Middle and
South America: Part 1
Middle and South America Themes
Cultural
and physical diversity; precarious environments
Raw
material production
Changes
in highly stratified social system
Rural
to urban and international migration
The
extended family and social change
A few notes
In this book, Middle
America is Mexico, Central America, and Caribbean
South America is the continent south
of Middle America
Landforms
Highlands
The
Pacific Coast chain is the result of subduction of ocean plates beneath
the continental plates, crumpling the continental one
The resulting
mountains are Sierra Madre in Mexico, Andes in South America
Crumbling leads to
cracks, which allow molten rock to escape in volcanoes
Lots of hard
volcanic rock covering surfaces, making islands
Similar process in
Caribbean as Atlantic plate goes under Caribbean plate
Landforms (cont)
Lowlands
A huge wedge of
lowlands stretches from the Andes to the Atlantic Ocean
Includes grasslands like Llanos of
Venezuela and Pampas of Argentina
The Amazon Basin is
largest drainage basin in the world, probably most significant ecological site
Contains the largest tropical rain
forest
Includes least impacted Native American
cultures
So wide and deep can take ocean vessels
2300 miles inland to Peru
Climate
Great amount of
variation in climate
Large north-south
distance
Tremendous shifts in
altitude
Hits varieties of
global winds and ocean currents
Temperature-Altitude
Zones
(pg 120) Caused by changes in temperature that come from changes in altitude
(-1Ί F per 300). Thus the same mountain can have several different climates
and ecosystems.
From bottom to top:
Tierra caliente: hot;
tropical rain forests, crops and diseases thrive; up to 3000 feet.
Tierra templada:
temperate; year‑round spring like
climate; 3000-6500 feet.
Tierra fria: cool;
midlatitude crops (wheat, potatoes); some population centers; 6500-12,000 feet.
Tierra helada: frozen;
some cultivation; snow and glaciers; above 12,000 feet
Climate (cont)
Precipitation
Trade winds blow across
Atlantic, bring rain to region, especially Amazon basin
Atacama is world driest
desert
Caused by cold Peru Current and Andes
rain shadow
El Niρo
El Niρo brings warm
water and rain to the west coast of South America (as opposed to normal cold
water)
Hurts fishing, brings atypical weather
to Oceania and Americas
Hurricanes (large,
tropical low pressure storm systems, with 75 mph+ winds)
Increasing impacts
because coastal populations are increasing.
See last week; this week.
Environmental Issues: Amazon Forest
Clearing for cattle,
cash crops (palm oil), lumber, fuel, minerals and human developments vs.
indigenous populations and environment
Good news in Amazon is that forest can
re-grow quickly; during a late 1990s lull, some areas returned
Central American, Caribbean forests were
for a while more threatened; but as Brazils economy declines, forests under
pressure again
Amazon is biggest CO2
sink (turns CO2 into plants), slows global warming
Environment & Economic Development
Standard View:
Development a must; environment protection a luxury
Ecotourism is one idea to value and
preserve environment
Hard to not do damage, small scale, thus
little employment
Local groups now advocate for
environment and poor
Dams, like Parana River
Dam, funded through outside investment, are
Non-air polluting, provide needed power
Though water pollution, loss of habitat
Shrimp farming in
Ecuador
Provides jobs, destroys mangroves
Water
This region is overall
a heavy precipitation region (along with SE Asia); but it still has issues with
water
Some areas (e.g.
Bolivia, Northern/Central Mexico) are legitimately dry and likely getting drier
due to climate change
In the case of Mexico, the fastest
growing cities are in drier parts of the country
Same issues of water access for cities
vs. commercial ag vs. family ag vs. industry
Even in areas where
there is sufficient rainfall, poor infrastructure/corruption prevent the
expansion/maintence of necessary infrastructure
So there can be both floods and scarcity
of potable water in the same place.
Some areas experimented
with privatization to fight corruption and get investment; but in general, the
big companies just raise rates without fixing anything.
