Gcu Notes

GCU 121—Unit 6 Outline of Notes

(This is only an outline—these are not the notes.   By itself, this will not be very helpful.   You will need to take your own notes).

LATIN AMERICA
I. ENVIRONMENTAL GEOGRAPHY
--South America—further east

A. Amazon Basin

B. Andes Mountains

C. Volcanic Axis

D. the 2 Sierra Madres

        E. altitudinal zonation—4 zones

F. climatic variety

II. POPULATION AND SETTLEMENT
A. "Culture Spheres" of South America

1. Tropical-plantation

2. European-commercial

3. Amerind-subsistence

4. Mestizo-transitional

5. Undifferentiated

B. population
1. distribution

2. numbers
a. 389 million South America

b. 112 million Mexico/ 43 million Central America

3. 2 "giants" of Latin America—57% of pop.
--Brazil—192 million (1/2 of South America)

C. urbanization
1. major R.U.M. since the 1950s --1970s & 80s

--77% urban today

2. urban primacy
                    a. large % of a country lives in 1 main city

                    b. 2nd largest city—much smaller

c. Uruguay & Chile

3. Latin American city model

a. preferences of the wealthy & middle class
--opposite of North America in 2 ways

b. large squatter settlements (self-built structures)
i. far from the city center

ii. less access to urban services

iii. often on steep land

III. CULTURAL COHERENCE AND DIVERSITY
A. language
1. Iberian languages

2. native languages
a. Quechua

b. Mayan

                    c. Guarani

B. religion

IV. GEOPOLITICAL FRAMEWORK
A. Spanish/ Portuguese colonialism

B. independence

C. some boundary issues today, but little conflict
          --Antarctica

D. major strides toward democracy since 1980s

E. insurgent state
              1. Peru in early 1990s

              2. Colombia today—FARC & ELN

V. ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT
A. agriculture
1. Cattle ranching... [continues]

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