Latin America’s landforms,bodies of water, and climate offer a wide range of environments and resources.

Physical geography influences Latin America’s cultures, offeringthem both resources and obstacles.

MAIN IDEA WHY IT MATTERS NOW

TERMS & NAMEStributarydeforestationTropical ZoneEl Niño

Yesterday, Mount

Popocatépetl erupt-

ed, spewing out

glowing five-foot-

long rocks for miles

in one of its largest

eruptions in a thou-

sand years. More

than 30 million peo-

ple live within sight

of the volcano, and

tens of thousands

live close enough to

be at risk when it

erupts.

Government

trucks drove

through villages

sounding warnings

on speakers while

church bells rang

out the danger. In

spite of the result-

ing damage, no one

has been killed.

However, authori-

ties warn, a larger

eruption could

occur at any time.

PUEBLA, MEXICO, DECEMBER 19, 2000

Latin America: Its Land and History 153

Defining Latin AmericaLatin America includes Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean,and South America. Because the languages of most of its colonizers—Spanish and Portuguese—are derived from Latin,Europeans later referred to the region’s colonies as Latin America.Because the region is defined by a cultural connection, in thiscase language, it is called a culture region.

Place • The Aztec named the volcano Popocatépetl,

which means “smoking mountain.” �

Latin America:PhysicalGeography

Latin America:PhysicalGeography

TAKING NOTES

Location

Dates

Maya Aztec

Use your chart to take notes about Latin America.

Eruption Disruption On February 20, 1943, something very strange happened in a cornfield in west-central Mexico. Before the eyes of a startledfarmer, the land violently split open. Within 24 hours, a small, smoking cone hadappeared—the tiny beginning of a mighty volcano called Paricutín (pah•REE•

koo•TEEN). Scientists rushed to the area to watch the volcano being born. Within a year, a mountain stood in place of what had been farmland and a village.

While it was active, Paricutín rose to 10,400 feet above sea level. It poured lavaover about a 10-square-mile area, burying streets and buildings, such as this near-by church. In 1952, it stopped erupting completely and became dormant. But the volcano that sprouted in a cornfield had given scientists a rare opportunity tostudy the life cycle of one of nature’s most dramatic and dangerous features.

MexicoLook at the map on page 155. Mexico is the farthest north of theLatin American countries. You can see that Mexico’s major physical features include mountains, plateaus, and plains.

A Varied Landscape Mexico’s two major mountain ranges sharethe name Sierra Madre (see•EHR•uh MAH•dray). Notice that inbetween the two ranges—the Sierra Madre Occidental and theSierra Madre Oriental—sits Mexico’s large central plateau.The vast northern stretches of the central plateau are desert.

Now look just south of the central plateau. There you will seeMexico’s two highest mountain peaks, Orizaba (or•ih•ZAH•buh)and Popocatépetl (POH•puh•KAT•uh•PEHT•uhl). Both are volca-noes. Volcanic activity and earthquakes frequently plagueMexico—and many other parts of Latin America too. They arecaused by the movement of five tectonic plates.

A Problem of Place At the southern end of the central plateausits Mexico City, the world’s second most populated city. Air pollution is severe there, and the city’s location has contributed tothis problem. The mountains surrounding the city to the east,south, and west trap automobile exhaust and other pollutants thatthe city’s huge population generates.

An added problem of location for Mexico City is the ground onwhich it was built—a drained lakebed. The vibrations that earth-quakes send through Earth grow much stronger and more damag-ing when they pass through the soft, loose soils of a lakebed, thusmaking Mexico City highly vulnerable to the effects of earthquakes.

154 CHAPTER 6

Vocabulary

occidental:western

oriental:eastern

Mexico City

Port-au-PrinceSanto Domingo

Havana

Tegucigalpa

Belmopan

San José

Panama City

SanSalvador

ManaguaGuatemala City

Popocatépetl17,802 ft.(5,426 m.)

Paricutín9,210 ft.

(2,808 m.)

Tacaná13,428 ft.(4,093 m.)

Tajumulco13,845 ft.(4,220 m.)

Chirripó Grande12,530 ft.(3,819 m.) Barú

11,400 ft.(3,475 m.)

Pico de Orizaba18,854 ft.(5,747 m.)

Pico Turquino6,561 ft.

(2,000 m.)

Pico Duarte10,417 ft.(3,175 m.)

