LATIN AMERICAPHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY

AMAZON RIVER

ANDESMOUNTAINS

YUCATANPENINSULA

GREATER & LESSER

ANTILLES

PAMPAS

BRAZILIAN HIGHLANDS

PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY

• The Andes Mountains are among the highest in the world. They extend over 4,500 miles in the western part of South America. The Andes were once the basis of the Inca Empire

• Mountains and poor soils make much of South America’s land unproductive. One exception is the pampas of Argentina and Uruguay. The pampas provide large areas of fertile soil for growing crops and grazing cattle.

• The rainforests are located on the east coast of Central America and the northern part of South America. They are located in the a tropical wet climate. The Amazon Rainforest, the world’s largest tropical rainforest, is in Brazil. Each year the rainforest is being cut down (deforestation) to provide land for ranches and farms.

CLIMATE

• Much of South America is warm because it lies near the Equator. However, because of its mountains and ocean winds, many places in South America have comfortable temperatures.

• Some of the greatest concentrations of people can be found in higher elevations where temperatures are cooler.

If people rather live where it is warmer, then why do so many live in the mountains in South America?

CLIMATE

•Tropical Wet: Rain forests are dense forests made up of different species of trees.

•Hot and Rainy year around. •Largest forest is the Amazon Rain Forest

•Tropical Wet and Dry: Hot climates with seasonal rain.

•Support savannas, grasslands dotted with trees common in tropical and subtropical regions

•Semiarid: Dry climate with some rain.

•Grass covered plains, Desert shrubs

El Niño

• Rising global temperatures may be contributing to the periodic warming of the surface of the Pacific Ocean, leading to El Niño (the little boy).

• This creates increased rain in the eastern Pacific Ocean and along the west coasts of the United States and South America.

ANDES MOUNTAINS

• The Andes Mountains are among the highest in the world. They extend over 4,500 miles in the western part of South America. The Andes were once the basis of the Inca Empire

Pampas of Argentina Machu Picchu, an ancient Incan empire

BODIES OF WATER

• The Amazon River is the second longest river in the world. In addition, South America has the Orinoco River and Paranà.

• A large percentage of South America’s population lives on or near these river systems.

BODIES OF WATER

• Paranà River - Originates in the highlands of Brazil. It travels about 3,000 miles south through Paraguay and Argentina.

• Orinoco River – Winds through the northern part of the continent, mainly in Venezuela. It flows more than 1,500 miles along the Colombia and Venezuela border.

Greater AntillesCuba, Jamaica, Hispaniola, Puerto Rico

Lesser AntillesWindward Islands and Leeward Islands

YUCATAN PENINSULA

• Located in the southern part of Mexico

• Cancun, Riviera Maya, and Playa del Carmen located on the peninsula.

• Location of the Mayan ruins.

ANGEL FALLS

• Located in eastern Venezuela

• World’s tallest waterfall

• Named after James Angel, an American pilot who spotted it from his airplane in 1935.

• It is 3,212 feet tall

ANGEL FALLS

RAIN FOREST

•Biodiversity: wide range of plant and animal species

•By the end of the 20th century, nearly 50 millions acres of rain forests worldwide had been destroyed

•Deforestation: cutting down and clearing away of trees

•Rainforests help regulate the earth’s climate

•Home to about 50% of world’s plant and animal species

•Debt-for-nature swap: environmental organization agrees to pay off a certain amount of government debt and in return, the government agrees to protect a certain portion of the rain forest

DEFORESTATION

SLASH AND BURN

• Agriculture

▫ Slash-and-Burn: cut trees, brush and grass and burn the debris to clear the field

BIODIVERSITY