3. Chapter 9: From the Andes to the Amazon
Section 3: Human-Environment Interaction

4. Today’s Preview Lecture Health, Wealth & Literacy Chapter Review
Farming
Urbanization
Tourism
Health, Wealth & Literacy
Chapter Review
Closure

5. Objectives By the end of class, you should be able to:
Identify how agriculture reshapes the ecological environment.
Describe the effects of urbanization & cities.
Discuss the positive and negative effects of tourism.
Discuss the relationship between health, wealth and literacy in Latin America.

6. Mountain Agriculture
How do you grow crops on the side of a mountain?

7. Terraced Farming
Ancient Incas lived in the Andes Mountains (remember the Andes mountains?). Steep mountainsides made it hard to grow crops. They carved terraces out of the mountainsides, creating flat surfaces from the steep sides of the mountains. They built irrigation channels to bring water to the terraces and turned mountainsides into fertile farm land. There was even microclimate conditions on the mountains that made some sections better for some crops than others.

8. Terraced Farming Used for growing crops on hillsides and mountains
Cut steps into the fields to allow steep land to be cultivated
The technique reduces soil erosion.
Famously practiced by the Incas in Peru and Aztecs of Mexico.

9. Agriculture reshapes the environment
Ancient Incas lived in the Andes Mountains (remember the Andes mountains?). Steep mountainsides made it hard to grow crops. They carved terraces out of the mountainsides, creating flat surfaces from the steep sides of the mountains. They built irrigation channels to bring water to the terraces and turned mountainsides into fertile farm land. There was even microclimate conditions on the mountains that made some sections better for some crops than others.

10. Slash-and-Burn
Cut down trees and brush, then set fire to the debris to clear the field
Ash left behind is rich natural fertilizer for farming
Ancient technique
See photos on page 210 to explain Slash-and-Burn farming.
This is an environmentally sustainable way of farming when it is done in small bits and with good crop-rotation, because the soil regains nutrients or the rain forest jungle bounces back quickly in small bits. Can also be terribly destructive when large swaths of land is abandoned after a few years.
Burning fields is still done today, it’s even done in the United States as a way of clearing fields and controlling pests without a lot of extra chemicals.
In the typical Slash-and-Burning done in Latin America, is there a similar stage to crop rotation? Yes, after the forest plants reclaim abandoned areas, the soil may eventually regain its fertility.

11. Slash-and-Burn farming
What are the steps of slash & burn farming? First, cut trees and brush; second, burn debris and fertilize soil with ashes; third, plant crops; fourth, once soil is exhausted, move on to a new area.
Describe terraced farming: cutting steps into the sides of hills to create flat land.

12. Urbanization Much of rural Latin America is subsistence farming
Push and Pull factors are drawing people off the land
Argentina, Chile and Uruguay are the most highly urbanized countries in Latin America
In Argentina, Chile and Uruguay, more than 85% of people live in cities. See Urbanization map on Page 195.
What is subsistence farming? Barely scratching out a living from the land.

13. Push and Pull factors Push factors: Poor medical care Poor education
Low-paying jobs
Land is owned by a few rich people
What are “push factors”? Factors that push people off the land; things that drive you away from something. Like when some people transferred to this class, they were pushed out of class because Mr. Nickles scares you. That’s a push factor, it repels you from your current situation.
This is like when little kids run away from home: they just want out of their current situation.

14. Push and Pull factors Pull factors: Higher-paying jobs
Access to schools
Better medical care
What are “pull factors”? Factors that draw people to the cities, it pulls you to a new city. Like when you transferred to this class because you heard Mr. Elliott had a really cool student teacher. That’s a pull factor; it’s drawing you to something else.
This is like when you’re wistful for something else, like you’ve always wanted to move to Paris or New York.

