Latin America Chapter 8

Objectives:

Section 1- The Land

1. Explain how geographers divide the large region known as Latin America.

2. Identify the factors that have shaped the formation of Latin America's Landforms.

3. Discuss how the Latin American landscape has influenced patterns of Human

settlement.

4. List the Natural Resources that make Latin America an economically important

Region.

A Vast Region

Latin America has a land Area of about 8 million square miles-nearly 16 % of the Earth's land surface. The region shares a heritage of settlement by Europeans, especially those from Spain and Portugal. Most of these settlers spoke Spanish or Portuguese-languages based on Latin...the language of the Roman Empire, which gives the region it's name.

Latin America is divided into three areas-Middle America, the Caribbean, and South America.

Middle America consists of Mexico and seven countries of Central America.....the stretch of land that links the landmasses of North America and South America. The CaribbeanIslands, also known as the West Indies, fall into three groups-The Bahamas, the Greater Antilles, and Lesser Antilles. The continent of South America is the largest land area of Latin America. Among South Americas 13 countries, Brazil is largest in both land area and population.

Mountains and Plateaus

The Rocky Mountains in North America extend to the tip of South America. The Mountain Chain name changes as you move south. In Mexico they are the Sierra Madre; in Central America, the Central Highlands; and in South America, the Andes. Much of Latin America sits along the Pacific Ring of Fire, where plates of the Earth's crust collided for billions of years.

Plate Boundary Types:

Subduction

The eastern margin is a convergent boundarysubduction zone under the South American Plate and the Andes Mountains, forming the Peru-Chile Trench. The southern side is a divergent boundary with the Antarctic Plate, the Chile Rise, where seafloor spreading permits magma to rise. The western side is a divergent boundary with the Pacific Plate, forming the East Pacific Rise (mid-oceanic ridge). The northern side is a divergent boundary with the Cocos Plate, the Galapagos Rise.

The subduction of the Nazca plate under southern Chile has a history of producing massive earthquakes including the largest ever recorded on earth, the moment magnitude 9.5 1960 Valdivia earthquake.

The two main groups of the Lesser Antilles are the Windward Islands in the south and the Leeward Islands in the north. The Windward Islands are called such because they were more windward to sailing ships arriving in the New World than the Leeward Islands, given that the prevailing trade winds blow east to west. The trans-Atlantic currents and winds that provided the fastest route across the ocean brought these ships to the rough dividing line between the Windward and Leeward Islands.

The Leeward Antilles in the west form the third group. These consist of the DutchABC islands just off the coast of Venezuela, plus a group of Venezuelan islands.

Leeward Islands:

Virgin Islands

  • St. Thomas (USA)
  • St. John (USA)
  • St. Croix (USA)
  • Water Island (USA)
  • Tortola (UK)
  • Virgin Gorda (UK)
  • Anegada (UK)
  • Jost Van Dyke (UK)
  • Anguilla (UK)
  • Saint Martin/Sint Maarten (France/Neth.)
  • Saint-Barthélemy (Fr.)
  • Saba (Neth.)
  • Sint Eustatius (Neth.)
  • Saint Kitts (St. Kitts and Nevis)
  • Nevis (St. Kitts and Nevis)
  • Barbuda (Antigua and Barbuda)
  • Antigua (Antigua and Barbuda)
  • Redonda (Antigua and Barbuda)
  • Montserrat (UK)
  • Guadeloupe (Fr.) - the Guadeloupean archipelago is partially Leeward and partially Windward.
  • Dominica (Dominica)

Windward Islands:

  • Martinique (Fr.)
  • Saint Lucia (St. Lucia)
  • Saint Vincent (St. Vincent and the Grenadines)
  • Grenadines (St. Vincent and the Grenadines)
  • Barbados (Barbados is a Continental island found 100miles (160 km) east of the Windward chain)[2][3][4]
  • Grenada (Grenada)
  • Tobago
  • Trinidad (Sometimes considered part of the Windward Islands. They are the most southern islands of the Caribbean region. Islands of Trinidad and Tobago[1][5][6]

Leeward Antilles– islands north of the Venezuelan coast (from west to east):

  • Aruba (Neth.)
  • Curaçao (Neth.)
  • Bonaire (Neth.)
  • Los Roques Archipelago (Ven)
  • La Orchila (Ven)
  • La Tortuga (Ven)
  • La Blanquilla (Ven)
  • Margarita Island (Ven)
  • Coche (Ven)
  • Cubagua (Ven)

The Federal Dependencies of Venezuela: encompass all of Venezuela's off shore islands in the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Venezuela. These islands are sparsely populated - according to official sources only 3,000 people live there permanently, with another hundred from Margarita Island who live there seasonally to engage in fishing. Local government is under the authority of the mayor of Caracas.