SierraM

adre

Si e

r r aM

ad

re

Oc

ci d

en

t al O

riental

YucatánPeninsula

CentralPlateau

Sierra Madre del Sur

Gu

lfC

oa

s tal

P l a i n

PACIFIC OCEAN

ATLANTIC

OCEAN

C a r i b b e a n S e a

G u l f o f M e x i c o

Gulf

ofC

alifornia

Equator

20°N

N

0°N

50°N

10°N

10°S

0°

80°W90°W100°W110°W

Tropic of Cancer

UNITED STATES

SOUTH AMERICA

Elevation

Mountain peak

National capital

(4,000 m)(2,000 m)

(500 m)(200 m)

(0 m)Below sea level

13,100 ft.6,600 ft.1,600 ft.

650 ft.0 ft.

0

0 250 500 kilometers

250 500 miles

N

Physical Features of Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean

GEOGRAPHY SKILLBUILDER:Interpreting a Map1. Location • What is the tallest mountain

in Central America?2. Region • Which area of Mexico is almost

entirely at sea level?

155

Central America and the CaribbeanLook at the physical map in the Unit Atlas. Central America isthe mountainous landmass that forms a bridge between Mexicoand South America. Now look to the east, and you will see islandnations scattered throughout the Caribbean Sea.

Central America About 80 percent of Central America is hillyor mountainous, and most of it is covered with forests. Rain forestscover much of the lowlands. In the higher regions, deciduous treescloak many of the slopes.

A string of more than 40 volcanoes lines 900 miles of CentralAmerica’s Pacific coast, where two tectonic plates crash againsteach other. This is the most active group of volcanoes in North orSouth America. Earthquakes also occur frequently. They cancompletely destroy buildings, towns, and cities. They can also setlandslides and mudslides in motion, sending land, houses, andpeople hurtling down the slopes.

The Caribbean Islands As you can see on the map (page 155),the Caribbean Islands lie to the east of Central America. Some ofthese islands, such as St. Kitts and Grenada, are actually the peaksof volcanic mountains rising from the ocean floor. Over thou-sands of years, the volcanoes erupted, spewing lava that cooled,hardened, and added to the mountains’ height.

Other islands, such as the Bahamas, began as coral reefs. Coralis made of organisms that shed hard skeletons when they

die. The skeletons pile up, and a reef, or ridge, develops.A coral reef that becomes an island usually encirclesa volcanic island and then grows over it.

Vocabulary

deciduous:a tree that loses itsleaves each year

Place • Seven islands make up the Caribbean island group that is calledGuadeloupe(GWAHD•uhl•OOP). �

A. ClarifyingWhat causes somany volcanoesand earthquakesin this region?

Place • Coralreefs form inlots of differentcolors. �

South AmericaLook at the map on page 142 of the Unit Atlas. You can see thatthe equator runs through Ecuador, Colombia, and Brazil. You canalso see that only the Isthmus of Panama links South America toNorth America.

The Andes On the map, you can see the Andes mountain range,which stretches over 5,000 miles along South America’s westcoast. It is the longest continuous mountain range on Earth’s sur-face. Mount Aconcagua (AK•uhn•KAH•gwuh) in Argentina is thehighest peak in the Western Hemisphere.

Beyond the Andes Notice the central plains east of the Andes.The plains in southern South America are called the Pampas.South America’s largest rivers begin in the Andes, drain the cen-tral plains, and then flow into the Atlantic Ocean. They includethe Orinoco (AWR•uh•NOH•koh), the Paraná-Paraguay-Plata(PAR•uh• NAH-PAR•uh•gwy-PLAH•tuh), and the Amazon.

The Amazon In 2000, 22 people explored the Andes’s rivers toconfirm the source of the Amazon River, which had been discov-ered in 1971. The mighty river begins in the Peruvian Andes as atrickle of water. It then flows for nearly 4,000 miles to the AtlanticOcean. No other river carries as much water to the sea. Along withmore than 1,000 tributaries, which are rivers or streams that flowinto a larger body of water, the Amazon drains water from Peru,Ecuador, Colombia, Bolivia, Venezuela, and Brazil.

The Amazon at Risk Deforestation, or the process ofcutting and clearing away trees from a forest, hasgreatly affected the Amazon rain forest. Inrecent years, Amazon deforestation has providedtimber and cleared land for cattle ranches.

Vocabulary

isthmus:a narrow strip ofland that connectstwo landmasses

Latin America: Its Land and History 157

The word pampa,meaning “flatsurface,” comesfrom the languageof an Andean groupof Native Americanscalled the Quechua(KEHCH•wuh).

