1. There are 3 areas
that make up
Latin America:
Caribbean
Middle America
South America

2. Middle America is made of seven countries of Central America and Mexico. Connects North and South America

3. The West Indies is also known as the Caribbean – It is made up of the Bahamas, the Greater and the Lesser Antilles. Volcanic islands.

4. 13 countries of South America – Brazil is the largest in land and population.

5. Sierra Madre Occidental
Occidental means western. These mountains are on the leeward side of Mexico and are dry – steppe climate

6. Sierra
Madre
Oriental
Oriental means eastern. These mountains are on the windward side of Mexico and are covered with trees and other vegetation.

7. Sierra
Madre
del Sur
del Sur means “of the South”. They are located at the southern border of the Valley / Plateau of Mexico

8. Andes
Western side of South America. Second tallest mountains in the world. Longest chain of mountains in the world. Cordilleras – parallel mountain ranges.

9. Brazilian
Highlands
Located in Brazil. Dry. Along the Atlantic Coast – escarpment (chain of steep cliffs). Spans many climate and vegetation zones.

10. One of the most populated places in the world
One of the most populated places in the world. Pollution is trapped by the surrounding mountains. Mexico City is located here.
Plateau
of Mexico

11. Llanos
Grassy plain of Venezuela and Colombia. Llaneros (cowboys) ranch in this area. One of the world’s “bread-baskets”

12. Pampas
Plains area of Argentina that is similar to the Great Plains of the USA. This is also a “bread-basket”

13. Atacama
Desert
Driest desert in the world. Located on the coast of the Pacific on the cold Peru Current. West of the Andes Mountains it is affected by the orographic effect. Located on the leeward side of the mountains. (Windward side is Argentina)

14. Peninsula in Mexico, juts into the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea. Mostly a tropical rainforest climate.
Yucatan
Peninsula

15. Amazon
Basin
The world’s largest tropical rainforest. Drains part of Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, and Brazil. Known as selva in Brazil. Trees form a canopy. Trees soar to 130 feet in the top layer. Vegetation is so dense that sunlight rarely reaches the floor of the forest.

16. These islands off the western coast of Ecuador was made famous by Charles Darwin and his theory of natural selection. They have many unusual animals.
Galapagos Island

17. Negro Amazon Madeira Marajo
World’s largest river by volume, and the longest in Latin America. The Amazon is navigable for 2,300 miles upstream.
Negro
Amazon
Madeira
Marajo

18. Rio Grande
Forms part of the border between the US and Mexico. In Latin America it is known as the Rio Bravo del Norte – “the wild river of the north”