T or F?

The contains least developed territories of the Americas.

3800 mi

6000 km

40 mi.

east-west

MA

Egypt's Sinai Peninsula (between Asia/Africa)

FORMER: Bering land bridge (Asia/Alaska)

Shallow water between New Guinea/Australia

the four larger islands of the caribbean

Cuba, Hispaniola (contains Haiti and the Dominican Republic), Puerto Rico, Jamaica

mainland MA

where major ancient civilizations were

which civilization is the only one in the world that arose in the lowland tropics

and when was its peak

Mayans

(peak = 3 - 10 century AD)

city-states

unified area larger than any modern MA countries, besides Mexico

intermontane highland zone of Mexico

Teotiguacan, north of Mexico City

1st true urban center in the western hemisphere

how long prosper?

Teotihuacan (of the Toltecs, who were later conquered by the Aztecs)

prospered for 7 centuries (in the A.D.)

area surrounding current Mexico City

location of Aztec State --> specifically on an island in a lake in the Valley of Mexico

capital city of the Aztecs

greatest city in the Americas

produced skilled artists/scientists --> acheived a lot in agriculture and trade

cotton, textile industry, domesticated turkey, grew cacao, developed writing systems, studied astronomy

they used wood for houses and charcoal for fuel

the natives had used stone for houses

nucleated villages/towns

centraled around plaza (had church/government buildings)

street pattern= gridiron form so upset Amerindians could be sealed off by military force in neighborhoods

Panama

went northwest from there

Mainland-Rimland framework

(Austrian spagetti)

conceptualized contrasts between MA highlands, coastal areas, Car. islands

1. Euro-Amerindian Mainland (Central America + Mexico w/o east coast below Yucatan peninsula)
2. Euro-African Rimland (w/ east coast below Yucatan peninsula + islands)

mix between Spanish and Amerindian

(on Mainland)

which is more isolated? mainland or rimland?

economies?

mainland = more isolated; hacienda region = self-sufficient economies

rimland = plantatin economy; tied to world market

• Spanish institution
• land and labor not used as efficiently as they could be
• possession = social prestige; comfortable lifestyle
• workers live on land with little plots of their own

• idea of northern Europeans
• aims for profit/wealth rather than prestige

Robert West/John Augelli

Plantations...

1. are located in humid tropical coastal lowlands
2. usually single crop, and for export only
3. money/skills brought in --> foreign ownership [?] and profit
4. seasonal labor (laborers imported)
5. "factory-in-the-field"; more efficient use of land/labor

1823

U.S. said no countries can be taken over and no colonies created in the Americas

Cuba became independent

Puerto Rico became part of U.S.

départements

which 2 mtn ranges frame the funnel-shaped Mexican heartland?

what is between them?

Sierra Madre Occidental (West)

Sierra Madre Oriental (East)

In the middle:  Plateau of Mexico

North = dry (w/ mtns)

South = more wet

T or F?

Mexico's pop. grew rapidly in the past 30 years, but demographers noticed a sharp drop in fertility and are predicting that the pop. will stop growing by 2050.

31

Mexico (state)

the "waist" of the country

Veracruz to Jalisco w/ Mexico in the Middle (which has Mexico City)

More than half of all Mexicans are _____.

Following that, in order of percent of population of Mexico...

mestizos

predominantly Amerindian, European, full-blooded Amerindian

transculturation - the 2-waw exchange of culture traits between societies in close contact

acculturation - one way exchange

ejidos

What? Where?

land parceled out the once-dominating haciendas to rural communities; result of 
Constitution in 1917

government holds title to the land

most are in central and southern Mexico

Chipas = Mexico; most southeastern state; poorest state

ZNLA rebelled because didn't get land

ZNLA

what is?

why get publicity?

Zapatista National Liberation Army

Mayan peasant farms in Chiapas who wanted to gain land and fair treatment

publicity because:

-named after 1910 revolutionary leader Zapata

-coincided with birth of NAFTA

core area of Mexico anchored by...

the West centered on...

