Geography of the World: Latin America: The People ANSWERS
Guided Viewing Questions
1. What group of people controlled most of central Mexico at the beginning of the sixteenth century?
AZTEC
2. What group of people controlled an empire in the Andes Mountains and along the west coast of
South America at the beginning of the sixteenth century? INCA
3. What group of people left great stone heads and other monuments in the jungles of southeastern
Mexico about 3,000 years ago? OLMECS
4. What group of people built Tenochtitlán on the site that later became Mexico City? AZTEC
5. What important event happened in Spain shortly before Queen Isabella provided Christopher
Columbus with the three ships that he took across the Atlantic Ocean in his 1492 voyage of
discovery? FERNINAD AND ISABELLA CONQUERED MUSLIMS AND KICKED THEM OUT OF SPAIN
6. What was the name of the Spaniard who conquered the Aztec Empire? CORTEZ
7. Why was the city of Potosí, Bolivia, built at such a high elevation? MINERALS…SILVER
8. What was the Columbian Exchange? THE EXCHANGE OF PEOPLE, ANIMALS, GOODS, DISEASES,
FOODS, ETC, BETWEEN EUROPE AND THE AMERICAS
9. People who worked as slaves on sugar plantations in the Caribbean were brought to the Americas
from what continent? AFRICA
10. Latin America is predominantly Christian in religion. What form of Christianity is most common?
ROMAN CATHOLIC
VOCABULARY
Fill in the letter of each term next to its closest definition.
A) civilization
E) hacienda
B) Columbian Exchange
F) mestizo
C) domesticated
G) mulatto
D) maize
H) Roman Catholic
1. D a plant domesticated in Middle America; commonly called corn in the USA
2. G a person with mixed African and European ancestry
3. E a large estate or land holding in the countryside
4. H the form of Christianity introduced to Latin America by Spanish and Portuguese missionaries
during the colonial period
5. F a person of mixed Indian and European ancestry
6. B the spread of domesticated plants and animals on a worldwide basis
7. C refers to animals or plants bred or adapted to make them more suitable for human purposes
8. A a complex society with cities, a division of labor, social classes, and usually a written language
TRUE OR FALSE
Place a T next to statements that are true and an F next to statements that are false.
1. T Spanish and Portuguese are languages based on Latin, which was the language once used in
the Roman Empire.
2. F There were no cities in the Americas before the arrival of the Spaniards and Portuguese.
3. F Machu Picchu was an important Maya settlement.
4. F Hernán Cortés was a Spanish explorer who discovered the Pacific Ocean.
5. T There were no sheep, horses, or cattle in Latin America before 1492.
6. F Potatoes were first domesticated in Ireland and brought to the Americas.
7. T Quite a few people in Guatemala and on the Yucatan Peninsula still speak various versions
of the Maya language.
8. T The first Spanish settlement in the Americas was built at a place called Isabella in what is
now the Dominican Republic.
9. T Towns in colonial period Latin America were designed so that churches and the homes of
wealthy people faced a large central square called a patio.
10. T Most Latin Americans with African ancestors live in the countries of Chile and Argentina.
FACTS ABOUT LATIN AMERICA’S PEOPLE
Fill in the blanks by choosing the most appropriate word or phrase from the word bank provided below:
Aztecs
mulattos
English
Portuguese
French
Protestant
Inca
Roman Catholic
mestizos
Spanish
The language spoken in the greatest number of Latin American countries is SPANISH Brazil
is the one country where PORTUGUESE is the national language. People in Jamaica and Belize
speak FRENCH and those who live in Haiti and the islands of Guadeloupe and Martinique speak
ENGLISH The Indian language of Quechua is spoken by many people who live in lands that were
once part of the INCA Empire and Nahuatl, the language of the AZTECS is still spoken in some
central Mexican villages. Many people in Mexico and Central America and the Andean countries are
MESTIZOS meaning that they have both European and Indian ancestors. In northeast Brazil, and in
the Caribbean islands, many people are MULATTOS , meaning they have both European and African
ancestry. The vast majority of people in Spanish-Portuguese- and French speaking areas are
PROTESTANT Christians in religion. In the Bahamas and other English-speaking lands, the ROMAN
CATHOLIC form of Christianity is more common.