Landforms and Resources
of Latin America
Regions of Latin America
Mexico
Central America
Caribbean
South America
Brazil
Mountains and Highlands
• The Andes Mountains– The Andes are a part of the mountain range
that runs through a portion of North, Central
and South America.
• United States- The Rocky Mountains
• Central America- The Sierra Madres
• South America- the Andes
• There are many volcanic peaks throughout the
Andes.
Andes Characteristics
• Many volcanoes
• The longest mountain range in
the world, nearly 5,000 mile long.
• Creates a barrier between the
coastal cities on the west coast
and the interior of the continent.
Highlands
• The other mountainous
regions in Latin America
include the following:
• The Guiana Highlands
• The Brazilian Highlands
The Plains of Latin America
There are vast plains regions in Latin America
well suited for agriculture
Llanos:
Colombia and Venezuela
Pampas:
Argentina and Uruguay
Amazon River Basin:
Brazil
The Pampas: Argentina
The Amazon River and Other Major
River Systems
• South America has three major River Systems:
Amazon River:
Brazil
Orinoco River:
Venezuela and Colombia
Paraná River:
Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina
The Mighty Amazon
• Amazon : Flows 4,000 from west to east
and empties into the Atlantic Ocean.
Source is the Andes Mountains close to
the Pacific Ocean.
The Orinoco River
• The Orinoco River flows mainly through
Venezuela and Colombia. It creates part
of the border between the two countries.
The Paraná River
• The Paraná river begins in
the Brazilian Highlands and
flows southward through
Paraguay and Argentina. It
meets with several other
rivers to create the Rio de la
Plata a very important
estuary in South America.
Islands of the Caribbean
• Three Main Island Groups make up the
West Indies:
The Bahamas
The Greater Antilles
The Lesser Antilles
The Bahamas
• The Bahamas are
made up of
hundreds of
islands off of the
southern tip of
Florida. Nassau is
the capital and
largest city in the
Bahamas.
The Greater Antilles
• The Greater Antilles is made up of the
largest islands in the Caribbean including
Cuba, Jamaica, Hispaniola (Haiti and
Dominican Republic), and Puerto Rico.
The Lesser Antilles
• The Lesser Antilles
includes the smaller
islands in the region
southeast of Puerto
Rico. They are
divided into two
groups- the Leeward
island and the
Windward islands.
Resources
Gold
Silver
Oil
Natural gas
Hydroelectric power
Copper
Timber
Agricultural Products
Climate and Vegetation
Tropical Wet
Rain forest
(Brazil)
Tropical Wet and Dry
Llanos and Pampas
(Venezuela and Argentina)
Semiarid
Patagonia- Argentina
Desert
Atacama Desert-Chile
Mid-Latitude Climates
Humid Subtropical
Paraguay, Uruguay, southern Brazil,
Bolivia, and Argentina
Mediterranean
West coast of Chile
Marine West Coast
Southern Chile, eastern Argentina
Highlands
Vertical Climate Zones
About 15,000 ft
Terra Helada (Mountain Tundra)
Tree Line
10,000-12,000 ft
Tierra Fria (Cloud Forest)
6,000 -6,500 ft
Tierra Templada (Wet forest)
2,500- 3,000 ft
Tierra Caliente (Dry Forest and
swamp)
Human-Environment Interaction
Agriculture:
Slash-and-burn technique used to clear
the land for farmland in the Amazon River
basin.
Human-Environment Interaction
• Agriculture: Terraced Farming is an
ancient technique introduced by the Inca
for growing crops on the side of a
mountain. This reduces soil erosion.
Urbanization
• Push and Pull factors:
People in Latin America
are moving from rural
areas into urban areas
in search of better
opportunities. This has
created many problems
such as the
development of slums
in the big cities.
Push Factors
• Push factors:
reasons why people
feel forced to move
away from rural
areas examples:
Poverty, poor
medical care, poor
educational
opportunities, lowpaying jobs
Pull Factors
• Pull factors: reasons why people are
drawn to live in the cities. Examples:
Possibilities for work, education, medical
care.
Rapidly Growing Cities
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City
Population (2000)
Mexico City, Mexico
Buenos Aires, Argentina
Lima, Peru
Sao Paulo, Brazil
Santiago, Chile
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
99,639,000
37,048,000
27,136,000
16,800,000
15,211,000
11,029,300
Urban Sprawl
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Unemployment
Crime
Illegal Drug trafficking
Slums
Pollution
Sanitation
Shortages of clean drinking water and
housing
Tourism
• Advantages:
– Creation of new
jobs
– Reduction of the
income gap
between rich
and poor
Tourism
• Disadvantages:
– Congestion
– Pollution
– Strain on local
resources
– Resentment and
hostility
– Large public debt due to
building tourist facilities