Transcript Document 7263596

CHAPTER THREE
Middle and South America
Latin American Landscapes
Sierra Madre, Mexico
Pampas, Argentina
Andes, Chile
Amazon, Brazil
Yucatan, Mexico
Rio De Janeiro, Brazil
I.
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THE GEOGRAPHIC SETTING
pre-Columbian civilizations
cultural diversity
wide variation in latitudes and altitudes
colonial influences
economic disparity
outside influences and the Monroe Doctrine
terminology: Mesoamerica; Antilles;
Central-, Middle-, South- and Latin America
Indigenous Realities
Pollution in Ecuador
Physical Patterns
►
Landforms

Highlands
One continuous belt of mountains from Alaska to
Tierra del Fuego (why?)
► Importance of plate tectonics (i.e. subduction
zones)
► Earthquakes and volcanoes as common occurrence
(e.g. strong earthquake of 2010 in Haiti)
► Many Caribbean islands are volcanic in origin
►
Plate Tectonics
(revisit discussion in Chapter 1)
Soufrière Volcano on
Montserrat
Figure 3.4
Physical Patterns
► Lowlands
 Stretch from the Andes to the Atlantic
Ocean
 Amazon Basin: largest feature, drained by
Amazon River system
►20%
of world’s fresh water
►World’s largest expanse of rainforest
► rich biodiversity
 Amazon Basin home to some of the last
relatively undisturbed indigenous people
The Amazon Lowlands
Figure 3.5
Layne Kennedy/CORBIS
Physical Patterns
► Variations
in Climate
 Temperature-Altitude Zones
►Tierra
caliente: hot; tropical rain forests thrive;
up to 3000 feet.
►Tierra templada: temperate; year-round spring
like climate; 3000-6500 feet
►Tierra fria: cool; midlatitude crops; population
centers; 6500-12,000 feet
►Tierra helada: frozen; some cultivation; snow
and glaciers; above 12,000 feet
Temperature-Altitude Zones
Figure 3.7
Physical Patterns
► Variations
in Precipitation
 Trade winds: come in from Atlantic, bringing
seasonal rains at the equator
►Hurricanes
during summer and fall
 Winds from Pacific blocked by Andes
►Also,
cold Peru Current doesn’t hold moisture
►When changing direction “El Niño”
► Resulting
climate zones in Latin America
due to precipitation and temperature ranges
Climate Zones
Amazon
Figure 3.6
Atacama
Tierra del Fuego
El Niño
Environmental Issues
► Human
settlement always had consequences
for the environment
► Today, more severe because of growth in:
 Population
 Per capita domestic consumption of resources
 Exports of resources
► Tropical
Deforestation, Climate Change &
Globilization
Snapshots of Human Impact in Latin America
Energy Consumption Patterns World Wide
(revisit discussion in Chapter 1)
Human Impacts on
Middle and South America
Figure 3.32
Environmental Issues
► Tropical
Forestlands in the Global Economy
 Loss of 5% of remaining rainforest every year?
 Threats: logging of hardwoods, clearing for
agriculture or mining
 Promoted by Brazil’s government (jobs, cash
crops, moving people to rural areas)
 Funded by Asian investors (already depleted
their own forests)
 Increasing regulation leads to illegal logging
► Implications
for global warming
 Amazon = “Lungs of the World”
Environmental Issues
Is it worth it? From tropical wood and cattle ranches to soy beans and homesteads.
Environmental Issues
► Environ.
