1. The Geography & History of Latin America

2. 1. Important Physical Features
Mountains throughout the region
Andes Mountains in South America
Sierra Madre Occidental in Mexico
Volcanoes on the Caribbean Islands
Amazon Rainforest in South America
Largest tropical rainforest in the world
Amazon River in South America
2nd longest in the world
Atacama Desert in Chile
Driest place on earth
Angel Falls in South America
World’s tallest waterfall

3. 2. Important Cultural Features
Christ the Redeemer Statue
Rio de Janiero, Brazil

4. Important cultural features
Machu Picchu
In Peru

5. Important cultural features
Chichen Itza
In Mexico

6. Important Cultural Features
Atlantis Resort in the Bahamas
Panama Canal in Panama
Soccer
Spanish language
Portuguese language
Roman Catholic Christian religion
Olympic Stadium in Rio

7. 3. Parts of Latin America 4 parts Mexico Central America
Caribbean Islands
South America

9. More important facts #4: 2 main languages
Spanish & Portuguese
#5: Where did Latin America get its name?
Spanish & Portuguese come from the Latin language (which is now considered a “dead” language.)
#6: The main religion practiced in Latin America?
Roman Catholic Christianity
#7: Largest country in population AND land area?
Brazil
#8-10: Look at your Latin America maps

10. History 12. 3 civilizations that impacted history of Latin America:
Mayans
Aztecs
Incas
13. Who were the first Europeans to conquer Latin America?
Spain & Portugal
14. In what century did the Spanish and Portuguese come to Latin America to establish colonies?
1500s

11. History
15. 2 reasons why the Europeans were successful in conquering the native Latin Americans:
They had more advanced weapons.
They brought over diseases that killed off large portions of natives.

12. History
16. Changes that Europeans made to Latin American culture (write 3):
1. Native religions to Roman Catholic religion
2. Native languages to Spanish/Portuguese
3. Modern tools for farming (ex: axes)
4. New foods (ex: olives, rice, coffee)
5. New animals (ex: horses, chickens, cows)

13. History
17. True or False: Most Latin American countries are independent of Spain and Portugal today.
True!
BUT, there is still a lot of Spanish/Portuguese influence on the culture of Latin America.