Latin America Climate – Environmental Geography

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Latin America

Human and Cultural Geography

GCU 122 – World Regional Geography

Jason Donoghue

Chandler-Gilbert Community College

Human and Cultural Geography

Latin America

• Population Distribution and Density

– Growth rates

– Urban centers

• Race, Language and Religions

• Cultural Models

Population Characteristics

• Total population of the region (including the

Caribbean) is about

520 million.

– Bulk of which is clustered around historical highland settlements, or in coastal ports and cities.

Population distribution of Latin

America 1995

Latin America

• Population Characteristics

– Birth rates 25/1000

– Death rates 7/1000

– Natural Increase 1.8%

– Infant Mortality 36/1000

– Doubling Time <35 years

– Pop <15 = 34%

– Pop > 65 = 5 %

Problems of Growth

• Because most countries are growing at more than

2% per year and doubling so fast it puts pressure on food, water, housing and infrastructure.

• Large percentage of population is under age

15, which means populations are likely to continue to grow.

Other Latin American Countries -

2008

Population Per Square Mile

Population Density

• Most people in Latin

America now live in cities.

– Levels of urbanization are among the highest in the world.

• ~50% - Central America

• >80% in Argentina,

Chile, Uruguay, and

Venezuela

• Region hosts three of the worlds 10 largest cities:

– Mexico City – 21 mil

– São Paulo – 18 mil

– Rio de Janeiro – 11 mil

POPULATION

CARTOGRAM

Urban Primacy

• In many countries one city dominates.

– Argentina – Buenos Aries – 34% of pop

– Peru – Lima – 30% of pop

– Chile – Santiago – 30% of pop

– Mexico – Mexico City – 19% of pop

• Problems

– Focuses physical and human resources in one area

– Political power, and pollution confined to one or two cities.

Urbanization

• The movement to and clustering of people in towns and cities

• The percentage of a country’s population living in cities:

– 79% - Continent wide in South America

• South America’s increase based on rate of

“natural increase” and internal motivation

• The “Latin American City” model…

Generalized Model of a Latin

American City

CBD

Commercial

Spine

Commercial/Industrial

Generalized Model of a Latin

American City

Commercial/Industrial

Elite Residential Sector

CBD

Generalized Model of a Latin

American City

CBD

Commercial/Industrial

Elite Residential Sector

Zone of Maturity

Generalized Model of a Latin

American City

CBD

Commercial/Industrial

Elite Residential Sector

Zone of Maturity

Zone in Situ Accretion

Generalized Model of a Latin

American City

CBD

Commercial/Industrial

Elite Residential Sector

Zone of Maturity

Zone in Situ Accretion

Zone of peripheral squatter settlements

Generalized Model of a Latin

American City

Disamenity

CBD

Disamenity

Commercial/Industrial

Elite Residential Sector

Zone of Maturity

Zone in Situ Accretion

Zone of peripheral squatter settlements

Major Racial Groups – Latin

America

• Prior to European arrival – 1500

– Population ~50 mil

• Aztecs, Inca and many smaller groups of hunter/gatherers, and agricultural communities.

• Colonialism

– Arrival of Europeans and slaves from Africa

• Few European women accompanied early Spanish and Portuguese explorers, so many fathered children with Indian women

Castes or castas

• The resulting mix of races were classified according to their racial mix:

– Mestizo – mixed Spanish and Indian heritage

• Most common

– Mulatto – Spanish/African

– Zambo – African/Indian

• These categories reflected racist perceptions that pervaded society.

– Correlated strongly with social class and society.

“Whiteness”

• “Whiteness” – carried social and economic advantages.

– Some mixed-race families would try to change their class by dressing, talking, and eating like those with whiter skin.

• This construction of race by styles of dress and diet continued into the twentieth century.

– 1930 Mexican census includes wearing sandals and eating corn tortillas, together with indigenous language as indicators of Indian race, and hence, lower class.

Recent Trends

• Argentina and Costa Rica report large numbers of

Europeans

• Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia and Guatemala show large percentages as

Indian.

• Colombia, Chile,

Venezuela and Mexico are more than half mestizo.

Languages of Latin America

• Indo-European dominates the region

– Spanish – ¾ of Latin America speak it

– Portuguese – the other ¼, mainly Brazil

• Indigenous languages endure, primarily in the highland regions.

– Quecha – Andean region (13 mil)

– Guarani – Paraguay (4.6 mil)

– Aymara – Mexico and Bolivia

(2.2 mil)

– Mayan – Guatemala and

Southern Mexico (1.7 mil)

Religions of Latin America

Religions of Latin America

• Going back to colonial times the goals of

Spanish and Portuguese explorers was the conversion of Indigenous people to Catholicism.

• Slave trade from Africa brought many African religious traditions to Latin America as well.

Culture Hearth

• SOURCE AREAS from which radiated ideas, innovations, and ideologies that changed the world beyond.

Mesoamerica

Hearths

Aztecs

Mayans

Mesoamerica

Culture Hearths

– Maya Civilization

• Classic Period 200-900 AD

• Honduras, Guatemala, Belize, Yucatan

Peninsula

• Theocratic Structure

– Aztec Civilization

• 1300 AD

• Valley of Mexico

Colonial Heritage

SPAIN

FRANCE

BRITAIN

The Legacy of Colonialism

• Land was appropriated - colonial commercial interests

• Lands devoted to food crops for local consumption were converted to cash cropping for export

• Land Alienation induces:

– Famine

– Poverty

– Migration

– Little agricultural diversity

The Inca Empire

• Culture hearth -

– Basin around Cuzco (1200-

1535 a.D.)

• Altiplanos were key to settlement patterns.

• 20 million subjects at its zenith

• Transportation networks and integration efforts were most impressive.

• A highly centralized state

INDIGENOUS PEOPLES

&

COLONIAL DOMAINS

SOUTH AMERICA’S

CULTURE SPHERES

Culture Spheres

Tropical-plantation

• Locations, soils, & tropical climates favor plantation crops, especially sugar.

• Initially relied on African slave labor

Culture Spheres

European-commercial

• The most “Latin” part of

South America

• Includes the Pampas temperate grasslands

• Economically most advanced

• Transportation networks and quality of life are excellent.

Culture Spheres

Amerind-subsistence

• Correlates with the former

Inca Empire

• Feudal socioeconomic structure persists

• Includes some of South

America’s poorest areas

• Subsistence agriculture must contend with difficult environmental challenges.

Culture Spheres

Mestizo-transitional

• Surrounds the

Amerindiansubsistence region

• A zone of mixtureculturally & agriculturally

• Transitional -economic connotations

Culture Spheres

Undifferentiated

• Characteristics are difficult to classify.

• Sparsely populated

• Isolation and lack of change- notable features

• Development of

Amazonia may prompt significant changes.

Culture Spheres

Tropical-plantation

European-commercial

Amerind-subsistence

Mestizo-transitional

Undifferentiated

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