Exam 1 on Tuesday
• Covers text reading (Chapters 1-3) &
class lectures through North America
only (i.e., nothing on Latin America)
• Multiple choice – thus needs a scantron
sheet & pencil
• Review session:
Monday OR Sunday? 7 PM
Here? or Saunders 220?
Email to advise
© T. M. Whitmore
Today
• Latin America & the Caribbean
Very Diverse Physical
environment
Legacies of Indigenous (preColumbian) peoples
The Columbian “encounter”
© T. M. Whitmore
Last Time -- QUESTIONS?
• North America
Poverty
Defining “regions” – the “South”
• Latin America & the Caribbean
(combined)
Very Diverse Physical
environment
© T. M. Whitmore
South America sub-regions
• Andes mountains
• Shield rock highlands of Brazil and
Venezuela/Guianas
• Lowlands and major river basins
Amazon
Orinoco
Parana & Paraguay (Río de la
Plata)
© T. M. Whitmore
3 physiographic regions
1) Andes
2) “highlands”
3) lowlands
NASA WorldWind
Río de la Plata
Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) image of the Rio de la
Plata estuary (Argentina), with input of river water from the Uruguay and Parana
rivers notably visible. Buenos Aires is the semi-circular gray area southeast of the
inland end of the estuary. Click on the image for a larger version.
South American Climates
• Equatorial Amazonia
• Wet-dry tropical forest and
savannah
• Temperate humid SE South America
• Semi-arid Southern cone
• Andean mountain climates
• Western coastal deserts
• Chilean Mediterranean & Marine
West coast
© T. M. Whitmore
Equatorial Amazonia & Wet-dry
tropical forest and savannah
• Abundant rain in Equatorial
rainforest
• Seasonal rainfall in wet-dry tropical
savannah
Savannah vegetation
© T. M. Whitmore
savanna
© T. M. Whitmore
© W.H. Freeman & Co.
© T. M. Whitmore
Temperate humid SE South
America & Semi-arid Argentina
• Temperate humid SE
Cfa climate (temperate, i.e., nontropical) (like NC)
Pampas grasslands
• Semi-arid Southern Cone
Rain shadow E of Andes in
Patagonia and along foothills
farther N
Grasslands
© T. M. Whitmore
Andean mountain climates &
Western coastal deserts
• Andes
Principle of altitudinal vegetation
zones
Tectonics
• Coastal Deserts
El Niño phenomena (warm water
instead of cold along coast)
Many areas with no rain at all –
except in El Niño events
© T. M. Whitmore
© T. M. Whitmore
Dry ---- Wet
winds
Dry ---- Dry
winds
Wet ---- Dry
Terraces near Tarma, Peru
© T. M. Whitmore
N. Atlantic
Gyre
Trade winds
Trade winds
S. Atlantic
Gyre
S. Pacific
Gyre
El Niño Conditions
Chilean Mediterranean &
Marine West coast
• N Chile = Atacama desert;
• Mid Chile = a Mediterranean climate
(like Spain or Italy or S California!);
• S Chile = cool wet “marine west
coast” climate (like Oregon or
Washington or W Europe!)
© T. M. Whitmore
Pillars that form modern Latin
America: # 1
• Legacies of Indigenous (pre-
Columbian) peoples
Geography of Indigenous peoples
(Amerindians) of Latin America Pre-Columbian (at time of
European arrival)
Amerindian contributions to
agriculture
© T. M. Whitmore
Indigenous peoples:
Northern Mexico
• Bands and small pops - collectively
often called Chichimec
hunting and gathering economies
small populations (1 - 2 m)
© T. M. Whitmore
Indigenous peoples: Mesoamerica
• State-like political structures
(Aztec, Tarascan, Huastec, Zapotec,
Maya, etc)
• Large populations
• Significant urbanization
• Sophisticated agriculture systems
© T. M. Whitmore
Chichimec
N Mexico
Mesoamerica
•
Tenochtitlán
Aztec
Maya
© T. M. Whitmore
Indigenous peoples: Caribbean
• 3 major cultural groups
Ciboney
Taino or Arawak
Carib
• Large populations
• Special agriculture (conuco) and
fishing
© T. M. Whitmore
Ciboney
Taino or Arawak
Carib
Indigenous peoples: Amazonia
• Smallish populations
• Larger pops and sedentary
agricultural lifestyle along major
rivers
© T. M. Whitmore
Indigenous peoples: Southern Cone
• Much like Northern Mexico
• H-G
• Low populations < 2 m
© T. M. Whitmore
Amazonia
& Lowland SA
Southern
Cone
Indigenous peoples:
Andean highlands and coast
• Inka empire: Columbia to N. Chile
• Well organized conquest state
• Large populations
• Sophisticated agriculture exploiting
many elevation niches
© T. M. Whitmore
Indigenous peoples III
• Andean
highlands and coast
Inka empire: Columbia to N. Chile
Well organized conquest state
Large populations
Sophisticated agriculture
exploiting many elevation niches
Terraces (andenes in Spanish,
hence Andes)
© T. M. Whitmore
Amazonia
& Lowland SA
Southern
Cone
Amerindian contributions to global
agriculture I
• Some major Foods:
Maize (corn)
Beans (lima, green, black, pinto, etc.)
