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Period____
Latin America Study Guide Chapters
Chapter 9: Physical Geogrpahy
1. This mountain range is found in western portion of Central and South America Andes
Mountains. They are an extension of the Rockies in the US and the Sierra Madres in
Mexico.
2.
The pampas are areas of grasslands and rich soil. They are found in the countries of
Argentina and Uruguay. The main products are cattle and wheat grain.
3.
The Greater Antilles consist of Cuba, Jamaica, Hispaniola, and Puerto Rico.
Hispaniola consists of Haiti and the Dominican Republic.
4.
Lesser Antilles are smaller islands southeast of Puerto Rico that makes a curve towards
South America.
5.
What resources have drawn people to the region of Latin America for centuries?
Mineral resources and energy resources (oil, coal, natural gas, uranium
and
hydroelectric power
6.
Which two countries in Latin America have large oil reserves? Mexico and Venezuela
7.
Define Slash and Burn method of agriculture: cut trees, brush and grasslands and
burn the debris to clear the field for agriculture but a problem that arises with this
method is that farmers are destroying the rainforests.
8.
Define Terraced Farming: an ancient technique for growing crops on hillsides or
mountain slopes
9.
Urbanization means a move to the city.
10. Define Push/Pull Factors: factors that push people to leace rural areas and pull them
toward the cities
11. Some of the problems with overpopulation are: slums, shortage of water, increase in
unemployment and crime, and the government cannot afford to handle infrastructure
(Define) basic facilities and services needed to support a population (sewers,
transportation, electricity and housing)
Chapter 10: Human Geography
12. This group on Indians established a city on present-day Mexico City Aztecs
13. What was the result of the new Mexican Constitution on 1917? Land reform, to give the
peasant farmers land
14. Which two cultural characteristics did the Spanish bring that dominate modern day
Mexico as a result of cultural diffusion? Religion and Language
15. Name the two challenges Mexico is facing in its economy Attempting to close the
income gap between the rich and the poor and attempting to develop a modern
industrial economy
16. What are maquiladoras? Where are they located?
Factories in Mexico along the
US/Mexico border, that assemble imported materials into finished products that
are exported , mainly to the US
17. What is NAFTA? Which countries are members? North American Free Trade
Agreement between the US/Canada and Mexico that trade without tariffs
18. Define Cultural Hearth: a place from which important ideas spread, heartland/place
or origin of a major culture
19. The Mayans were natives to Central America who built temples and palaces in Belize,
Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras. Tikal were pyramids which were among the
tallest structures of the time.
20. Because many of the Spanish settled in the Caribbean, they brought diseases which
caused many of the native people know as Tainos to die. To replace this labor force on
sugar plantations, the Spanish introduced African slave labor to the region.
21. The first Latin American independence movement began in Haiti. Toussaint L’Overture
who led the slave rebellion and took over government winning its independence from
France led it.
22. The Inca arose in the mountains of Peru, who were descendants of people who came
across the land bridge that connected Alaska and Russia. Even though the Spanish
imposed their religion and language on the natives, their language Quecha can still be
found today.
23. Name the two leaders who led the liberation of South America Simon Bolivar, which
helped liberate Columbia, Venezuela, Ecuador and Bolivia. Jose de San Martin who
helped Argentina, Chile and Peru.
24. Why were Argentina and Chile the first to achieve independence in South America? They
were the furthest away from the capital city of Cuzco
25. The Portuguese conquered the native tribes and put them to work on the sugar
plantations. When they died from diseases they brought African slaves to Brazil to
replace them.
26. Brazil is home to many immigrants from which countries? Portugal, Germany, Italy,
Lebanon, Syria and Japanese
27. Why was Brazil’s capital moved to Brasilia? It is the political capital that was built to
encourage the development of the interior because the coastal areas were
becoming overcrowded
28. What are favelas? Slums of Brazil
Chapter 11: Today’s Issues
29. Define Oligarchy: Government by a few
30. Give two reasons of why Chile is an economic success: the participate in the global
economy trading mining products and export fruits and vegetables, they have
huge deposits of copper and it works with economic cooperation in South America
31. Name three immigrant groups that can be found in Brazil ___________________
32. How is the rain forest a global resource: Vegetaion helps clean the eath’s
atmosphere, regulates climate and shelters serval million species of plants, and
animals
33. Define Biodiversity: Wide range of plant and animal speciaes
34. The cutting down and clearing away of trees in the rain forest is called: deforestation
35. When weather patterns start to change because the temperature of the atmosphere
begins to rise is known as global warming
36. Land reform is the process of breaking up large landholdings and giving portions of the
land to land-poor peasant farmers.
Review from previous chapters:
What are the four biomes? Describe each of them.
Deserts: Less than 10in of precipitation per year, can be hot or cold
Forests: rainforests, deciduous and coniferous trees
Grasslands: good for grazing animals, very few trees
Tundra: cold, no agriculture, land is covered with permafrost
What factors affect climate?
Elevation, Wind Currents, Ocean Currents, Temperature, Precipitation
What occurs at higher elevations?
The cooler it gets and the thinner the air becomes causing it to not hold precipitation
What are characteristics of a developed country?
Low IMR, high literacy rate, high GDP, high life expectancy, low death rate
What is globalization?
The growth of interregional and worldwide linkages and the changes they are bringing out