Learning Objectives
•	Integrate foundation concepts with a relatively unfamiliar region, and compare regions
•	Understand Latin America’s culture, and how colonization has affected it
•	Know about the Andes and the Amazon
•	Understand these concepts and models:

Introduction
•	Setting the boundaries
•	Rio Grande (Rio Bravo) on North to Tierra del Fuego in south
•	Former colonies of Spain and Portugal (shared colonial history)
–	Large, diverse populations
•	17 countries, 525 million people, 74% live in cities (highest in developing world)
•	Indian and African presence 
•	Bolivia elected first Amerindian president in 2005
–	Industrialization & development growth since 1960s
•	Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) 
•	Natural resource extraction remains important
Environmental Geography: 
Neotropical Diversity and Urban Degradation
•	Environmental Issues Facing Latin America
•	Relatively large land area and low population density has minimized environmental degradation
•	Latin America has the opportunity to avoid mistakes that other regions have made
•	Brazil and Costa Rica have conservation movements
–	The Destruction of Tropical Rainforests
•	Deforestation and loss of biodiversity are major environmental problems in Latin America
Environmental Issues (Fig. 4.3)
Environmental Geography (cont.)
•	Environmental Issues (cont.)
–	Urban Environmental Challenges: Valley of Mexico
•	Air pollution, smog
•	Water resources (quantity and quality)
•	Sinking land occurring as Mexico city draws down its aquifer
•	Modern urban challenges (squatter settlements)
–	Curitiba, Brazil is a planned “green city”
Environmental Geography (cont.)
•	Western Mountains and Eastern Shields
–	The Andes
•	Relatively young, 5,000 miles long; 30 peaks over 20K feet
•	Contain valuable metals and minerals
•	Altiplano: treeless, elevated plain in Peru and Bolivia
–	The Uplands of Mexico and Central America
•	Most major cities and population found here
•	Rich volcanic soils
–	The Shields
•	Large upland plateaus of exposed crystalline rock
–	Brazilian shield is the largest, covering most of Brazil
–	Has natural resources and settlement
Physical Geography
(Fig. 4.7)
Environmental Geography (cont.)
•	River Basins and Lowlands
–	Amazon Basin
•	Largest river system in world by volume; second in length
•	Draws from nine countries
–	Plata Basin
•	Region’s second largest river watershed; economically productive
Climate (Fig. 4.13)
Population and Settlement: The Dominance of Cities
Population and Settlement: The Dominance of Cities
Population and Settlement: The Dominance of Cities
•	The Latin American City
•	Urbanization began in 1950s; today 75% urbanized
•	Urban primacy: a country has a primate city 3 to 4 times larger than any other city in the country
–	Urban form
•	Reflects colonial origins and contemporary growth
•	Latin American City Model
Latin American City Model (Fig. 4.16)
Population and Settlement (cont.)
•	The Latin American City (cont.)
–	Rural-to-Urban Migration
•	Since the 1950s, peasants began to migrate to urban areas
–	Mechanization of agriculture, population pressure, consolidation of lands
•	Patterns of Rural Settlement
•	130 million people (25%) live in rural areas
–	Rural Landholdings
•	Large estates used the best lands, relied on mixture of hired, tributary, and slave labor
•	Latifundia: Long-observed pattern of maintaining large estates
•	Minifundia: pattern associated with peasants farming small plots for their own subsistence
•	Agrarian reform: a popular but controversial strategy to redistribute land to peasant farmers
Population and Settlement (cont.)
•	Patterns of Rural Settlement (cont.)
–	Agricultural Frontiers 

Population and Settlement (cont.)
•	Population Growth and Movements
•	Rapid growth throughout most of the century followed by slower growth
–	Declining Total Fertility Rates (TFRs) since 1980s
–	European Migration
•	Migration encouraged to till soils and “whiten” the mestizo population (of mixed European and Indian ancestry)
–	Many Europeans immigrated between 1870s and 1930s
–	10 million enslaved Africans came with them
–	Asian Migration
•	Many Chinese and Japanese between 1870s and 1930s
–	Former president of Peru a Japanese descendent
•	New wave of immigrants from South Korea
Principal Latin American Migration Flows (Fig. 4.18)
Patterns of Cultural Coherence and Diversity: Repopulating a Continent
•	The Decline of Native Populations
•	There were many complex civilizations in Latin American before Europeans arrived
–	1500: population of 47 million; 1650: 5 million
–	Causes: disease, warfare, forced labor, collapse of food production system
–	Indian Survival
•	Largest populations of Indians today: Mexico, Guatemala, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia; LAND was key to survival
•	Indians trying to secure recognized territory in their countries
–	Comarca:  loosely defined territory similar to a province or homeland, where Indians have political and resource control
Patterns of Cultural Coherence and Diversity (cont.)
•	Patterns of Ethnicity and Culture
•	Racial caste system under Spanish: blanco (European), mestizo (mixed ancestry), indio (Indian), negro (African)
–	Languages
Patterns of Cultural Coherence and Diversity (cont.)
–	Blended Religions
•	90% Roman Catholic
–	El Salvador, Uruguay have sizeable Protestant populations
•	Syncretic religions: blending of different beliefs
–	Allows animist practices to be included in Christian worship
–	Catholicism and African religions, with Brazil’s carnival as an example
 
