Latin America: Vocabulary Study Guide El Nino : a warm ocean current of variable intensity that develops after late December along the coast of Ecuador and Peru and sometimes causes catastrophic weather conditions hydroelectricity: electricity derived from the energy of falling water or any other hydraulic source maize: corn hieroglyphics: a form of writing, especially as used in ancient Egypt, in which pictures or symbols are used to represent objects, concepts, or sounds Conquistador: one of the Spanish conquerors of Mexico and Peru in the 16th century Line of Demarcation: the Pope's division of the New World between the Spanish and Portuguese

Colombian Exchange: the exchange of European products to the Americas and vice-versa mestizos: a person of racially mixed ancestry, esp., in Latin America, of mixed American Indian and European, usually Spanish or Portuguese, ancestry revolution: an overthrow or repudiation and the thorough replacement of an established government or political system by the people governed campesino: peasant or farmer urbanization: to make, especially a predominantly rural area or country, more industrialized and urban indigenous: native, original inhabitant

subsistence farming:a type of farming in which most of the crop is consumed by the farmer and his family, leaving little or nothing to be marketed migrant farm workers: workers who move from one region of the country to another to find jobs harvesting crops canal: an artificial waterway constructed for navigation, irrigation, water power, etc. commonwealth: an association of nations and territories linked by historical ties as parts of the former British Empire and cooperating on matters of mutual concern, especially regarding economics and trade canopy: the cover formed by the leafy upper branches of the trees in a forest hacienda: a large estate, especially one used for farming or ranching

Treaty of Tordesillas:an agreement by which Spain and Portugal divided the non-Christian world into two zones of influence; this invisible dividing line is known has the Line of Demarcation. encomienda: forced labor; the practice in which Spanish colonists were given property rights over the indigenous people Panama Canal Zone: an area consisting of a strip of land across the Isthmus of Panama that contains the Panama Canal, which was constructed in 1914 by the US to connect the Pacific Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean