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Central AmericaCentral America is am isthmus.
a narrow strip of land connecting two larger area1914 Panama Canal openedSeven small countries make up Central AmericaThree major landforms:
mountains, the Caribbean lowlands, and the Pacific coastal plain
each has it’s own climatePopulation includes:
Indians, Europeans (Spanish), mestizos, & mulattos people of African and European decent
most central Americans are poor farmers the wealthiest are Europeans and mestizo, and are mainly
plantation owners
Central Americaarmed conflicts
shortage of farmland is cause of unrestgovernment serves the interest of the wealthyguerilla movements
Armed forces outside of the regular army Fight in small bands against the government
controlled army
Caribbean IslandsCaribbean Islands divided into three groups
and lie in the tropics:the Greater Antillesthe Lesser Antillesthe Bahamasthe Bahamas form an archipelago and the
Lesser Antilles form another archipelagogroup of islandsThe Greater Antilles include the four larger
IslandsCuba, Jamaica, Hispaniola (Haiti and the
Dominican Republic), and Puerto Rico
Caribbean Islandsmountainous islands
tops of volcanoescoral islands
Flatter islands created by the remains of tiny sea animals( coral polyps)
sea and wind effect climatewindward islands face the wind & get a lot of
rainleeward islands face away from wind & get
little rain
Caribbean IslandsCaribbean people are descendants of Africans
that were enslaved by European colonists and brought to work on plantations
many Caribbean people depend on farming(sugar, bananas, coconuts, cocoa, rice, cotton) and industries related to farming such as packaging rice products
Caribbean attracts tourism, but few islanders benefit
most islanders to find work or escape political unrest
Brazilnearly half of South America’s people and land
two main land formsplainsplateaus
Coast of Northeast Brazil1500’s Portuguese started sugar plantations
(slavery)poverty still today due to poor soil and uncertain
rain
BrazilSoutheast Brazil
smallest regionEconomic heartlandCoffeeFertile soil40% of Brazilians live hereRio de Janeiro and Sao PauloCities attract the poor who end up living in
favelas slum communities w/ houses made of mud, tin,&wood
boards
BrazilBrazilian Highlands
Brasilia, capitol built here to attract people to the area
central plateau
Amazon River BasinHome to 1000’s of plants and animals10% of Brazilians live here including 200,000
indians
Brazilcountry of extremes
Rich in resourcesMuch poverty
attack povertyincreased industryencourage settlement in the interior
Gave away land and mining permits built roads
Brazilmanufacturing now make sup 1/3 of Brazil’s
GNP
Grows own fuel, gasoholA new fuel that mixes gasoline with ehtonol
(comes from sugar cane)
½ the population works in the service industry (hotels restaurants, stores, government)
Brazileconomic change has been good except for…
favelas have grown larger (more moving to large cities)
settlers in Amazon River Basin cut down rain forest to plant crops
deforestation permanent removal of woodland threatens thousands of species of plants and
animals