Latin America Review Sheet

Latin America Review Sheet

Global StudiesName

Latin America Review

Map

Label the following on the map using the corresponding number or letter.

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Countries

  1. Argentina
  2. Bolivia
  3. Brazil
  4. Chile
  5. Columbia
  6. Cuba
  7. Ecuador
  8. Haiti
  9. Mexico
  10. Panama
  11. Puerto Rico
  12. Venezuela

Bodies of Water

  1. Amazon
  2. Atlantic Ocean
  3. Caribbean
  4. Gulf of Mexico
  5. Pacific Ocean
  6. Rio Grande

Landforms

  1. Amazon Basin
  2. Andes Mountains
  3. Baja California
  4. Cape of Good Hope
  5. Isthmus of Panama
  6. Pampas Grasslands
  7. Sierra Madres
  8. Yucatan Peninsula

Quiz 20Map 20Latin 20Amer Small 1

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Geography

Origin of term “Latin America”
Isolating Factors of Regions
Regionalism

Civilizations

Civilization / Location(s) / Decline
Maya
Aztec
Inca
Conquistadors
Tenochtitlan
Montezuma

Colonialism

Explorer / Country / Discovery
Columbus
Balboa
Magellan
Cabral
2 Main Colonial Powers
Viceroy
Mercantilism
Haciendas
Peninsulares
Creoles
Mestizos
Maroon Colonies / Colonies formed by runaway slaves

Independence Movements

Revolutionary / Country (ies) / Description
Toussant L’Ouverture
Simon Bolivar
Jose de San Martin
Miguel Hidalgo
Dom Pedro

Mexico (after independence; during time of military dictatorships)

Most Common Ethnic Group
Mexican
Revolution / Main Reason for revolution: unequal distribution of land. The poor and the middle class struggled in a civil war for 11 years to overthrow the military dictatorship & ruling elite (similar to El Salvador and many other Latin American countries…
NAFTA & Its Members / North America Free Trade Agreement- It removes tariffs (taxes) on goods traded among the U.S., Canada & Mexico, making the economies more interdependent.

Brazil- Modern, after independence

Most Common Landform / Rain Forest
Ethnic Groups
Brazilian Miracle / The improvement of the economy by a military government. They invested in new industries that helped to improve the economy
Current Energy Status / They mix sugar cane (ethanol) with oil to produce gasohol.
Environmental Problem / Farmers have cut down and burned forests, causing pollution, poor soil conditions and deforestation. Settlers have spread diseases to Indians.

Cuba

Fidel Castro
(seen as Military dictator also) / Led a rebellion against a corrupt dictatorship. He declared himself a Marxist (communist) and set up a socialist nation. He took control of foreign- owned sugar plantations and many other businesses- a majority owned by U.S. citizens. This led to major conflicts with the U.S. government.
Government and Economy Type / Communist, - the government controls the jobs, factories and all the means of production….and provide basic services like healthcare and education to the people.
Cold War Ally / Soviet Union (enemy to the U.S.)
Bay of Pigs / U.S. tried to overthrown Castro by training Cuban exiles and setting them ashore at the “bay of pigs”. Cuban forces quickly defeated the exiles and the overthrow did not happen. A huge humiliation for the United States. (That we secretly helped to plan an overthrown of Castro)
Cuban Missile Crisis / Castro allowed the Soviet Union to build missiles bases in Cuba and the U.S. started a naval blockade against Cuba. Began a major superpower crisis; world seemed the brink of war. The Soviets eventually agreed to remove the missiles.
Trade Embargo / After the Cuban Missile Crisis, the U.S. cut off all relations and trade with Cuba. It was an attempt to isolate Cuba. The result of this ongoing embargo for over 50 years is Cuba is a self-sufficient economy, but a poor economy.

Note: Before Fidel Castro, Batista was the leader of Cuba (also a dictatorship). Many American’s saw Cuba as a “paradise”. Cuba had a “wealthy rich minority” that controlled most of the country- supported by the U.S., and majority of the people were poor. Castro revolutionary socialist/communist ideas were well supported by the majority of poor people in the country.

Puerto Rico

Commonwealth Status- self-governing / Has it’s own constitution and elections. They have to obey U.S. laws but don’t pay federal taxes. Have most of the rights of citizens but can’t vote for President or Congress.

US and Central America

Conflict in
El Salvador- Time of Romero film…
Conflict in Nicaragua / Similar to El Salvador, the sides were switched… Rule of military dictatorships was overthrown and the “poor rebels/communist” take over the government. The supporters of the old military dictatorship take up arms to fight against the “communist/poor rebels” leading to a brutal civil war in the country..

Note: the majority of the brutal civil wars happened in the late 70’s and 80’s in many of these countries.

Current Issues

Debt
(Similar to newly independent African country) / All of the newly independent countries borrowed lots of money to develop their economies and build infrastructure(modernize). Many of the projects did not work or lost money due to corruption. The countries become in debt trying to repay these loans.
Drug Trade / From the Latin American view, “ As long as the demand for drugs in the U.S. is strong, the drug trade will remain strong.” In other words, they think it is up to Americans to stop using drugs, or legalize drugs to stop the drug trade.
Environmental problems / Yes, with modernization comes environmental problems

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