1. Latin America Geography, History, and Culture

2. The Physical Geography of South America  Many Types of Landforms  Andes Mountains  Run 1500 Miles along Western Coast  Rich soil for farming  Very steep  Rolling Highlands – East  Amazon River Basin  Home to the World’s largest rain forest = 1/3 of the continent  Pampas – South  Large plain that stretches through Argentina and Paraguay

7. Amazon River http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Amazon_river_basin.png

8. Rio de la Plata http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:River_Plate.jpg

9. Climate Tropical Wet –Hot humid, rainy weather all year round –Rainforest will be in this area Tropical Wet and Dry –Hot, rainy, but not all year –Parts of Mexico, Brazil, and most of the Caribbean Humid Subtropical –Similar to Southern US –Crops grow well here Patagonia –Arid and cold –Sheep raised here

10. Natural Resources South America –Oil found, esp. Venezuela –Plants and fish –Forests cover about ½ of the continent –Rich soil – coffee and other crops flourish

11. Natural Resources and the Economy Not all countries have a natural resource Some countries don’t have the money to develop their resources Weather can cause problems as it can affect the supply Prices of resources can go down Plant disease can lower the amount of crop raised Oil Dependence – can be risky as prices change, natural disasters can affect supply

12. European Exploration 1400’s – Spain and Portugal searching for new trade routes to Asia 1492 – Columbus thought he had found India, instead he found the Americas Spain and Portugal became rivals over land in the Americas Treaty of Tordesillas –Signed in 1494 through urging of the pope –Line of Demarcation of 50° Longitude Spain got land West of Line Portugal got land East of Line Why Brazil is Portugal’s only colony in South America

13. Spain in the New World Conquistadors and Land –Spain would give them the right to hunt for treasure in these new lands –They would give Spain one – fifth of what they found –They could use ANY means to get their treasure Oil Painting by Alfredo P. Alcala http://christianvolt.blogs.friendster.com/ photos/art_exhibits/conquistadors.html

14. Simón Bolívar One of the greatest Latin America revolutionary leaders Originally joined fight for Venezuelan independence – he would become the leader By 1822 – had freed Gran Columbia (Columbia, Venezuela, Ecuador, and Panama) and became President http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Simon_Bolivar.jpg

15. Jose de San Martin Began helping with Argentina’s independence in 1817 Took his troops through the Andes in Chile and completely surprised the Spanish Declared Chile independent and then turned attention to Peru In July 1821, did another surprise attack (from the sea) and captured Lima Met up with Bolivar to discuss independence for the rest of the countries, but gave up his command Bolivar continued and by 1825 only Cuba and Puerto Rico still ruled by Spain

16. Jose de San Martin http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Smartin.J PG

17. Brazil and Independence Early 1800’s, France invaded Portugal and king fled to Brazil King returned to Portugal in 1821 and left his son, Dom Pedro, in charge 1822 – Dom Pedro declared Brazil independent Portugal recognized independence 3 years later http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Dompedro-II.jpg

18. Economic Issues 1900’s – foreign countries began investing in Latin America Foreign Companies ended up with a lot of economic power –They would make money –The people of Latin America did not benefit from this To improve their economic situation, they began building their own factories 1970’s things were improving 1980’s – the price of oil needed to run factories rose while the price of products dropped They had to borrow money and now were in debt

19. Economic Issues - 2 Now, Latin America countries do limit how much foreign countries can invest to avoid losing control of their economy They also trade with one another to get items that they need cheaper