropolitan Bogota; maintain city's watershed and water supply

Modern Agriculture

depends on chemical fertilizers and pesticides-->direct exposure to toxicity+birth defects; many useful native plants have been lost

Urban Environmental Challenges

air pollution, water availability and quality, garbage removal; city dwellers have better access to water, sewers, and electricity

Air Pollution

geographical factors+meteorological factors; elevates death rates; most prominent in Mexico City and Santiago (both have taken steps to address issue)

Water

accessibility is challenging for large cities as well

Dominance of Cities

rivers are underutilized as meant of transportation for urbanization; many highland cities (Mexico City, Guatemala City, Bogota, and La Paz) dominate national economies; larger cities near coasts; dramatic population growth in 1960s and 1970s

Encomienda

colonial authorities granted large tracts of land to colonists (promised service of Indian laborers); passed down from generation to generation

Latifundia

entrenched practice of maintaining large estates; allocation of large blocks of land to one owner

Minifundia

peasant farming small plots of land for self-subsistence (despite well documented patter of estate ownership); can lead to permanent or shifting cultivation; crops for subsistence and trade

Agrarian Reform

peasants demanded redistribution of land ownership in 20th century; programs met with resistance; governments later made fonder lands available to land-hungry peasants

Mexican Revolution

yielded system of communally held lands (ejidos)

Sandinista Revolution

lands were expropriated from political elite and converted into collective farms; 1979 Nicaragua

Carretera Marginal

highway developed by Peru to lure colonists into the cloud and rain forests of eastern Peru

Interoceanic Highway

links Peru and Brazil; opened new areas of settlement in Amazonian territories

Opening of Brazilian Amazon

most ambitious frontier colonization scheme; Brazil opened many new highways, capital city (Brasilia), mining operations; opening of Amazon provided outlet for landless peasants to attract resources; led to environmental depression

Preference to Urban Life

cultural and economic factors; 4/5 of Latin Americans live in cities

Urban Primacy

country has a primate city three to four times larger than any other city in the country (Lima, Caracas, Guatemala City, Santiago, Buenos Aires, Mexico City); liability due to too many national resources in one urban center

Urban Form

CBD (central business district), middle- and lower-class housing, periferico (ring road or beltway highway), since of peripheral squatter settlements (worst housing in risky places)

Informal Sector

fundamental force that houses, services, and employs inhabitants of poor neighborhoods; relies on low-wage self-employment (may include illegal activities); provision of goods and services without benefit of govt. regulation, registration, or taxation

Rural-to-Urban Migration

consolidation of lands, mechanization of agriculture, and increased population pressure-->peasants pour into LA cities; driven. by poverty, individual choice, and urban preference

Population Growth and Mobility

natural increase+immigration in early 1900s (1960s and 1970s showed tremendous growth); high life expectancy and Human Development Index; increased (majority) total fertility rate

Mestizo

people of mixed European and Amerindian ancestry; immigration offices set up by LA countries in Europe attracted peasants to "whiten" population

Asian Migration

considerably fewer than European immigrants; ex. Japanese worked on coffee estates in Brazil w/ sugar estates and guano mines in Peru; immigrants were landless laborers; expansion of soybean and orange production; latest immigrants from South Korea

Political Turmoil

sparked international migration; civil wars in El Salvador and Guatemala sent waves of refugees into Mexico and US (violence drives people upward); LA is now a region of emigration

Remittances

money sent back home to sustain family members from workers in region; flow of capital that may lead to sustained development or survival strategy; economic impact

Iberian Colonial Experience

imposed political and cultural coherence on LA (slave trade, collapse of native populations)

Pristine Myth

perpetuated about LA being sparsely settled wilderness when Spanish arrived in 1492; argued by William Denevan; evidence native population cleared forest, created grasslands, built urban centers, and experienced soil erosion issues

Columbian Exchange

"biological swap" between Old World and New World; transfer of people, plants, animals, ideas, and diseases; hastened decline in Indian decline

Indian Survival

land-based; territorial homes preserve distinct ethnic identity

Languages

2/3 Spanish, 1/3 Portuguese (Brazil); neglected influence of indigenous languages in region

Syncretic Religions

blends of different belief systems; enabled pre-Hispanic religious practices to be folded into Catholic worship; evolved and endured among African slaves

Organization of American States

1889 neutral hemispheric vision of American relations and cooperator; US policies toward trade, economic assistance, political development, and military intervention; US geopolitical influence declining

Union of South American Nations

includes all South American countries except French Guiana; political, rather than trade