These areas are transition zones between what?

...Mexico City

...Guadalajara

the Hispanic-Mestizo north and the Amerindian-infused mestizo south

T or F?

Middle America has only one great Metropolis (Mexico City)

"lost cities"

poorer than slums, outskirts of Mexico City

contains 1/3 of Mex.City's pop

T or F?

For the most part, Mexico is in a progressive transition.

cotton

wheat and winter vegetables

fruit and vegetable cultivation attracts foreign investors

1. U.S. subsidizes corn, which ends up on Mexico markets
2. U.S. tried to prevent purchase of cheap Mexican produce imports (violates the rules NAFTA stands for)

Out sourcing of jobs from Mexico to Asia, where wages are 1/4 of those in Mexico (started after turn of century).

Solutions?

1. education of a highly skilled workforce
2. the training of more Mexican managers
3. addressing corruption
4. dispersing maquiladoras throughout Mexico
5. update infrastructure to international standards

Mexican megaproject

move goods between oceans and across the 150-mile Tehuantepec istumus

potential rival for Panama Canal

Industrialized/post-industrialized section of Mexico = ______

traditional w/ primary economic activities = ______

North

South

Monterrey (in North)

there is a new expressway link between Monterrey and Dallas-Ft. Worth

1st; 0 - 2500 ft

tropical agriculture

2nd; 2500 - 6000 ft

coffee

corn/wheat = staple grains

Which altitude zone has Middle and South America's largest population clusters?

Exception?

tierra templada (2nd)

El Salvador mainly located in tierra caliente

3rd; 6000 ft - 12000 ft

potatoes, barley

4th; 12,000 - 15,000 ft

above treeline

ranching (hardy livestock like sheep)

5th; > 15,000 ft

permanent snow and ice

The cultural geography of Middle and western South America is closely related to ______.

the environments of the altitudinal zones

pop. density greater towards Pacific or Caribbean in Cen. America?

Pacific

Population explosion in Cen. America.

When? Exceptions?

mid. 1900s

Exceptions = Costa Rica, Panama, where growth is slowing down

Central America

produces little of the world's needs

T or F?

Guatemala was never part of Mexico.

• most populous of Cen. Am countries
• meztizos call themselves ladinos
• had civil war in 1960 because of economic disparity
• mestizos = power

• once dependency of UK (called British Honduras)
• has many African descendents (but beginning to be dominated by Mestizos)
• like Caribbean island
• sea-food processing/clothing industry/tourism major revenue earners
• offshore banking (tax escape for copanies?)

• struck by devastating Hurrican Mitch in 1998
• critical agriculture sector

1. Haiti
2. Nicaragua
3. Honduras

• has greatest pop. density of Cen. Am.
• 88% mestizo
• coffee republic (all others in Cen Am. = banana republics)
• Civil war  from 1080 to 1992
  • U.S./Nicaragua took sides
• largest single source of foreign revenue = people in U.S./other send money back home

• core located on Pacific
• Caribbean coast home to Miskito (Amerindians)
• Hurricane Mitch cam during land reform
• talk of a dry canal

• has old democratic tradition
• has no standing-army for past 50 years
• good political stability
• contains Valle Central
• has nited Fruit Company in plains
• has region's highest standard of living

heartland of central highlands region of Costa Rica

a fertile basin

Costa Rica's main coffee-growing area

has San Jose

• Canal that opened in 1914
• Colon -- trading center
• recognized Taiwan as independent
• invested in by the "two chinas" -- China/Taiwan

In Panama

trading entrepot for SA

augmented by the Manzanillo International Terminal

1. U.S.
2. Japan
3. China

• Cen. Am's only coastal capital
• handled funds from Canal
• miami-like sky line
• Colon Free Zone/Panama City link had a money-laundering dimension