Geopolitical Framework: Redrawing the Map
–	Cycles of antagonism and cooperation
•	Organization of American States (OAS)
•	MERCOSUR (Southern Cone Common Market)
•	Iberian Conquest and Territorial Division
•	Treaty of Tordesillas divided South America between Spain and Portugal in 1493-94
–	Revolution and Independence
•	Elites born in the Americas led revolutions, resulting in the creation of new countries from 1810-1826
–	Persistent Border Conflicts
•	Colonial boundary lines were not well accepted
•	When states gained independence, border issues grew
Shifting Political Boundaries (Fig. 4.27)
Geopolitical Framework (cont.)
•	Iberian Conquest and Territorial Division (cont.)
–	The Trend Toward Democracy
•	Long independence, but political stability has been a problem
•	Democratic elections since 1980s
•	Most of the countries are free-market democracies
•	Regional Organizations
•	Supranatural organizations: governing bodies that include several states
•	Subnational organizations: groups that represent areas of people within the state
Geopolitical Framework (cont.)
•	Regional Organizations (cont.)
–	Trade Blocks
Geopolitical Framework (cont.)
•	Regional Organizations (cont.)
–	Insurgencies and Drug Traffickers
Economic and Social Development: 
Dependent Economic Growth
•	Most Latin American countries are “middle income”
Economic and Social Development: 
Dependent Economic Growth
•	Development Strategies
•	Import substitution: policies that foster domestic industry by imposing inflated tariffs on all imported goods
–	Industrialization
•	Manufacturing emphasized since 1960s
–	Growth poles: planned industrial centers
Economic and Social Development: 
Dependent Economic Growth
•	Development Strategies
–	Maquiladoras and Foreign Investment
•	Maquiladoras: Mexican assembly plants lining U.S. border
•	Other Latin American countries attract foreign investment
–	The Informal Sector
•	Provision of goods & services without government regulation 
•	Self-employment: construction, manufacturing, vending, etc.
Economic and Social Development (cont.)
•	Primary Export Dependency
•	Latin America specialized in commodities into the 1950s
–	Bananas, coffee, cacao, grains, tin, rubber, petroleum
–	Agricultural Production
•	Since 1960s, agriculture has become more diversified and mechanized
•	Machinery, hybrid crops, chemical fertilizers, pesticides, make agriculture very productive
–	Mining and Forestry
•	Products: silver, zinc, copper, iron ore, bauxite, gold, oil, gas
•	Mexico, Venezuela, Ecuador export oil
•	Mining becoming mechanized, laying off workers
•	Logging
–	Exportation of wood pulp provide short-term cash infusion
–	Plantation forests of introduced species replace diverse native forests
Economic and Social Development (cont.)
•	Latin America in the Global Economy
•	Dependency theory
–	Dependency theory: holds that expansion of European capitalism created Latin American condition of underdevelopment (core/periphery)
–	Increased economic integration within Latin America and dominance of U.S. market
–	Neoliberalism as Globalization
•	Neoliberal policies: stress privatization, export production, and few restrictions on imports
–	Benefits include increased trade and more favorable terms for debt repayment; most political leaders are embracing it
»	Some signs of discontent with neoliberalism and support for reduction of poverty and inequality
Economic and Social Development (cont.)
•	Latin America in the Global Economy (cont.)
–	Dollarization
•	Process in which a country adopts (in whole or in part) the U.S. dollar as its official currency
•	Tends to reduce inflation, eliminate fears of currency devaluation, and reduce costs of trade
Economic and Social Development (cont.)
•	Social Development (cont.)
–	Significant improvement in life expectancy, child survival, educational attainment in last 30 years
Economic and Social Development (cont.)
•	Social Development (cont.)
–	Race and Inequality
•	Tolerance for diversity
•	BUT Indians and Blacks more likely to be poor

–	The Status of Women
•	Many women work outside of the home (30%-40%)
•	Legally, women can vote, own property, and sign for loans, but less likely than men to do so
Conclusion