1. LATIN AMERICA
Economic Characteristics

2. Amazon River!!!! World’s Largest River!!!!!
Found in the Amazon Rain Forest.
Nile River
World’s Longest River!!!!!!!
Found in Egypt.

3. Amazon Rain Forest DEFORESTATION! It is being cut
down at an alarming rate!
due to …
DEFORESTATION!

4. Venezuela
Oil in:
Ecuador
Mexico

5. Copper in
CHILE
Atacama Desert

6. Venezuela
Brazil

7. GROSS DOMESTIC PRODUCT!
Industry accounts for only a
small part of the
GROSS DOMESTIC PRODUCT!
GDP = the total value of goods & services
produced in a country in a year.

8. Hacienda – large farming/ranching
estate

9. SUBSISTENCE FARMING Growing just enough food for
themselves and their families.

10. Farming is practiced
by carving steps out
of the mountains.
This is called
TERRACING!
Common in the ANDES MTS.

11. In the rainforest areas, poor
farmers are cutting down the
forests (deforestation) and
burning off the vegetation.
This is called
SLASH and BURN!

12. Unfortunately, the soil is not very
FERTILE and farmers are usually able
to farm a piece of land for only a
few years before moving to another
location and starting the process all
over!

13. Many large companies own land and have huge farms known as
PLANTATIONS. This is known as
PLANTATION agriculture.
These types of farms grow CASH
crops to be sold for profit.
Sugar cane plantation

14. Examples of Cash Crops in Latin America:
Coffee -
Cacao – used to make chocolate
Sugar Cane
Sugar cane plantation

15. Latin American Cowboys are called Gauchos
Or the Pampas of Argentina….
where the best beef cattle in the world is raised!!
We’re usually found in grassland ranches…like the Llanos in Venezuela
Latin American Cowboys are called Gauchos
Llanos
Pampas

16. PANAMA CANAL
Connects
Atlantic
Ocean
Pacific
Ocean

17. In Mexico, many people are
migrating to MEXICO CITY
(URBANIZATION).
They are looking for better
places to live, better education,
better health care.

18. Unfortunately, most end up
living in SHANTYTOWNS
on the outskirts of large
MEGACITIES.

19. MEGACITIES = cities with a population over 10 million.
Examples: Mexico City, Mexico
Sao Paolo, Brazil
Buenos Aires, Argentina

20. Favela is the Portuguese
word for shantytown.

21. Mexico City’s major
pollution problem???
SMOG!!!!

22. Economic Alliance
NAFTA
US, CANADA, & MEXICO

23. Brazil moved its
capital from
Rio de Janeiro To
Brasilia

24. EJIDOS In Mexico, many community residents operate communally
owned farms known as ...
EJIDOS