15. Push Factors
Rural life outside of Quito, Ecuador.

16. Pull Factors
This is the Old Town section of Quito, Ecuador, with streets that date back to colonial times.

17. Rapidly growing cities
Six cities in South America rank among the largest in the region.
Mexico City, Mexico: 21,027,200 people
Sao Paulo, Brazil: 18,505,100 people
Buenos Aires, Argentina: 12,923,800 people
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil: 11,246,600 people
Bogotá, Columbia: 7,798,000 people
Santiago, Chile: 5,636,800 people
DO NOT NEED THIS SLIDE FOR NOTES
Which is the is the most populous city, with 20 Million people in the city proper to 30 Million in the whole metropolitan area. WHAT IS THE POPULATION OF NEW YORK CITY?
NYC metro 18,800,000 people
KC metro 1,843,000 people

18. Rapidly growing cities
What challenges do cities face when their population grows quickly?
Short term challenges
Long term challenges
See the bar graph on page 212 and notice how the cities have grown over the course of 3 decades. The blue line is the 1968 populations and the green line was the populations in As a meta-thought, Buenos Aires is an interesting city to me; although 13 million people is a very large city, it’s rate of growth was outpaced by every other city on this graph.
Short-term problems of rapid growth might be things like adequate housing or infrastructure, education and jobs.
Long-term problems of rapid growth might be things like public debt and cost of living, sustaining employment.

19. Rapidly growing cities
Rio de Janeiro is the “cultural capital” of Brazil where art and culture really thrive. People move to Rio because of it’s great beaches and culture.

20. Rapidly growing cities
Rio is the high culture and fashion hub of Brazil (and all of Latin America). This is some fancy runway fashion show.

21. Rapidly growing cities
This is a float from a Carnival parade. Carnival is a period just before the Christian season of Lent, a lot of the Caribbean and South America make huge productions for Carnival season– it cumulates on Fat Tuesday– or in French, “Mardi Gras”.

22. Rapidly growing cities
But Rio isn’t all just beaches and parties. Nearly 200,000 people live in Rio de Janeiro’s Rocinha, the largest slum in Latin America. It’s infested with drug gangs that often employ children, rampant violence by both gangs and police. It’s a very rough neighborhood.

23. Rapidly growing cities
The major cities in the region have similar problems
Slums
Unemployment
Crime
Air Pollution
Water shortages
Weak infrastructure
Hey look: similar problems that we have in the USA.
What is infrastructure? Sewers, transportation, electricity, housing.

24. Advantages & Disadvantages of Tourism
What are some of the advantages of a tourist-based economy?
What are some of the disadvantages?
ADVANTAGES:
Millions of tourists visit the resorts
Major growth industry in Caribbean & Mexico
Newly built hotels and amenities
New tourist and commercial shipping ports
Growth industries build hotels, resorts. People start businesses like boutiques or restaurants or shops, spurs the local economies.
Why do American tourists visit Caribbean and Mexico so much rather than travel to Buenos Aires? Yes, they visit Buenos Aires too, but why do we take Caribbean cruises but not cruises to the Galapagos islands? Because it’s so far away.
The items bring money and jobs into the region, can play a part in reducing the income gap between rich and poor in cities.
Tourism creates local jobs like construction projects or service jobs like fishing guides or sailing expeditions or knick-knack shops.
*****
DISADVANTAGES:
Congestion and pollution
Big differences in the income gap
Absentee ownership
Strained infrastructure
Tourist cities have big influxes of population during tourist seasons, bringing crime with its money.
Income gap between rich (or relatively rich) tourists and the poorer locals breeds resentment and hostility, particularly in Jamaica, the Caribbean and Rio de Janeiro.
Infrastructure projects or tourist draws often put cities in large amounts of public debt, building sewage systems, airports and harbors, hotels and shopping areas.
Owners of hotels or airlines often don’t live in the areas where their investments or companies are located, so they end up taking the bulk of the profits earned in Latin America back home; also can end up with neglectful ownership or economic colonialism (rather than political colonialism, where one country uses a far off country for political purposes). Sometimes the absentee owners can end up unduly influencing local governments for their benefit.

