Latin America
Human and Cultural Geography
GCU 122 – World Regional Geography
Jason Donoghue
Chandler-Gilbert Community College

• Population Distribution and Density
– Growth rates
– Urban centers
• Race, Language and Religions
• Cultural Models

• 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

• 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 %

• 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.

• 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

• 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.

• 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

• 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

• 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” – 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.

• 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.

• 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)

• 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.

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

Culture Hearths
– Maya Civilization
• Classic Period 200-900 AD
• Honduras, Guatemala, Belize, Yucatan
Peninsula
• Theocratic Structure
– Aztec Civilization
• 1300 AD
• Valley of Mexico

SPAIN
FRANCE
BRITAIN

• 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

• 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

Tropical-plantation
• Locations, soils, & tropical climates favor plantation crops, especially sugar.
• Initially relied on African slave labor

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.

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.

Mestizo-transitional
• Surrounds the
Amerindiansubsistence region
• A zone of mixtureculturally & agriculturally
• Transitional -economic connotations

Undifferentiated
• Characteristics are difficult to classify.
• Sparsely populated
• Isolation and lack of change- notable features
• Development of
Amazonia may prompt significant changes.

Tropical-plantation
European-commercial
Amerind-subsistence
Mestizo-transitional
Undifferentiated