Protection & Economic Development
 Past: Governments argued that environmental
regulation too expensive
 Present: New focus on sustainable development
►Eco-tourism:
natural and cultural experiences in
unfamiliar environments
 Most rapidly growing segment of tourism
Human Patterns Over Time
► The
Peopling of Middle and South America
 Coming from Asia and moving across North
America between 25,000 to 14,000 years ago
 Reached Tierra del Fuego ~ 13,000 years ago
 50-100 million people by 1492 in advanced
societies
►Irrigation,
terracing, urban sewers, shifting cultivation
 Aztecs: Highly organized empire of Mexico
►Higher
standard of living than Europe
 Incas: Largest empire of Americas, on west coast
of South America
Incan Structures
Figure 3.8
Human Patterns Over Time
► European
Conquest
 Within 40 years of Columbus, all population
centers in region subjugated
►Hernando
Cortez (Aztecs) and Francisco Pizarro (Incas)
 Superior military technology
 Vulnerability to disease
►Smallpox,
measles
 Within 150 years, total population of Americas
reduced by 90%
►Beginning
of slave trade
Spanish and Portuguese
Trade Routes, circa 1600
Figure 3.10
Treaty of Tordesillas: 460 W longitude
Human Patterns Over Time
►A
Global Exchange of Crops and Animals
 European crops: rice, sugarcane, bananas,
citrus, melons, onions, apples, wheat, barley,
and oats
 American crops: potatoes, manioc (cassava),
corn, peanuts, cacao, peppers, pineapples, and
tomatoes
 European animals: sheep, goats, oxen, cattle,
donkeys, horses, and mules
Colonial Heritage of Middle
and South America
Figure 3.11
II. CURRENT GEOGRAPHIC ISSUES
► The
Legacy of Underdevelopment
 Today > 30% of the people lack land, education,
and food/shelter; a small elite class is very wealthy
► Mercantilism:
export-based economy, based on resource
extraction from colonies
► Anti-colonial revolts replaced far-away elites with local
ones (creoles and mestizos)
► Economies largely remain oriented to exporting of
resources (or primary sector!)
► This
colonial legacy carries on until today, and
in part because we have benefited from it!
Economic and Political Issues
► Power
and wealth in the region still concentrated
in the hands of local elites
► Concentration remains so today despite:
 Economic modernization & Urbanization
► Not
as poor as other regions (sub-Saharan Africa,
South Asia, Southeast Asia)
 But widest income disparity in the world inhibits
development, political stability
 On average >30% live in poverty
► Globalization
has mainly benefited urban middleclass and elites
► Why does poverty matter?
 Read The Christian Paradox
Income Disparity
Perspectives on Poverty:
Moral Perspective?
Economic Perspective?
Political Perspective?
Economic and Political Issues
►3
Phases of Economic Development
 Early Extractive Phase
►Colonialism,
haciendas, plantations
 Import Substitution Industrialization Phase
►Nationalization
of industry; land reform
 Structural Adjustment Phase
►Free
Trade Zones, maquiladoras, EPZs
►Voter backlash against SAPs in the 1990s
Economic and Political Issues
► The
Informal Economy
 Causes: Canceled subsidies; reduced
government jobs; recession;
underemployment; losses in real wages
 Positive effects: Workers support their
families; lower prices; conservation of
resources; promotes entrepreneurialism
 Negative effects: Workers pay bribes
instead of taxes; no recourse to law
► The
Role of Remittances
Economic and Political Issues
►Regional Trade and Free Trade Agreements
 NAFTA: U.S., Mexico, Canada
 UNASUR: 12 members / > 400 million people
► Mixed
record of free trade: increases income
inequality; small farmers cannot compete; but
growth of maquiladora sector
► The
Fair Trade Movement
How Will They be Able to Compete?
What’s “Fair” about “Fair Trade”?
WTO Protest in Cancún
Figure 3.23
Reuters/Juan Carlos Ulate AW/GN
Economic and Political Issues
►Food Production and Contested Space
 Large-scale, absentee-owned, export-oriented
agriculture promoted
►Smaller
farmers are often squeezed out
 Resistance by rural farmers
►Zapatistas
in Mexico in 1994 (resistance to NAFTA)
►Movement of Landless Rural Workers in Brazil
 Brazil: 65% of the land owned by 2% of the population
 2 million farmers forced off their land; millions of acres unused
 250,000 farmers have gained titles to land with popular support
(> 70% of Brazilian population support this movement)
Land Use in Latin America
Economic and Political Issues
► Power,
Politics & Democratization: 3 Scenarios
 Guatemala (1954); Chile (1973); Bolivia (2006)
 What’s different today when compared to the 50s and 70s?
► Is
Democracy Rising?
 Almost all countries in the region have democratically
elected governments
 Some threatened with coups d’état
►Policies unpopular with powerful elites / United States
►Venezuela, Ecuador, Colombia, and Bolivia
 Democracy fragile and not very transparent
 What role did we once play? What’s the situation today?
Democratization and Conflict in Latin America
Business Interests vs. Human Rights?
Guatemala (Arbenz Guzman), El Salvador (Oscar Romero), Chile (Salvador Allende vs.
Augusto Pinochet & the “Caravan of Death”), Argentina (Juan Peron vs. military junta)
The Oesterheld family: Marina (18), Beatriz (19), Diana (21), Estela (25), Hector (58)
disappeared in 1977-78 (Elsa passed away in June 2015)
Economic and Political Issues
► U.S.
