Latin America
Terms
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- Diversification
- Producing a variety of economic products to guarantee income
- Terrace Farming
- Agriculture adapted to the elevation and climate of the Andes Mountains
- Hacienda
- Spanish owned "plantations" that were self-sufficient and produced large scale agricultural products
- Trade Embargo
- The restriction on trade by the United States regarding Cuban products-in an attempt to force Castro to ease communist policies on Cubans
- Conquistador
- Spanish explorers who conquered Native American societies in Latin America
- Chasqui
- Incan relay runner, used exclusively for communication and administration of the vast Incan Empire
- Andes Mountains
- Rises up to 20,000 feet down the coast of SW South America
- Rio de la Plata
- Forms the border between Uruguay and Argentina, a major shipping route
- Bay of Pigs Invasion
- A United States directed secret mission of Cuban exiles to invade Cuba and overthrow Fidel Castro
- Puerto Rico
- A former Spanish colony-now a commonwealth of the United States
- Chinampa
- Aztec floating "island" agricultural system
- Fidel Castro
- Ruled Cuba as a communist dictator for almost 50 years
- Creole
- American-born descendants of Spanish settlers
- Encomienda System
- A reward system from the King of Spain to Spanish settlers allowing them to establish working opportunities for Native Americans
- Amazon Rainforest
- The largest eco-system of it's kind in the world, home to millions of species of plants & animals
- The Panama Canal
- Built to ease travel between the Atlantic & Pacific Ocean-the US turned over control to Panama in 1999
- Peninsulare
- Part of the European class system in Latin America, these people were the officials sent from Spain to rule the colonies
- Slash & Burn Agriculture
- Practiced by the Mayas to clear land for maize cultivation
- NAFTA
- Launched on January 1, 1994, and fully implemented in 2008-one of the most successful trade agreements in history and has contributed to significant increases in agricultural trade and investment between the United States, Canada and Mexico
- Maya
- A farming and wide-spread Native American culture that lived in present day Mexico and Guatemala
- Aztec
- A robust and violent Native American culture that lived in present day Mexico City
- Atacama Desert
- Located in Chile, this natural feature is extremely dry due to the rain shadow produced by the Andes Mountains
- Mestizo
- People of mixed European and Native American Heritage
- Tenochtitlan
- Aztec capital city
- Mercantilism
- The economic system where colonies existed to enrich the parent country
- Columbian Exchange
- Global Exchange of people, goods and ideas
- Cuban Missile Crisis
- A stand-off between the Soviet Union and the United States over nuclear missiles placed on the island of Cuba
- Pampas
- Grassy plains that span from Argentina to Uruguay-important to cattle & wheat farming
- Inca
- A highly developed Native American culture that lived in Peru's Andes Mountains
- The Cold War
- Following World War II: A war of ideologies between democracy and communism, primarily between the Western nations of Europe and the US, and the eastern nations of the Soviet Union
- El Nino
- A warming of the ocean current off the coast of Peru-causes world-wide weather patterns to shift
- Machu Picchu
- Incan "city" hidden high in the Andes
- Regionalism
- Due to geographic features, people are isolated developing strong local traditions
- The Drug Trade
- An illegal system of illicit drugs being produced, smuggled and sold by Latin American countries to locations around the world
- Orinoco River
- Flows northward through Venezuela to the Atlantic Ocean
- Ring of Fire
- Mountains along the western edge of Latin America form part of this world-wide "phenomenon" that causes earthquakes and volcanic activity
- Amazon River
- Flows 4000 miles eastward through Brazil towards the Atlantic Ocean
- Quipu
- Incan message system of knotted strings