Geography of Latin America

Overview

• Latin America= Mexico, Central America, Caribbean Islands, and South America

• 8 million square miles, defined by length and elevation change

  • biggest differences in climate are due to elevation

• Population focused on the coast

Vertical Climate Zones

• Tierra Caliente- Hot Land

  • Sea level to 2,500 feet

  • tropical rainforests and deserts- coastline

  • Bananas, cacao, sugarcane, and rice

• Tierra Templada- temperate land

  • 2,500-6,000 feet

  • evergreens and savannas

  • coffee, corn, citrus fruit

• Tierra Fria- cold land

  • 6,500-10,000

  • frosts common in winter

  • potatoes and barley

3 Main regions

• Middle america- mexico and central america

• caribbean

• south america

Middle America

• mountains and plateaus

• northern Mexico- desert and Steppes

• Rocky mountains into Sierra Madre

  • Sierra Madre oriental

  • Sierra occidental

  • Sierra Madre del sur- where the two ranges meet

• In between the mountains- Mexican plateau

  • grasslands and little more elevated- above sea level

  • volcanic soil useful for farming

• Central America- central highlands

  • volcanic mountains

  • mostly dormant

Middle America- Coastal Regions

• coastal plains along the Gulf of Mexico

  • tropical savannas

• Yucatan peninsula

  • designates difference between gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean sea

• Rio Grande

  • border between Mexico and US- mainly Texas

• Lake Nicaragua

  • largest lake in Middle America

  • in Nicaragua

• Panama Canal

  • isthmus of Panama

  • connects to the ocean

The Caribbean

• Caribbean sea

• 3 main groups of islands

  • Bahamas

  • Greater Antilles- bigger islands

  • Lesser Antilles

• volcanic mountains

  • same as the central highlands

  • quickly turn to coastal savanna

• coastal lowlands

  • due to savannas or jungles

South America- Mountains/Plateaus

• the Andes mountains

  • 4,500 miles long, over 20,000 feet high in some places

  • parallel mountain chains- hard to traverse

  • western edge of South America

  • Andean Condor- bird

• plateau of Patagonia

  • super windy and flat

  • can see the mountains

• Mato Grosso

  • Bolivia and Paraguay

  • heavily forested

  • not many people

• Brazilian Highlands

  • contains several different climate zones

  • series of grasslands

• pampas

  • in Uruguay and Argentina

  • open grasslands

  • lot of cattle are raised

  • gaucho

South America- Rivers

• amazon river

  • 2nd largest

  • largest in western hemisphere

  • small rivers feed in and create basin

• Amazon Rainforest

  • near the basin

  • most diverse forest

• Rio de la Plata

  • 3 rivers that flow into each other

  • an estuary, not river

• Rio Orinoco

  • Venezuela

South America- Lakes

• Lake Titicaca

  • border of Peru and Bolivia

  • lake is at 12,500 feet

  • center of early civilization

• Lake Maracaibo

  • not actually a lake

  • inlet of the Caribbean in Venezuela

  • oil deposits

South America- Desert

• Atacama

  • in the rain shadow of the Andes

  • some parts have never had rain

South America- Tierra Del Fuego

• southernmost tip of South America

• owned partially by Chile and Argentina

• snowy

• straight of Magellan

  • where Ferdinand Magellan traveled while looking for the spice islands

• Cape Horn

  • southernmost tip of Fuego