Latin American Nuts and Bolts

Environmental Issues in Latin America-Air Pollution in Mexico City

Oil Pollution in Venezuela

Natural Disasters all over

Deforestation in the Amazon Rainforest in Brazil-this is the most serious of the 4 issues

Aztec, Incas, Mayans-Mayan-Ancient civilization of Middle America, best known for their study of math and astronomy, study of the number zero, slash and burn farming technique and development of calendars

Aztec-Capital City in what is now present day Mexico City, known as the warring tribe, used chinampas for farming. Their leader was Montezuma II and they were conquered by the Spanish conquistador, Hernan Cortes.

Inca-Capital City was Cuzco, now called Machu Picchu; they are best known for their stone work and stone terraces for farming potatoes and other crops. They had road runners to communicate messages. Their leader was Atahuala and they were also conquered by the Spanish Conquistador, Francisco Pizarro.

The 3tribes listed above are the indigenous tribes of Latin America-they are native to the land and were their originally.

Spanish Colonization-God, Gold, and Glory-this was the mission of the Conquistadors.

Arrival of the Spanish Conquistadors-Cortes conquered the Aztecs and Pizarro conquered the Incas. They easily defeated the Indigenous peoples of Latin America, because they had superior weapons. They also had armor and horses to help in battle. The silent killer that accompanied these Spanish soldiers were diseases. Many indigenous peoples contracted small pox and more and within days or weeks were dead. These peoples had never been exposed to such illnesses and their bodies could not fight them off.

Spanish Mission System-Their goal was to teach the natives Spanish, spread Catholic Christianity, and to make most of them into slaves. Priests were put in charge of overseeing the natives in this new system.

Columbian Exchange-The 3 areas of the triangular were: Europe, Africa, and the Americas. As people came from Europe and Africa, many new people groups formed. Ideas like Slavery and Christianity continued to spread to the New World and the Europeans taught the Native Latin Americans Spanish. Manufactured goods, crops, and a variety of animals were brought over from Europe. This greatly changed the Americas. Slaves were brought over from Africa to work on plantations in the new world. They were skilled farmers and metal workers. Crops and ideas also came from the New World and went back to Europe. This exchange of ideas and goods and movement of people during this time period is known as the Columbian Exchange.

Independence Movements-The men that led Latin America’s independence movements were called the liberators.

Toussaint L’Ouverture helped Haiti get its independence from France. Most of its fighters were former slaves. Haiti was the first country to get its independence. He was imprisoned and later killed.

Father Miguel Hidalgo was a Mexican priest who helped Mexico get its independence from Spain. He is best known for his speech “The Cry of Delores”. He was killed, but his men continued to fight and won

Simon Bolivar helped the northern parts of South America fight for independence. Bolivia is named after him. He worked with Jose de San Martin who helped to liberate the southern portion of South America.

Brazil got its independence peacefully from Portugal’s royal family by Dom Pedro.

Cuban Revolution-USA supports Fulgencio Batista as the leader of Cuba, because he allows American’s to build hotels and casinos, as well as start sugar plantations and run the electric companies. When Batista tried to regain power after a brief retirement, he staged a coup d’etat –a military takeover. It wasn’t long after that Fidel Castro started making attempts to take power. The time period when Fidel Castro took over the island country of Cuba is called the Cuban Revolution. Cubans lost many rights when Castro became their dictator. They lost free elections and free press, just to name a few. In time Castro had all the US hotels and casinos shut down and the sugar plantations were given to Cubans. All of these actions were perceived as being very anti-american. The USA hired exiled cubans to try to overthrow Castro. This event was called the Bay of Pigs. It was a miserable failure for the new US president JFK. Soon after Cuba became allies with the Soviet Union; which angered the USA! During the Cold War, the USA held missiles in Turkey to aim at the USSR if necessary. The USSR held missiles in Cuba to aim at us…This sequence of events was called the Cuban Missile Crisis. Thankfully it was resolved and later the Cold War eventually came to an end.

Zapatistas-The Zapatistas are an example of a guerrilla group that formed to get more rights for the people of Chiapas, Mexico. They felt that they were being treated unfairly. Guerrilla warfare is characterized by surprise attacks and most members of a guerrilla group are living in some type of poverty. After ongoing fighting between the Zapatistas and the Mexican government, the people of Chiapas decided to work together to provide healthcare and education for themselves.

Government systems

Mexico / Brazil / Cuba
Federal System with a president / Federal System with a president / Dictator/Communism

Economic systems

Mexico / Brazil / Cuba
Mixed Economic System / Mixed Economic System / Command Economic System

Literacy Rate, GDP, and Standard of Living connections-

As Literacy Rate goes up, individuals will get higher paying jobs, the country will make more $$, GDP Gross Domestic Product goes up, and people live a higher standard of life. Literacy rate is also connected to technology; one goes up, the other goes up. Literacy is important for many urban jobs; however, farming does not require this skill as much.

Trade-NAFTA-North American Free Trade Agreement works to remove trade barriers and promote free trade. It works to open up additional markets and eliminate tariffs (taxes on goods)

USA has a trade embargo with Cuba.