1. GGC.3 Latin America
Key Terms

2. Indigenous people
people original or native to an area

3. megacities
a metropolitan area with a population over 10 million people, known for their rapid population growth, poverty, crime, and big difference between the rich & poor

4. Squatter settlements
illegal settlements of poor people who live in make-shift homes, typically with no electricity or water. Located outside megacities, they exist around the world. In Brazil they’re called favelas

5. conquistadores
Spanish soldiers who invaded and conquered Latin America between the 15th and 19th centuries

6. mestizos
people of mixed European and American Indian ancestry

7. NAFTA
North American FreeTrade Agreement: an agreement between Canada, USA, and Mexico to remove tariffs of the products traded between the three countries

8. maquiladoras
special factories in Mexico owned mainly by American companies

9. hacienda
a large Spanish estate usually owned by wealthy families, often run as a farm or cattle ranch and worked by peasants

10. ejido
farmland in Mexico owned collectively by members of a village. After colonialism, the government broke up haciendas and redistributed the land into ejidos

11. pampas
a grasslands region in Argentina and Uruguay; much of this area is used for cattle grazing

12. gauchos
a cowboy who herds cattle in the Pampas of Argentina and Uruguay

13. Vertical (altitudinal) zonation
the division of land (like the Andes Mountains) into zones based on elevation, which determines climate and vegetation

14. guerilla
a member of an irregular armed force that fights a stronger force by sabotage and harassment

15. mulatto
In colonial Latin America, Spanish/African who were denied basic political, economic, and social rights due to their mixed heritage.

16. Isthmus
A narrow strip of land that connects two larger bodies of land.

17. Altiplano
The high flatlands (elevated plains) of South America.

18. Pampas
The treeless plains in South America

19. Llanos
A treeless grassy plain

20. Archipelagos
A group of islands that are part of another country.

21. Cash crops
Crops produced to be sold for value. In Latin America, there’s coffee and cocoa

22. Food Crops
Food grown by a farmer to feed his or her own family (avacado, pineapple,

23. Income disparity
Different incomes between the rich and poor in a society

24. Favela
A shack or shanty town in Brazil; sometimes called slums (poor neighborhoods)

25. Slash and Burn Agriculture
Farming method involving cutting and burning of forests to create fields for farming

26. Organization of American States (OAS)
Peace-keeping organization made up of the countries in North and South America

27. Caribbean (West Indies)
The island countries in the Caribbean Sea between N. and S. America. Cuba, Puerto Rico, and Dominican Republic speak Spanish.