1. Latin America

2. Important Issues of Latin America
We will look at:
Brief History
Politics
Culture:
Religion
Ethnic groups

3. Mexico Brief History: Native Indians were in Mexico 1st
2 Major groups of people:
1) Mayan people
2) Aztecs

6. Mexico: History
1519 Hernando Cortez arrived in Mexico in search of Gold
Spanish Conquest: 1519 Spanish soldiers take over most of Mexico and central America.

7. Mexico: History Mexico was under the Spanish empire until 1821.
Mexico declared their independence
Political instability occurred after 1821:
one party rule:
PRI: Institutional Revolutionary Party

8. Mexico: History Today the Mexico has a democracy and a president:
Vicente Fox- president

9. Mexico: Culture
Mexico’s culture is a blend Spanish and native Indian people
Ethnic groups: Mestizo- mixed Spanish and native Indians.
Religion: Catholic
- the Spanish were catholic and when the conquest came it spread Catholicism across Latin America

10. Mexico: Developing Resources
Oil- the gulf of Mexico provides Mexico with abundant amount of oil reserves
Manufacturing- Mexico is an industrial economy that makes a lot of goods.

11. Central America Brief History:
Spanish Conquest: Spain came in and conquered the native people

12. Central America Culture
Spanish and Native influences
Religion: Catholic (Spain)
Jobs: many people are farmers

13. Central America: Resources
10% of worlds coffee
10% of worlds bananas
Panama Canal: important to central American trade and imports

15. Caribbean Caribbean Christopher Columbus discovered the Caribbean.
Colonies of many different countries
English, French, Dutch, Danish

16. Caribbean Culture
Many different countries founded the Caribbean, and brought different aspects of culture with them.
African Slaves brought many different cultural traits that have impacted the Caribbean

17. Caribbean Culture
Religions: mostly catholic but there are different African religions
1) Santeria- mixes African practices with catholic beliefs
2) Voodoo- practiced in Haiti
3) Rastafarian- Jamaica religion and political belief of social reform

19. Caribbean Culture
Ethnic Groups: the Caribbean has so many different groups due to the many different countries that controlled them.
African culture is the most prevalent, due to the slave trade of the Americas.

20. Caribbean Resources
Sugar trade is HUGE!! - this is how the islands got started
Rum:
Climate allows for citrus fruits, coffee, and sugar cane

22. Spanish Speaking South America: History
Inca Indian Tribe- people who migrated from Alaska land bridge and the isthmus of panama
Isthmus: natural land bridge between north and south America
Inca’s built a huge empire including 2500 miles of territory and a massive road system.
Located in the andes mtns of Peru

23. Spanish Speaking South America: History
Spanish solider Francisco Pizarro conquered the Incan people in the conquest
In early 1900’s Simon Bolivar and José de San Martin were two leaders of South America’s independence movement
Today: Oligarchy (government by the few) rules S. America, and mainly military command.

24. Culture of S. America Strong heritage of the Incan people.
Quechua- is a language still spoken that is a dialect of Inca language
Religion: Catholic
Ethnic: all different ethnicities due to the many different countries

25. Resources of S. America Columbia and Venezuela- oil reserves
Peru- fishing industry
Argentina/Uruguay- livestock and grain
Chile- fruits to north America, copper

26. Brazil: History Only Portuguese speaking country in S. America
1807 Napoleon (French) invaded Portugal and the royal family boarded ships and sailed to Brazil and set up their govt there.
Portugal got Brazil due to the treaty of Tordesillas- established line of longitude that divided the new world

27. Brazil: history
1822 Brazil received their independence from Portugal.

28. Brazil: Culture Language: Portuguese Religion: Catholic
Brazilians are moving to the city in search of a better life.
Music and dance are big:
Carnival- people march in the streets to samba music in costumes to celebrate Brazil

29. Brazil: Developing Resources
Originally thought to have gold and silver, but little was found.
Cleared land for Sugar (Past)
Today: Brazil makes Hydroelectric Power