1. Physical Geography of Latin America

2. Andes Mountains
7,000 miles long
Longest mountain range in the world

4. Island Groups of the Caribbean
Greater Antilles – large islands (Cuba, Jamaica, Hispaniola, & Puerto Rico)
Lesser Antilles – smaller islands southeast of Puerto Rico

5. Amazon River
2nd longest river in the world

7. Tropical Climates
Tropical Rainforest and tropical savanna are the most common climates in Latin America.
Ex.) The Amazon

8. Tropical Climates … continued …
Deforestation = the cutting down and clearing away of trees in the rain forest

9. Slash & Burn
Slash-and-burn farming = traditionally used by migrant farmers, they cut down all the plants and strip any trees of bark. After the plants and trees have dried out, they are set on fire, the ash helps the soil, but the soil is only good for 2-3 years, when this happens the farmer moves on and the process repeats itself.

12. Vertical Climate Zones
Highland climates are commonly arranged vertically by altitude into 4 major zones

13. Vertical Climate Zones … continued … (draw your own vertical climate chart (like the one on the last slide) and put the information on this page with your picture)
Tierra Helada
Mountain tundra
15,000ft +
Tierra Fria
Cloud Forest (forest near mountain peaks with constant cloud cover)
10,000 – 12,000 ft

14. Tierra Templada
Wet Forest
6,000 – 6,500 ft.
Tierra Caliente
Dry Forest
2,500 – 3000 ft.

15. YES YOU CAN!!!!!!! Because of Vertical Climate Zones
Question???
Can you travel to the equator and go scuba diving in the morning and snowboarding in the afternoon?
YES YOU CAN!!!!!!! Because of Vertical Climate Zones

16. Comparing Climate Regions
What is the major difference you can see from the two climate charts?
The two charts are opposite to each other – This is because Dallas is in the Northern Hemisphere and Buenos Aires is in the Southern Hemisphere. Our winter is their summer, and our summer is their winter.

17. Vegetation
The natural vegetation of Latin America varies according to climate and ranges from lush tropical rainforest evergreens to desert cacti.
canopy = the tops of tall trees that come together to form a dense covering.

18. *Super Cool Geofacts of Latin America*

19. Angel Falls
Eastern Venezuela
World’s tallest waterfall
3,212ft

20. Colca Canyon Deepest Canyon on the surface of the Earth
twice the depth of the Grand Canyon
in the Andes in Peru
10,500 feet deep

21. Colca Canyon …continued…
Accessible only by boat
One of the worlds great natural challenges – the 1st expedition was in 1981.
Rafters have to navigate extreme white-water
A breakneck plunge of the river drops 3,000 feet over 50 miles
So dangerous this canyon has only been seen by a handful of people.

22. Iguacu Falls, Brazil Has 270 waterfalls
the boarder between Brazil and Argentina
Garganta del Diablo (Devil’s Throat) – a U shaped 490 by 2300 foot cliff (pictured at left)

23. Panama Canal
Canal system that splits the country of Panama in half, allowing boat traffic to pass through the isthmus of Panama and not have to go all the way around South America to have access between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.

25. Trans-Andean Highway, Peru
Connects Lima (capital of Peru) to Chile through the Andes
Extremely curvy to compensate for the extreme uphill and downhill.