Includes: Central America, Caribbean, & South America Mexico to southern Argentina (tip is Tierra del Fuego- ”land of Fire”) Why is it called Latin America? The languages of early explorers (Spain & Portugal) have Latin origins as well as the language used by the Catholic Church was Latin.

37 countries make-up Latin America largest: Mexico, Brazil, & Argentina Latin America is twice the size of the United States 2/3 of Latin America lies within the tropics

Middle America Sierra Madres- Mother Ranges Many volcanoes- 40+ eruptions in the past 20 years, along the western side of Central America Plains are along both coasts. Lake Nicaragua- largest in Middle America Rivers- none of the rivers are navigable for ships

Caribbean Islands Islands are the result of a mountain chain and volcanic activity along the boundary of the Caribbean Plate and the North American Plate. Divided into 3 main groups Bahamas pieces of land, 700 big enough to be called islands, only 20 inhabited Lesser Antilles- arc towards South America, contain volcanoes Greater Antilles (4 big islands)- mountains in center, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Hispaniola, Jamaica

South America Andes Mountains- 4,000 miles long- longest Plains- Llanos, Pampas, Cerrado- excellent areas for farming Major River Systems- Amazon, Orinoco, Parana

Numerous natural resources- oil, natural gas, gold, silver, aluminum ore, hydroelectric power, rain forest products avocado banana grapefruit lemon lime mango orange papaya pineapple plantain sweet potato black pepper cayenne chili pepper chocolate / cocoa (products) cinnamon cloves gingervanilla cashew nuts coconut coffeerubber chicle (chewing gum) ipecac quinine

Farming Slash and Burn- today the method is still used and the rain forest is being destroyed Terraced farming- growing crops on mountain sides, look like steps

Urbanization People moving into cities faster than the cities can handle and therefore slums and shanty towns are created on the outskirts of the city

Tourism pros- brings in money, provides jobs cons- resort owners live elsewhere & profits are taken, large gap between rich tourist and poor residents