Involvement in the Region’s Politics
 Monroe Doctrine: protecting American business
and political interests?
►U.S.
interventions in Cuba, Dominican Republic,
Nicaragua, Chile, Panama, and Venezuela
► Political
Impacts of Information Technology
 Used by activists to organize (e.g. Zapatistas)
 More “online and wired” than many regions
►Especially
countries like Argentina, Chile, Uruguay,
Jamaica, Colombia and Brazil
Role of the Internet
Meet Two Peace Nobel Prize Winners
Rigoberta Menchu (1992)
Guatemala
human rights activist
Oscar Arias (1987)
Costa Rica, President
1986-1990, 2006 - 2010
Also Unusual: The First Indigenous
President in South America since 2006
Figure 3.26
Economic and Political Issues
► Political
corruption
 Bribes widespread, undermining faith in government
► Drug
Trade
 Undermines democracy and rule of law
 Central America and northwestern South America
 U.S. attempts to slow the flow of drugs are largely a
failure, as evidenced by falling prices of cocaine
 We watched “Cocaine Unwrapped” to learn about the
failed War on Drugs. Another but older documentary
with a similar focus is Plan Colombia.
Geography of Cocaine
Population Patterns
► About
596 million people today
► Major migration
 Rural to urban
 Significance of “brain drain”
► Population
Distribution
 Relationship between population and physical
landforms? Infrastructure?
► Population
Growth
 Fast, but some countries are going slowly
through demographic transition (contraception)
Population Distribution
Figure 3.12
Natural Increase Rates
Population Patterns
► Migration
and Urbanization
 Crowded cities result from rural-urban
migration
►>
70% urbanization rate
►Lack of infrastructure, housing
 Primate cities: large percentage of country’s
population in one city
►e.g.
Mexico City (23 million / > 21%)
►Leads to overcrowding, anti-rural bias in
government policy
►Squatters: colonias, barrios, favelas, or barriadas
Overurbanization & Suburban Sprawl
Favela in Rio De Janeiro
Sprawling suburbs in Mexico City
Population Living in Urban Areas
Measures of Human Well-Being
► GNI
per capita masks the very wide
disparity of wealth in the region
 “Development” has increased disparity
 HDI better than GNI because education is
more available across gender and class
►Still,
challenges remain in regard to availability
of education and health care
► HIV/AIDS
growing problem
 Contribution of “machismo” and drug use
Human Well-being Rankings
Human Well-being Rankings
Sociocultural Issues
►Cultural Diversity
 One of the world’s most culturally rich
regions
►Indigenous
peoples, people of African,
European, South Asian, East Asian descent
►Mestizos now majority in Central America and
much of South America
 In urban areas, both:
►Acculturation:
cultural borrowing
►Assimilation: loss of old cultural identity
Sociocultural Issues
► Race
Color
and the Social Significance of Skin
 Race not as critical as in North America
 Instead: family, wealth, education, place of
residence, and occupation critical to social
status
 Still, correlation between light skin and wealth
Sociocultural Issues
► Family
and Gender Roles
 Extended family: individuals tend to
subordinate their interests to those of the
family
►Families
often live in domestic compounds
 Marianismo: The Virgin Mary is held up as the
model for women
►Chastity
and service to the family
 Machismo: Master of the household
►Father
lots of children, be attractive, be engaging
in social situations
Sociocultural Issues
► Children
in Poverty
 1/3 of children in region work
 Homelessness of children increasingly
common
 Causes: Economic marginality of recent
rural-to-urban migrants, particularly women
 Severing of extended family ties from ruralto-urban migration removes safety net
Brief Moments of Happiness
Sociocultural Issues
► Religion
in Contemporary Life
 Roman Catholic Church historically dominant
►Partnered
with Spanish and Portuguese colonists
►Encouraged colonized to accept their low status, obey
authority, and postpone rewards until heaven
 Over time, Catholicism connected more with
poor, less with elites
►Liberation
Theology: Catholic activists teaching
redistribution of wealth in the 1970s
►Legacy of Liberation Theology undermined/fading for
three decades, but again embraced with Pope Francis
Sociocultural Issues
► Evangelical
Protestantism
 Imported from North America
 Fastest growing religion in region
►About
10% of Christians
 “Gospel of Success”
►Theology
that those blessed by God will have
prosperity in this life
►Has led to increased social mobility but
declining class-consciousness
Religion in Middle and South America
Javanese Muslim women in Suriname