 Export  Campesino  Latifundia  Minifundia  Cash crop  Gross domestic product  Service industry  Maquiladora  Free trade zone

 Agriculture › Supplies major chunk of income › Export- sell to other countries what is produced  Ex: Bananas, sugarcane, coffee › Land divided into wealthy and campesinos  Rural farmers and workers › Latifundia  LARGE estates owned by wealthy families and corporations › Minifundia  All other farms › Cash crops- produced in large quantities to sell abroad › Problem is overdependence

 Most are developing countries › EX: Mexico- from farming to oil production › manufacturing = 16% and agriculture 4% of Gross Domestic product (GDP)  Values of goods and services produced in a country in a year  Moving towards service industry › Provides a service › Ex: tourism

 Limited in Latin America  Andes and Amazon Rainforest restrict availability of natural resources  Foreign investment  Political instability  Solution › Stable gov’t › Provide the necessary resources › Active business communities

 Manufacturing plants owned by foreign countries › EX: Mexico › Cuidad Juarez, and Tijuana › 3,200 employ over 1 million workers › Located in free-trade zones  No trade restrictions

 Physical barriers  Pan-American Highway › Northern Mexico to Southern Chile  Trans-Andean Highway › Chile to Argentina  Brazil › Trans-Amazonian Highway  Trans-Oceanic Highway › Peru and Brazil › Link between the Amazon and the Pacific

 Railway System › Mexico, Panama, Argentina, Brazil  Air Travel › Important to overcoming geographic barriers  Communication › Censored during political unrest › Most cannot afford telephones  2004 › Brazil & Mexico among top 15 countries with the highest rate of computer use  Today- internet hub in D.R. to make it more stable

 1960s and 1970s › Latin American countries borrowed $$ from banks to industrialize  1980s › Economic slow-down › Lower demand for Latin American products › Could not repay loans  Problem is finding a solution

 NAFTA › 1992 NAFTA › Reduced trade restrictions › Increased flow of goods, services, and people › Trade went up by 10-15%  Controversy › U.S. job loss to less paid Mexican workers › U.S. investment in Mexico, but no relocation

 CAFTA › 2005 › U.S. + 6 Central American countries › Goal was to lower trade barriers between U.S. and Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and D.R.  FEAR › U.S. job loss › Exploitation of lower paid workers

 KEY TERMS: › DEFORESTATION › SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT › SLASH and BURN FARMING › REFORESTATION › SHANTYTOWN

 Deforestation- disappearing of forests for other uses  Solution: › Sustainable development- use only what natural resources are needed to sustain life  Farms vs. Forests › Clearing of the Amazon Basin to set-up new farmland › Slash-and-burn farming  All plants are cut down; trees are stripped of their bark; once dried out they burn it so that the soil gets nutrients

 Diverse rainforest is at danger of being lost  ½ of all plant and animal species live in the rainforest  20% of the Amazon Rainforest has already been cleared  Atlantic Forest › Lesser known › In Brazil › 7% of its original size today  MEDICINE

 Planting for the future › Laws require that young trees or seeds be planted for the future › Developing new methods of farming

 Rapid urbanization = environmental issues  Workers move to cities › Hope to find a better life › Sometimes they DON’T › Shantytowns- makeshift communities on the edge of cities › unsanitary

 Territorial conflict › Disputed border wars › Ex: 1998 Peru and Ecuador settled a 60 year border war  Natural Disasters › L.A. vulnerable to hurricanes, earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions  Cool Fact › In 1995 a volcanic eruption left 2/3 of the island of Monserrat inhabitable