World Geography: Brian Cooper: Exam 1 Review

Sierra Madre Oriental & Sierra Madre Occidental

9,000-13,000 ft in elevation

-Orient

term referencing an eastern location

-Cordillera

a mountain range that runs parallel to a coastline

Central Mesa

-Mesa: Spanish for plateau

-arid/dry region

-Mexico's primary area for livestock, ranching, & grazing for dryer areas instead of growing crops

-30 inches of rainfall/yr is good for crops

Sierra Madre del Sur

more rugged: limited transportation, stifles economic development

-home to Mexico's highest Native American decent (Mayans)

-one of Mexico's poorest areas

-Chiapas

-largest # of native population

-late 1990s they were mad; January 4, 1994 they lost the rebellion (Zapatista Movement) which was in protest of NAFTA and the mistreatment in government; same day NAFTA went into affect (still in affect today); their goal was not successful

-autonomy

self-govt; many minority tribes and nations in countries around the world are seeking some degree of local_______

Central American Mountains

-big impact on climate/weather/population distribution in Central America

-climate: long-term patterns of precipitation, wind...; what we can expect

-weather: day to day phenomenon of precipitation...; inconsistent

-West to East winds in U.S.

-30 degrees North of equator (Prevailing Easterlies)- Central America

-East to West in Central America

-most Central Americans live on Pacific Coast

-tropical rainforest (Atlantic/Caribbean- warm, rainy, wet) low population

-orographic effect

-oro: mountain

-warm air hits windward mountains, temperature gets colder and the capacity to hold moisture decreases, moisture precipitation goes down

-Rain Shadow

-as the air masses decent down the leeward slopes, the air heats up faster than it cooled off and takes on more moisture, little precipitation, hot/dry conditions in Pacific Coast; a region having little rainfall b/c it's sheltered from prevailing rain-bearing winds by a range of hills

Andes

-longest mtn range in the world

-still growing

-rugged/irregular mtns (no symmetry)

-subduction created these: the oceanic crust is more dense, caused volcanic activity

-Mount Aconcagua

-highest peak of Andes (22,831 ft)

-Theory of Continental Drift/Alfred Wegener

-over 100 yrs old by Alfred Wegener

-January 1912: continents moved, people thought Wegener was crazy

-1950s/60s: his work was revisited, found fossils

-South America continues to drift West

-Theory of Plate Tectonics

-everything is riding of plate tectonics

Guiana Highlands

mineral rich region of bauxite (aluminum)

Brazilian Highlands

-leads coffee production in the world; perfectly suited to grow it because...(GEOGRAPHIC FACTORS)

1) coffee likes rich, volcanic soils "soil robber"- takes more nutrients than it puts back

2) coffee likes tropical locations- consistency of conditions (frost free)

3) coffee likes slightly higher elevations (1500-4000 ft)

Rio Grande

-border between U.S. and Mexico

-river can erode away a new channel; oxbow lake

-rivers can change their course; causes disputes over ownership

-rivers are sources of freshwater (most essential resource)

-physiographic boundary

-a political boundary defined by a physical feature (river, crest of mtn range, escarpment,etc.)

-illusion of permanence; some are more permanent than others

Amazon River

-largest river in the world in terms of volume of fresh water( no other river comes close) Why? Because...

1) drainage basin is the largest

2)huge amounts of rainfall

-no bridges or dams across the river

-Drainage Basin

-river and all its tributaries drains

Parana- Paraguay River System

-hydroelectricity

-estuary: tidal mouth of a large river, where the tide meets the stream

-Rio de la Plata

-"River of Silver" (contains lots of silver); bridge of silver from S. America to Spain; human cost of Spanish rule to build it (slaves)

-one of the largest rivers

-mixing zone, freshwater meets saltwater of ocean

-important feeding zones, mating zone

-Itaipu Dam

-In 1980s, it was the largest dam, it is now the second

-supplies electricity for Brazil, Paraguay, Argentina, and Uruguay

Mexico

-Mexico's Architecture

-Pyramid of the Magician

-Discipline of Astronomy

-Caracol Observatory at Chichen Itza- understood Earth's sun rays

-Mayan Civilization

-Yucatan Peninsula: 500 AD/C-1200 peak period

-only ancient civilization to arise in low land tropics

-practiced migratory subsistence agriculture: growing food to support friends and fam; had to move around to do it b/c

1)the Yucatan has limestone which hasn't developed good layers of topsoil

2)lowlands

-Mayans were excellent math maticians; invented concept of zero

-Mayan Calendar is more accurate than ours

-Aztec Civilization

-

-Lake Texaco

-built capital city Tenochtitlan

-Modern Mexico City located on top of foundation; largest city in country- 22 million people

-Primate City

-disproportionally large in terms of population and expressive of the national character and culture; can only have one primate city

