2. Chapter 9: From the Andes to the Amazon
Section 1: Landforms and Resources
Has anyone ever been on a cruise to the Caribbean? Mexico? South America?

3. Today’s preview Chapter 9, Section 1
Unit Pretest
Lecture:
Mountains
Plains
Rivers
Islands
Resources
A note about notes: use abbreviations!
Tour of Latin America

4. Objectives By the end of class, you should be able to:
Identify Latin America’s major mountain ranges & highlands
Identify Latin America’s major plains & rivers
Describe the major islands of the Caribbean
Summarize the importance of natural resources in Latin America

5. Latin America Made up of: Part of North America Central America
South America
Caribbean
Basically, it’s Mexico and everything under it.
Why is it called Latin America?

6. Mountains and Highlands
Two primary mountain ranges:
Sierra Madres in Mexico
Andes in South America
What does “Sierra Madre” mean in Spanish? Mother Mountain Range.
Also highlands, lowlands, rainforests and plains.

7. The Andes Mountains Steep mountains on west coast of South America
They prevent movement to the interior from the west
The Andes are part of a chain of mountains that runs all the way up to Canada.
Andes link through the Sierra Madres up to the Rockies. The mountains are very severe and nearly impassable, as a result, most of South America’s population is on the Eastern and Northern coasts. Still, was home of the Inca in Peru, one of the most important civilizations in the hemisphere.

8. Andes Mountains
Look at these crazy steep and jagged mountains!

9. Andes Mountains
Look at these crazy steep and jagged mountains!

10. Andes Mountains
Look at these crazy steep and jagged mountains!

11. Andes Mints
No relation.

12. Highlands Other ranges in Latin America include: Guiana Highlands
Brazilian Highlands
SEE elevation map on page 191 in the textbook.
Guiana Highlands are in the NE section of South America, cross Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname, French Guiana and Brazil.
Brazilian Highlands are on the East coast of Brazil.

13. Guiana Highlands
Guiana Highlands are impressive too, and similar in elevation to the Rocky Mountains.

14. Paradise Falls
In Pixar’s movie “Up”, the characters travel to “Paradise Falls” in South America.

15. Angel Falls
Largest waterfall in the world, it drops 3,212 feet. How long is a mile? 5,280. Angel Falls drops over half a mile to the bottom, so far that before getting anywhere near the ground, the water is atomized by the strong winds and turned into mist

16. Angel Falls
Another shot. See photo in text on page 200– see that airplane in the picture for reference!

17. Plains Wide plains for crops and grazing
Llanos (Columbia and Venezuela)
Cerrados (Amazon River Basin)
Pampas (Argentina and Uruguay)
Comparable to Great Plains of the USA
These areas have rich soil and are good farmland.
In each area, the places have different names for their plains

18. Llanos Vast plains in Columbia and Venezuela Grassy, treeless areas
(LAH-nos). Unlike the Great Plains in the USA, the wet areas have 16-foot Columbian crocodiles! The Orinoco crocodile is extremely rare, an endangered species with an estimate of only 1,800 wild crocs left on Planet Earth.

19. Llanos
(LAH-nos) Here, the llanos in Venezuela don’t look a lot different than Texas.

20. Cerrados Savannas with flat terrain and moderate rainfall.
Brazil’s interior is expansive and undeveloped
Plains of the Amazon River Basin.
The rainfall and the soils make it well-suited to farming, but it’s pretty lonely country. The government is trying to encourage settlers to move into the country and develop the land.

21. Pampas Grasslands with rich soil found in Argentina and Uruguay
Main products are cattle and wheat grain.
In some parts of South America, the plains are known as “Pampas”
A culture of the “Gaucho” has developed in the pampas. Gauchos are the Cowboys of Argentine and Uruguay.

22. Pampas
This could easily be Kansas or Nebraska or eastern Colorado or Indiana or Iowa. This area is mainly known as Gaucho country.

23. Gauchos
Gauchos are the cowboys of Argentina and Uruguay. They wear ponchos (though none in this photo) and often wear baggy trousers tucked into their boots to protect themselves from the volatile weather. Cowboys in various parts of the world (and even in various parts of the USA) have different cultures, styles and approaches to their craft.
How are the llanos, cerrado and pampas of South America similar to the Great Plains of the United States? They are large, grassy, treeless plains idea for grazing and farming.