Vocabulary

timber:wood used asbuilding material

Place • TheAndes make agood home foranimals like thellama. �

158 CHAPTER 6

PACIFIC

OCEAN

ATLANTIC

OCEANCaribbean Sea

10°N

0°

10°S

20°S23°27'S

23°27'S

Equator

20°N

23°27'N 23°27'NTropic of Cancer

Tropic of Capricorn

COLOMBIA

PARAGUAY

BRAZIL

SURINAMEFrench Guiana (Fr.)

GUYANA

PANAMA

COSTA RICA

EL SALVADORGUATEMALA NICARAGUA

HONDURASBELIZE

HAITIJAMAICA

DOMINICANREPUBLICCUBAMEXICO

BOLIVIA

CHILE

PERU

ECUADOR

VENEZUELA

PuertoRico (U.S.)

0

0 500 1,000 kilometers

500 1,000 miles

N

B. DrawingConclusionsWhat aspect of theTropical Zone’slocation on Earthcauses it to bewarmer than theother areas?

The Tropical Zone

GEOGRAPHYSKILLBUILDER:Interpreting a Map1. Region • Which

South Americancountries are inthe Tropical Zone?

2. Location •Where does theequator fallwithin the Tropical Zone?

Most plants release oxygen into the air and absorb carbon diox-ide. By reducing the number of trees and plants, deforestationincreases the amount of carbon dioxide in the air. Some scientists think the increase in carbon dioxide contributes to globalwarming because carbon dioxide traps warm air at Earth’s surface.

Others worry that animals who find food in the rain forest mayneed to move—or may die out—when large areas of forest are cutdown. The Native American tribes that inhabit the rain forest arealso at risk of being squeezed out of the land they live on.

ClimateLatin America’s climate varies greatly from area to area. It is influ-enced by elevation, location, wind patterns, and ocean currents.

The Tropical Zone A large portion of Latin America lies in theTropical Zone, which, as you can see on the map below, isbetween the latitudes 23°27' north and 23°27' south. TheTropical Zone may be rainy or dry, but it is typically hot. Also,temperature is always lower at higher elevations, but in theTropical Zone, all elevations are warmer than they are elsewhere.

Wind and Water The waters in the Caribbean Sea stay warm mostof the year and heat the air over them. A warm wind then blowsacross the islands, keeping the climate warm even in the winter.

Look at the map on page 158 that shows the Tropical Zone. Make a list of allthe Latin American countries that are wholly or partly in the Tropical Zone.

SECTION ASSESSMENT

Using Graphics2. Use a chart like the one below to

list the key physical features ofeach country or region.

Main Ideas3. (a) Name two types of natural

disasters that occur frequentlyin Latin America.

(b) Describe two waysin which theCaribbean Islandsformed.

(c) What happens whenincreased air pres-sure causes tradewinds to lessen?

Critical Thinking4. Forming and Supporting

OpinionsDo you favor limiting the defor-estation of the Amazon rain forest?Why? Why not?

Think About◆ the economic benefits of timber

production and cattle ranching◆ the destruction of habitats◆ the effects on the global

environment

Terms & Names1. Explain the significance of: (a) tributary (b) deforestation (c) Tropical Zone (d) El Nino

Key Physical FeaturesMexico Central America The Caribbean South America

Islands

El Niño At times, unusually high air pressure in the south Pacificcauses certain winds over the ocean, called trade winds, to die out.Without the trade winds, the ocean’s sun-warmed surface waterflows eastward, toward North and South America. Because thistypically occurs around Christmastime, people call the current El Niño (ehl NEE•nyaw). This term is Spanish for “the Christchild” because Christmas celebrates the birth of Jesus.

The warmer water of El Niño warms the air. Warmer air holdsmore water and so releases more rain when it cools.This added pre-cipitation often causes heavy rains and flooding in Latin Americaand other parts of the eastern Pacific. At the same time, areas in thewestern Pacific, such as Indonesia, may have less rain than usual.

Normal Year El Niño Year

Westerly tradewinds die out

Westerlytrade winds

Warm surface water,warm air, and storms

Warm surfacewater

SKILLBUILDER:Interpreting a Diagram1. What effect does the

increased air pressure of El Niño have on the warmsurface water of the Pacific?

2. What are the patterns of wind and water in a normal year?

Latin America: Its Land and History 159