-Other examples: London, Paris, Tokyo

-Air Pollution

-industrial output and automobile exhaust

-temperature inversion: traps pollution, no circulation

-Push Factors of Mexico

-urban migration-

climate/drought/famine push people to leave the countryside; can't grow crops

-Pull Factors of Mexico

-jobs in the cities

-Slums & Shantytowns

-rural to urban migrations: moving from country to city

-lack police/ fire protection; causes crime

-lack public utilities such as sewage; fecal snow

-Remittances

-money sent back to Mexico from family members working in the U.S. to support their family

-Drug Cartels

-decreases tourism, increases violence- "dangerous place"

-Top 3 sources of Mexico's Income

-1) Tourism- Cancun built for tourism

2) Remittances- benefits both U.S. and Mexico

3) Oil- Bay of Campeche; owned by PEMEX; U.S. imports a lot of oil (proximity)

Central America

Belize

-"British Honduras"

-most Central Americans don't consider Belize as part of C. America b/c it was stolen from Guatemala in the late 1700s; if it hadn't been for British actions, then Belize would still be a part of Guatemala

-Barrier Reef

-attraction

-2nd largest in world

Guatemala

-Monroe Doctrine

-1820s: President James Monroe established this stating that U.S. wouldn't tolerate any European interference in the Western Hemisphere

-Banana Republic

-United Fruit (U.S. Country) controlled banana industry in C. America; also known as Chiquita

El Salvador

-Cold War: Soviet Union and allies VS U.S.; lasted 45 yrs; proxy war; lost 75,000 lives

-most densely populated country, land at premium

Honduras

-Hurricane Mitch

-killed 15,000 people

flooding/mudslides

-left 1/3 of populations homeless

-set back economy 15 yrs

-high vulnerability

natural hazard- one that continues to grow in research

2 concepts of research

1) Vulnerability-brings in human component, the human impact of the hazard

-includes how much warning ahead of time, predictions, can you get the message out, transportation problems, how much damage, shelters, ability to recover

-very hard/complex to study, but very essential

2) Risk- statistical likelihood that a given hazard will strike a given area, % likelihood thats physically calculated

Nicaragua

-Somoza

-branded the country of nicaragua

-Sandinistas

-tried to overthrow the Somoza dynasty, never successful

-first came to U.S. for help but we said no; so they got govt support from the Soviet Union

-1972, devastated by earthquake; Somoza did nothing to help the aftermath so the people began to support Sandinistas

-Sandinistas overthrew Somoza; U.S. was not happy

-1981, Pres Ronald Reagan couldn't stand communism so he started a fund to overthrow Sandinistas (Iran-Contra Scandal)

-Iran- Contra Scandal

-selling arms to Iran and using the funds to support the contras

- biggest scandal in R. Reagan's presidency; Oliver North accepted responsibility

Costa Rica

-"Switzerland of Central America"

-most politically stable country on the planet for 70 yrs

-no military since 1948; has defense agreements with other countries (including U.S.)

-has small, national police force that maintains domestic order

-economic prosperous

-Exotic Fauna

-home to 100s of species; most spectacular biodiversity

-Ecotourism

-tourists flock to natural areas

-Flor & Flauna (plants and animals)

-more appealing b/c it's cheap to develop and maintain, tourists help to maintain as well

Panama

-people think that it would still be part of Colombia if it wasn't for outside force; some don't think it's part of Central America

-transoceanic canal

-U.S. made Panama gain independence from Colombia b/c Colombia wouldn't build the Canal- took 11 yrs to build, opened in 1914

-Ferdinand de Lesseps/Panama Canal

-French engineer

-had reputation as master canal builder so he took on the Panama Canal

-had previously built the Suez Canal which has no elevation, its a desert; however Panama has elevation

-mosquito diseases killed people working on it so Lesseps abandoned his attempt

-Jimmy Carter president of the U.S at the time

-treaty passed by 1 vote in 1997 to turn over Panama Canal to Panama

-Widening Project- causes threats

The Caribbean----

-cuba

-Jamaica

-haiti

-Dominican republic

Cuba

-Fulgencio Batista

-in power until 1959 then overthrown by Fidel Castro- replaced with communist govt (1st communist govt in southern hemisphere)

-U.S. didn't like this fact, so they wanted to overthrow Castro

-Nikita Khrushchev

-1962, U.S. found Soviet Union missiles in Cuba

-Kennedy put quarantine around Cuba to prevent Soviet ships from entering Cuba until they moved the missiles

(Pres Kennedy didn't call it a "blockade" b/c thats an act of war); however they still thought of it as war

-Cuban Missile Crisis

-closest that we've ever come to a nuclear war

-end of diplomatic relations with Cuba

-last remaining relics of Cold War

-Castro's brother Raul castro is now in power

Jamaica

-sugarcane producer=cash crop

-bauxcite is a major export

-major export: reggae music; most popular: Bob Marley

-Marley was the most powerful man in Jamaica- CIA kept a file on him

Haiti

-poorest country in Western Hemi

-earthquakes: 2010, 7.0 earthquakes killed thousands of people

-vulnerable population

Dominican Republic

-most popular sport: baseball

-contributed more foreign born baseball players to major league than any other country