25. Cruise ports
WHAT IS A PORT OF CALL? A Port of Call is an intermediate stop for a ship; maybe to refuel or to change cargo. On a cruise ship, it is one of the stops of the tour before you reach your final destination (which is also your home destination).

26. Urban slum
Urban slum of Panama City. It’s crowded and ratty with high crime for tourists and native Panamanians alike.

27. Health, Wealth & Literacy
Listen carefully to the directions!
There are three parts to this research
First complete the top portion of the form
You will break into different groups for the next step
The last step will be independent work.
Pass out flag cards and assignment sheet. Your card has a flag on one side. MAKE SURE CLASS DOESN’T WORK AHEAD. Using the text, identify which flag goes with which country. You’re going to fill out the top portion of the page based on the Regional Data File in your textbook. NOTE: Your textbook lists GDP in billions, please write yours out longhand. YOU MAY USE THE CALCULATORS ON YOUR CELL PHONES AND YOU MAY USE YOUR NEIGHBOR TO COMPLETE THE MATH.
Use United States as an example. 9,255,000,000
Now calculate GDP per capita, so divide GDP by population and truncate your answer. (Remember from Math Class what truncate means?)
Use United States as an example. 9,255,000,000 / 281,422,000 = 32, …
Give a few minutes to complete this first section. The break into groups based on color on the back of the flag– you will move around for this, PLEASE PUT YOUR BAGS UNDER YOUR DESK.
Give a few minutes to do that, then go onto the next sorting device.

28. Review of Chapter 9 Chapter review for Chapter 9:
Page 214:
Main Ideas section 1-10.
Critical Thinking 2-5.
Answer in complete sentences, but you do not have to re-write the question.
Due at the next class period
Chapter review for Section 9: turn to page 214, do Main Ideas section NOT “REVIEWING PLACE & TERMS”! Answer in complete sentences, but do not have to re-write the question.
Some time will be provided in class to work independently.

29. Pretest Question #1
The Inca built their civilization in the Andes Mountains by
altering their environment.
changing the climate.
going on a diet.
using farm machinery. A

30. Pretest Question #2 Push factors and pull factors have to do with
growing and harvesting vegetables.
fishing.
driving a car.
people leaving a rural area to go to the cities. D

31. Pretest Question #3
Some South Americans still use the _______ method of farming thought to be used by native people thousands of years ago.
tilling the soil
slash-and-burn
plow and fertilize
aquaculture B

32. Pretest Question #4
Sewers, transportation, electricity, and housing are part of a city’s
landscape.
infrastructure.
tourist attraction.
road map. B

33. Pretest Question #5 Tourism is a growing industry, especially in
Chile and Argentina.
Brazil and Peru.
Mexico and the Caribbean.
the Caribbean and Peru. C

34. Closure How does agriculture reshape the ecological environment?
Describe the effects of urbanization and cities.
What are positive effects of tourism?
What are negative effects of tourism?
What is the relationship between Health, Wealth & Literacy?
NEXT TIME: Turn in Chapter 9 Homework
NEXT TIME: Read Chapter 10, Section 1
NEXT TIME: Mexico!
How does agriculture reshape the environment? Things like terraced farming LITERALLY reshape the environment by cutting hillsides. Slash and Burn farming removes the naturally-occurring plants or trees to clear the area for farmland.
Effects of urbanization and cities: presents opportunity for jobs, education and health care, but also have to deal with overcrowding, crime and economic difficulties.
Positive effects of tourism: create jobs and spurs the economy
Negative effects: absentee ownership, crime and overcrowding, income gaps breed resentment
Chapter review for Section 9: turn to page 214, do Main Ideas section and Critical Thinking 2-4. NOT “REVIEWING PLACE & TERMS”! Answer in complete sentences, but do not have to re-write the question.