24. Rivers of Latin America
Three primary rivers:
Orinoco
Parana
Amazon
Major rivers are located primarily in South America
Most important river in Mexico is the Rio Grande, longer than any river in the rest of Mexico or all of Central America and the Caribbean.
Why might Mexico, Central America or the Caribbean be less dependent on river systems for transportation? Those areas are bounded closely by ocean water.

25. This area is the Orinoco River basin. What is a river basin
This area is the Orinoco River basin. What is a river basin? It is the area that feeds into a major river.
ORINOCO:
Winds through northern part of the South America, mostly in Venezuela.
Orinoco River Basin drains the interior lands of both Venezuela and Columbia.
Is the general region of the last few Native Americans in the area. Notably the Yanomamo people.

26. Parana River Map of the Parana River and its tributaries. PARANA:
Begins in the highlands of southern Brazil
Travels south and west through Paraguay and Argentina, then turns east.
Turns into an estuary of the Parana and Uruguay rivers between Argentina and Paraguay, called Rio de la Plata.

27. Amazon River
Amazon River Basin. What is a river basin?

28. Amazon River Amazon is one of the great rivers of the world.
Branches start in the Andes Mountains, flowing eastward across the lowlands.
Fed by over 1000 tributaries
Carries more water to the ocean than any other river in the world.
Some of those tributaries are pretty major rivers in themselves.
Carries more water to the ocean than the next 7 largest rivers of the world combined.
Who can find it on a map of South America?

29. Major Islands of the Caribbean
Caribbean islands are divided up into three major groups:
The Greater Antilles
The Lesser Antilles
The Bahamas
Who has ever been to the Caribbean? Maybe on a cruise? I have never been there.
The West Indies served as a base of operations (and later, conquest) for the Spanish.
Sometimes referred to as the “West Indies”

30. The Greater Antilles The large islands of the Caribbean Cuba Jamaica
Hispaniola
Puerto Rico
Hispaniola is the name of the island; it contains 2 countries: Haiti and the Dominican Republic.

31. The Greater Antilles
Fun fact: there are more Puerto Ricans living in New York City than there are in Puerto Rico.

32. The Lesser Antilles The smaller islands southeast of Puerto Rico.
Divided into two groups:
Windward: they face northeasterly the winds
Leeward: sheltered from the northeasterly winds
When we say that a wind is “northeasterly”, what does that mean? It means blowing from the northeast.

33. The Lesser Antilles
Windward Islands are Dominica, Martinique, St. Lucia, St. Vincent, Grenadines & Granada
Leeward Islands are US and British Virgin Islands, Anguilla, St. Martin, St. Kitts and Nevis, Antigua, Barbuda, Guadalupe and Montserrat and a couple others.

34. The Bahamas
Made up of hundreds of islands off the southern tip of Florida and north of Cuba.
Extend southeast into the Atlantic
Too many to name, but for the purposes of this class, you don’t need to know the names. The capital is Nassau

35. The Bahamas What is a commonwealth?
The main item to remember is that the Caribbean is divided into three groups of islands, Greater Antilles, Lesser Antilles, Bahamas– and what islands make up the Greater Antilles. They are the major islands of Cuba, Jamaica, Hispaniola and Puerto Rico

36. Resources of Latin America
Mineral resources
Gold
Silver
Energy resources
Oil
Natural gas
Agricultural resources
Timber
See map on page 204 that shows the resources of Latin America. All of the natural resources in the region are the exact reason why other nations (like Europe half a millennium ago and the United States today) has had such a keen interest in the area. Remember learning about “The City of Gold”, El Dorado, that captivated the Spanish? They kept seeing all these natives richly adorned in gold and heard about a local legend of a city of gold. Later, they found out that El Dorado was a mythical city, but there was enough gold and copper to keep them VERY interested.
Key item to remember here is that Latin America has 3 basic kinds of natural resources at their disposal: Mineral, Energy, Agricultural resources.
Using the map on page 204, what part of South America has the most natural resources?

37. Mineral Resources Abundant resources:
Gold Bauxite
Silver Tin
Iron Lead
Copper Nickel
Tungsten Titanium
Precious stones & gems
Mostly exported to other parts of the world
NOT IMPORTANT TO GET THE SPECIFIC RESOURCES.
What is bauxite? Any future chemists or chemical engineers in the room? Bauxite is Aluminum ore.
South America is among world’s leader is mining raw materials.
Jamaica was originally a plantation economy, growing bananas and sugar cane. Today, mining and processing bauxite has largely replaced Agriculture, making the island richer and less dependant on volatile industries like agriculture and tourism.
When we talk more about Central America and the Caribbean, we’ll go in greater depth about the volatility of a tourism economy.