Colombia

-political instability and violence: source is illicit drug traffic and trade

-Cocaine

-major drug here

-comes from coca plant

-coca was shipped to them

U.S State Travel Advisories

issues travel warnings because of drug trafficking

-Pablo Escobar

-controlled 90% of cocaine productions

-one of the wealthiest men on the planet in 1980

-helped the community with his money

-could be very brutal

Venezuela

-worst economy on the planet right now because inflation on everything is rising on a daily basis

-had largest proven oil reserves; 298 billion barrels

PROVEN Reserves must satisfy 2 criteria

1) it has been proven that it exists

2)economically feasible to extract it and theres a profit

-Lake Maracaibo

not an actual lake bc it has a

-narrow natural outlet to the Caribbean Sea where they discovered large amounts of oil

-mono economic state

-too dependent on one source of income to run the economy which is oil; Problem? B/c the price can fluctuate rapidly

-OPEC (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries)

-dozen members; tried to control/manipulate the price by manipulating the supply

-Saudi Arabia is the most powerful member (cheaper to process)

-Venezuela cut production to raise the price

Guyana

-former British colony

Suriname

-former Netherlands colony

French Guiana

-still owned by France today (french overseas dept)

-former Spanish colony

-speaks Spanish and Portuguese

-why did they put the European Space Agency so far from france?

bc of its proximity to the equator. b/c the closer to the equator, the easier it is to get into space and it saves them money

Brazil

-ranks 2nd to the U.S. only in terms of total agriculture production

-leads world's orange juice production b/c of tropical conditions

-Resource Lottery

-the more land you have, the better chances of striking rich with a resource base

-brings in element of chance

-resources not evenly distributed on land

-Sugarcane

-world leader in the production of this

-thrives in subtropical/tropical conditions

-Ethyl Alcohol (ethanol/alcool)

-created by sugarcane; alternative fuel source for automobiles; successful program

-problems with people drinking it until they passed a law that started adding an additive to it to make it taste like kerosine

-exports this alcool

-Forward capital

-moved capital from Rio de Janeiro(big city) to Brasilia, which is one of the safest cities for pedestrians

:a capital that has been placed in a certain location within a country's territory to project a direction for development or some sort of territorial claim

tropical Deforestation

-to provide ranch land

-Favela

-slums & shantytowns

-Plural Society

-numerous races live next to each other,but theres little no interaction b/t them

-home to largest # of Japanese people, other than Japan

-Soccer

-produces world class players- won 5 world cups (most ever)

-Carnival

-week long festival for Lent- in Rio de Janeiro

-Sao Paulo

-largest city

-20 million population

The Southern Cone

-Uruguay

-argentina

-chile

-paraguay

Uruguay

-highest % of pure-blooded European desent

Argentina

tall grassland prairie, best soils on entire planet

-prominent beef cattle industry; lead producer; doesn't export

-grass-fed beef (leaner, true beef flavor)

the pampas

rich, dark soils flush in nutrients

-major wheat producing region

-The Falkland Islands

-known as Islas Malvinas

-1982, British owned them; Argentina invaded and conquered, humiliating defeat for Argentina, went back to a democracy

-Military Junta/Dirty War

Argentina under control of the military junta (council of military leaders)

-late 1970s/80s, used terror against owned citizens

-Dirty War: murdered and stole people who talked bad/disrespected the Argentina leadership known as the "disappeared people"

-30,000 wiped from existence; did this to stop the criticism of military

-Mothers want to know where their disappeared children are; creating a protest

the falkland islands

-known as the islas malvinas

-1982 the british owned them

-in order to get the protestors minds off of the dirty war Argentina decided to attempt to invade and conquer.

-failed tremendously that that military juntas (leadership of Argentina) decided to step down and Argentina was switched back to a democracy

Chile (elongated state)

-Advantages

-Southern hemisphere: timber resources, fast growing hardwood

-Central: Mediterranean, leading agriculture exporter of fruits and veggies to U.S. (Dec-March) b/c its winter here in the U.S but summer there; most population lives in Central

-Northern: desert;

-Atacama Desert: dryest desert on planet; still valuable b/c of copper and nitrates reserve are there which are components of fertilizers, pesticides, and explosives

-Disadvantages:

-defending long coastline

-connecting north and south in communication

Paraguay

-over 90% bilingual (Spanish and Guarani)

-Somoza fled here in 1979 when Sandinistas banished him

-In 1980, Sandinists got revenge and blew him up in his car with a bazuca

Andean South America

-bolivia

-peru

-ecuador

Bolivia

-land locked no direct access to coast, yet still has navy

-highest percent of pure blooded North Amerindians decent (60% of pop)

-Evo Morales

-first pure blooded Amerindian decent; U.S. not happy bc:

-supports coca plant, wants it to be main export

Peru

-Lake Titicaca

-highest freshwater lake on entire planet

-where they have their navy

located in a Graben