Pacific Alliance

trade-oriented group that included Mexico, Colombia, Peru, and Chile (Costa Rica and Panama joining); represent nearly half of the region's world trade

Treaty of Tordesillas

result of Portuguese presence in Americas (fist active colonial agents); navigators charted coast of Africa to find ocean route to Spice Islands (Moluccas) in SE Asia; established Pope's line of division in Atlantic World; not recognized by French, English, or Dutch

Portuguese

initially unimpressed with Brazil (other side of Tordesillas line) since it had no spices or indigenous settlements; interest later intensified in late 1500s with development of sugar estates and expansion of slave trade and gold in 1700s

Spanish

pursued conquest and settlement of new American territories from start; developed silver resources in central Mexico and Andes; economy diversified to include cacao, sugar, and livestock; colonists were self-sufficient

1800s Revolution-Spain

elites born in Americas gained control and displaced representatives of crown; Spanish authority challenged

1800s Revolution-Portugal

slower and less violent road to independence; Brazil declared separate from Portugal with own monarch and later became republic

Spanish Colonies

divided into viceroyalties (New Spain and Peru) with subdivisions that were later modern states; fragmented in 1800s

Gran Colombia

vision of Simon Bolivar for new and independent state; Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, and Panama combined into one political unit

Border Conflicts

territories were not clearly delimited-->states struggled to demarcate boundaries; War of the Pacific in Chile, Mexican-American War, War of Triple Alliance

Democracy

by 1990s, each country had a democratically elected president (except Cuba); doubted by many poor and middle class

Supranational Organizations

governing bodies that include several states; ex. trade blocs that include UNASUR and Pacific Alliance

Subnational Organizations

groups that represent areas or people within a state that form along ethnic or ideological lines; ex. native groups that seek territorial recognition, insurgent groups, drug cartels

NAFTA

took effect in 1994 as a free-trade area that gradually eliminated tariffs and eased movement of goods; increased intraregional trade w/ controversy about costs to environment and employment; proved that free-trade area combining industrialized and developing states were possible

Mercosur

formed in 1991 with Brazil and Argentina (two largest South American economies) with Uruguay and Paraguay (Venezuela later joined); reflects growth of economies and willingness to put aside differences for economic benefits

UNASUR

formation initiated by Brazil; includes all countries in South America except for French Guiana (territory of France)

FARC

guerrilla group in Colombia that controlled large territories and gained wealth and weapons through drug trade

Mexico and Brazil

LA's "economic engines"; 15th and 9th largest in world (respectively)

Neoliberalism

state-run national industries and tariffs were jettisoned for policy reforms that emphasized privatization, direct foreign investment, and free trade; fiscal policy, increased trade, privatization and reduced spending grew economies and lowered poverty

Agricultural Production

trend in LA is to mechanize agriculture and expand range of crops; Brazil and Argentina second and third largest producer of soy; areas of rice, cotton, and orange trees w/ wheat and sugar; coffee is major connection to global trade

Mining and Forestry

silver, zinc, copper, iron, bauxite, and gold are economic mainstays; Chile leads in Cu, Mexico and Peru lead in Ag, Peru leads in Au; lithium continues to gain interest (key metal); more mechanized and less labor-intensive

Energy Sector

oil-rich nations (Venezuela, Mexico, and Brazil) can meet fuel needs and earn state revenues for oil exports; largest new oil discovery is off coast of Brazil; natural gas production continues to increase

Brazil's Biofuel Success

converted sugarcane into ethanol when it was oil-poor and continued to invest in ethanol

Maquiladoras

Mexican assembly plants that line border with US; characteristic of manufacturing systems in globalization; constructed as part of border industrialization program; attracts foreign companies

Outsourcing

practice of moving service jobs (tech support, data entry, and programming) to cheaper locations; Uruguay emerging as an LA leader

Dollarization

process by which a country adopts the US dollar as its official currency; USD becomes only medium of exchange and country's national currency ceases to exist; provides economic benefits in crises; ex. Ecuador (2001) and Panama (1904); can be partial (some circulating) or full (total replacement)

Benefits of Dollarization

tends to reduce inflation, eliminate fears of currency devaluation, and reduce cost of trade by eliminating currency conversion costs; exists in many countries around the world

Cons of Dollarization

country no longer has control of monetary policy-->relies on US Federal Reserve decisions

Bolsa Familia

conditional cash transfer programs that have reduced extreme poverty; poor Brazilian families receive monthly check from state, but are required to keep children in school and take them to clinics for checkups