The federal dependencies are composed of 600 islands and smaller formations; many have an area of less than 10,000 square meters’ and are essentially simple rocks. The largest island, La Tortuga, accounts for almost half of the territory of the federal dependencies.

PrincipalIslands and Groups

  • Aves Island (Isla de Aves)
  • Las Aves Archipelago (Archipiélago Las Aves)
  • Blanquilla Island (Isla La Blanquilla)
  • Los Frailes Islands (Islas los Frailes)
  • La Sola Island (Isla La Sola)
  • Patos Island (Isla de Patos)
  • Los Hermanos Archipelago (Islas Los Hermanos)
  • Los Monjes Archipelago (Archipiélago Los Monjes)
  • Orchila Island (Isla La Orchila)
  • Los Roques Archipelago (Archipiélago Los Roques)
  • Los Testigos Islands (Islas Los Testigos)
  • La Tortuga Island (Isla La Tortuga)

Island arcs are arc-shaped tectonic features / mountain belts which are partly below sea level, which is just a specific geographic-topographic situation in which the mountain belt is partly submerged, and many of these are composed of volcanoes, being thus volcanic island arcs. A subduction zone and its relation with volcanism, one of the more common causes of the existence of (volcanic) island arcs.

Aleutian Islands / United States / Aleutian Trench / Bering Sea / North American Plate / Pacific Plate
Mariana Islands / United States / Mariana Trench / Philippine Sea Plate / Pacific Plate
Antilles / Puerto Rico Trench / Caribbean Sea / Caribbean Plate / North American Plate, South American Plate

These collisions have formed mountains and volcanoes and have caused tremendous earthquakes.

Mountains and Plateaus Cont......

Despite obstacles, the mountains and plateaus of Latin America have been places of Human Settlement for thousands of years. People wanting to escape the heat of the lowland areas have been drawn to cooler mountain climates. They've also been attracted by the mountains rich natural resources-water, volcanic soil, timber, and minerals.

Latin Americas rugged terrain has tended to block movement and trade and to isolate regions and peoples. In recent decade’s radio, television, air transport, and the internet have begun to break down old physical barriers.

Mountains of Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean

Mexico-
Sierra Madre Oriental-East

Sierra Madre Occidental-West

These ranges surround the densely populated Mexican Plateau Which covers much of Central Mexico. In the Southern area, the mild climate, volcanic fertile soil, and adequate rainfall have attracted settlers for thousands of years.

Farther South, the Central Highlands, a chain of volcanic mountains, rise like a backbone across Central America. Many CaribbeanIslands are also part of this mountain range, which extends across the bed of the CaribbeanSea. The Islands are active volcanic peaks that rise above sea level. Some of the volcanoes are still active, which can make living on an island hazardous.

Andes of South America

Mountains located on western edge of South America 4, 500 Miles-The World's longest mountain range, as well as one of the highest, with some peaks rising to more than

20, 000 feet above Sea level. The Andes consist of several ranges that run parallel to one another called cordilleras.

In Peru and Bolivia, the Andes encircle a region called the Altiplano, which means "high plain." In southern Argentina, hills and lower flat lands form the plateau of Patagonia.

Highlands of Brazil

Eastern South America is the region of plateaus and valleys. The Mato Grasso Plateau, a sparsely populated plateau of forests and grasslands, spreads over much of Brazil and across Bolivia and Peru.

East of the Mato Grasso Plateau lay the Brazilian highlands, a plateau so vast that it spans several climate and vegetation zones. On the eastern edge of the Brazilian highlands, the plateau plunges sharply to the Atlantic Ocean, forming a steep cliff or slope called an escarpment.

Lowlands and Plains

Narrow coastal lowlands wind their way along the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean along the Atlantic and Pacific coasts of South America.

One of the Longest strips of coastal plain lies along Brazil's Atlantic coast. Brazil's coastal plain has been a major area of settlement and economic activity since the 1500's.

Inland areas of South America hold Vass grasslands: The llanos of Colombia and Venezuela, and the Pampas of Argentina and Uruguay. Both plains areas provide grazing lands for beef cattle.