38. Energy Resources Region is plentiful in: Oil Coal Natural gas Uranium
Hydroelectric power
Why would Brazil be strong in hydroelectric power? Many rivers, including the Amazon, and waterfalls. Brazil is also rich in oil and gas.
Trinidad is a major exporter of methanol and ammonia, natural gas has attracted developers to the island.
Brazil: hydroelectric power
Trinidad: natural gas
Mexico and Venezuela are major players in global oil market
Mexico: oil-fields in the gulf coast
Venezuela uses its oil trade for political power.
How does the global price of oil affect the economy of Mexico? When oil prices drop, it can throw Mexico in to recession or debt. Does that mean we should keep oil prices (and thus, gasoline prices) artificially high to keep Mexico stable? Some people say so, citing other benefits too like lower air pollution. How should countries with one major industry protect themselves from instability? Diversification.
Venezuela’s president, Hugo Chavez, is a self-proclaimed socialist and a harsh critic of the United States. In 2006 at the height of the Iraq war, then-president George W. Bush addressed the United Nations General Assembly asking for cooperation in bringing democracy to the middle east. The next day, Chavez addressed the Assembly, beginning his speech saying “The devil was here yesterday and it smells like sulfur here today”. He went on to criticize the United States (and Bush specifically) of acting like the USA owned the world.
The United States has a number of formal allies in Latin America, some of which Chavez is trying to woo away from the USA. He does this primarily– and pretty successfully– by selling Venezuelan oil to USA allies at a discounted rate, and selling oil to the USA at high prices. He extends low-interest credit to USA allies like the Dominican Republic. He’s very good at manipulating these resources for power. Sometimes your resources are worth more in credibility and influence than they are in currency.

39. Tour of Latin America
It’s easy to think of Latin America as some kind of primitive country
Wild country, raging rivers, deserts and rain forests
Latin America has very wild country and very metropolitan cities
Classes like this actually reinforce that view

40. Tijuana
What is your image of Mexico? Maybe some of you have been to Mexico, maybe to a resort city like Cancun or Acapulco. I’ve been to Tijuana on a day-trip when I was 17, and it’s always been my image of Mexico. Right across the Mex/USA border is this huge market selling stuff. Little shops or pushcarts are everywhere, it feels like the whole city is a yard sale. But most of Tijuana is not the Tijuana market, and most of Mexico is not Tijuana.

41. Mexico City
Christopher Columbus roundabout

42. Mexico City at night

43. Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
Santo Domingo’s 2000 census count was a little larger than the metro area of Kansas City.

44. South America video Tour of 4 major cities in South America
Buenos Aires, Argentina
Lima, Peru/Machu Picchu
Montevideo, Uruguay
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Notable landforms
Amazon River
Galapagos Islands
Short video clips from a tourism video that goes through the major cities of South America and some of the features.

45. Post-test Question #1
What mountain range runs down the western coastline of South America?
Urals
Rockies
Tierra del Fuego
Andes D.

46. Post-test Question #2
Which of the following is a largely undeveloped grassy area of the Amazon River basin?
Cerrado
Guiana Highlands
Greater Antilles
Llanos A.

47. Post-test Question #3
Which of the following describes Greater Antilles?
Leeward Islands
Larger islands that includes Cuba, Jamaica, Hispanola, and Puerto Rico
Smaller islands southeast of Puerto Rico
Windward Islands B.

48. Post-test Question #4
Which of the following is NOT a resource found in abundance in Latin America?
Hydroelectric power
Natural gas
Marble
Timber C.

49. Closure What are the mountains and the highlands of Latin America?
What are the characteristics of the Latin American plains?
Find these islands on the North America map:
Cuba, Hispaniola, Jamaica, Puerto Rico
Explain the importance of resources of Latin America.
NEXT TIME: Read Chapter 9, Section 2
NEXT TIME: Climate & Vegetation
Mountain areas: the Sierra Madres and the Andes Mountains
Highlands: Guiana Highlands in northeast section of South America; Brazilian Highlands are located on the east coast of Brazil. See map on p 203
Characteristics of the plains: Tall-grass prairies, generally flat and treeless.
Islands: On the North America map.
Resources of Latin America: it’s why the Spanish and the Portuguese were interested in the area, provides economy and export ability, allowed development of the region.