Peanuts
Potatoes (NOT Irish!)
Squashes (including pumpkin)
Sweet potatoes (what are incorrectly
called yams)
Chilies
Vanilla
Cacao (Chocolate - that staff of life)
© T. M. Whitmore
Pecan
Amerindian contributions to global
agriculture II
• Foods:
Papaya
Cashew
Manioc (or cassava, yuca - you know as
tapioca)
Avocado
Tomatoes (what did the Italians do
before 1492?)
Pineapple
Guava
and many, many others (especially
© T. M. Whitmore
fruits)
Amerindian contributions to
agriculture III
• Non-foods
Cotton (all commercial types)
Tobacco
Rubber (latex)
Coca (source of cocaine)
Indigo (blue jeans dye)
Hemp/sisal
© T. M. Whitmore
Amerindian contributions to
agriculture IV
• Animals
Guinea pig
Llama
Alpaca
Turkey
and very few others
• About 1/3 of the world’s total
agricultural crops are Amerindian in
origin
© T. M. Whitmore
Pillar # 2: Legacies of Spanish
and Portuguese colonialism
• Conquest of Latin America
• Amerindian population collapse
• Colonial economic systems in Latin
America
• Other legacies of colonialism in
Latin America
© T. M. Whitmore
Conquest of Latin America
• Columbus - 1492 (+ 4 other voyages)
• 1519 Cortés left Cuba to conquer
Aztec state
• Pizarro arrived on Peru coast 1527
and found Inka in civil war =>
relatively easy conquest in 4 years
• Portuguese conquest confined to
Brazil after its “discovery” in 1500
=> Brazil speaks Portuguese while
most of LA speaks Spanish
© T. M. Whitmore
Amerindian population collapse
• Caused primarily by infectious
disease brought by Europeans, their
African slaves, and animals
• Amerindians never exposed to
common Old World diseases such
as: smallpox, typhus, plague, severe
influenza, measles, malaria, yellow
fever, and many others
1st exposure infected everyone
(called virgin soil diseases)
© T. M. Whitmore
Consequences for Amerindians
• Pre-Columbian population of Latin
America ~ 50-60 m
• Horrifying scale of loss
About 90% of Amerindian pop
died in 100-150 yrs
Compare with European Black
Death –it killed 25 - 35% in
Europe over 100 yrs in 1300s
• Nadir (minimum) population ~ 5 m!
• Contemporary population ~ 40 m
© T. M. Whitmore
Amerindian Population Collapse
© T. M. Whitmore
© T. M. Whitmore
AMERINDIAN DEPOPULATION
PRE-COLUMBIAN
POPULATION (millions)
NADIR
POPULATION (millions)
CURRENT
POP (millions)
North
America
3-4
0.25
th
19th
C
2-3
Mexico
17
2
th
17th
C
11
Central
America
5-6
0.5
th
17th
C
6-7
Caribbean
3
virtually extinct
th
16th
C
0
Andes
14 - 15
1.5 - 2
th
17th
C
17
Lowland South
America
9
2
th
17th
C (?)
2
TOTALS
MID 50s
< 10
NEAR 40
REGION
© T. M. Whitmore
Amerindian & Mestizo Populations
• European men and Amerindian
women produced mestizos
• Mestizos are a majority in most of
Spanish-speaking Latin America
• Large minorities of pop speak
Amerindian languages in: Mexico,
Guatemala, Bolivia, Peru
E.g., new president of Bolivia
speaks Aymara
© T. M. Whitmore