Latin America

What IS Latin America? Stretches 5,500 miles from the Rio Grande to Cape Horn. Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean islands and South America

Location Lies between Atlantic and Pacific oceans. –These oceans link LA to other parts of the world –Movement of ideas/religion/goods

Cultural Convergance The cultural heritage of Africa is also a part of Latin culture.

Landforms Latin America covers 1/6 th of the world’s land surface-more than 20 nations-many landforms-mountains/highlands. Some land rich in resources-others have very few. Therefore-some places densely populated and others empty of human life.

Mountains La Cordillera-runs the length of the region Andes Mountains – runs the length of South America-second highest in the world.

Great Rivers Central America lacks rivers large enough for ships South America has three major river systems –Amazon-Peru-Brazil –Orinoco-Venezuela –Rio de la Plata- Uruguay-Argentina

Climate and Ecosystems More than 1/2 the continent lies between the tropics-therefore the sun is directly overhead for much of the year. This makes it hot everywhere except mountains Mountains create their own climates- elevation and distance from the equator.

Three important early civilizations The Mayas Yucatan Peninsula & Guatemalan lowlands Aztecs in central Mexico Incas in the Andes Mountains (present day Peru)

Latin America and the Age of Exploration Portugal took over Brazil The Spanish conquered Central America and the western coast of South America France, England and the Netherlands claimed certain islands in the Caribbean.

Latin America For more than 300 years most countries of L.A. were colonies of Spain and Portugal The term Latin refers to the Spanish and Portuguese languages It also refers to the cultural heritage that Spain and Portugal established in America

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