The Peopling of Middle and South America
By late 1400s, 50 to
100 million people in region
Had adapted to nearly every ecosystem
Perfected irrigation, aqueducts, sewers,
terraces
Had shifting
cultivation where woods were cut down, burned, farmed three years, back
to woods
The Aztecs
of Central Mexico:
Calendar, marketing system
Tenochtitlan, better off than European
cities
Built on a lake, surrounded by mountains
The Inca Empire
of the Andes:
Took advantage of cooler highland
temperatures, stretched across huge area
Had highly organized system to
administer society, as well as paved roads and mail
The Conquest
One of most significant
events of human history
Within 40 years of
contact, all major population centers had been conquered
Mayas hardest of large groups to subdue
Lack of resistance to
European disease biggest factor (military tech also a factor)
Population dropped from 50-100 mil. to
5.6 million
Middle and South
America split between Spain and Portugal
Done under Treaty of
Tordesillas, divided the Americas at 46 degrees West Longitude
This is why Brazil speaks Portuguese
Aztecs and Incas
ravaged by smallpox
Levels Aztec capital, builds Mexico
City, seat of Viceroyalty of New Spain
Built Lima to run Viceroyalty of Peru,
got rich from Silver mines
Only deep Amazon left
alone, because to difficult to remove resources
The Legacy
Diets
drastically changed around the globe
From Americas
Tubers: Potato (mid latitude) and Manioc
(tropical)
Potatoes caused a population explosion
in places where introduced
Tomatoes, Peppers, Peanuts, Cacao, Corn,
Tobacco
To Americas: rice,
sugarcane, rubber, bananas, wheat, horses, sheep, cows
The Legacy (cont)
In region: Inequality
Under colonialism,
Spanish and Portuguese controlled production and trade, oriented economy
towards raw material export (mercantilism, pg 111) not trade with neighbors
After wars of independence,
revolutionary leaders just continued old patterns
Were creoles (euros born in New World)
or mestizos (euro/indigenous)
Still low social mobility, hard for
entrepreneurs
Corruption and uneven education systems
are also now factors
Income disparity
Income disparity has
fueled political turmoil in region
Three major economic
phases in Latin America:
The Early Extractive Phase raw
materials removed, profits to Europe or North America, low wages for most
Land Types:
Haciendas large estates in the interior given
to European elites
workers split time between owners, own
fields
Only small export for huge land area
Plantations one crop, coastal for export, grow
year round
Much more labor intensive, productive
Used slave labor for a long time
Also cattle ranches, mines, missions
Income disparity policy
The Import Substitution
Industrialization Phase
Where state took over extractive
industries, used profits to fund industries, put up tariffs to keep competing
products out
Largely failed, no economies of scale,
little research & development
Auto production in Brazil worked (forced
international makers to build in Brazil), as did their pharmaceutical efforts
Also some land reform, where land on big
farms re-distributed to the landless
The Structural Adjustment Phase
Preceded by the Debt Crisis
Prices for raw
materials (besides oil) decreased in the 1970s
Exports could no longer support the
regions economy.
Countries took out
loans to continue to try to industrialize, never made projected income to pay
back loans
This led to SAPs
(Structural Adjustment Programs)
It was a neoliberal
(less economic restrictions) policy, designed primarily to pay back loans
To attract investment, forced selling
state assets to foreign corporations
Also involved less social spending,
regulation
Outcomes of SAPs
Extractive industries,
overall economic activity, entrepreneurship and investment grew; some in roads
against corruption
Some countries tried
free trade/export processing zones (areas where there are no taxes, little
regulation) to get exports.
These often have little
effect on wider economy of government revenue
Poverty, inequality
also increased
Little regard for
working conditions, environmental impacts
Social services
disappeared
In early 2000s, major
backlash in region against these
Even IMF no longer
pushes these; now promotes Poverty Reduction Strategies Papers.
China has also become
more willing to lend to countries in the region directly
Trade
Apart from NAFTA (and
CAFTA) there was
Mercosur: Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay,
Venezuela
Encouraged trade with each other, not
just U.S., Europe, Asia
Roads, rail links few
Suffers from differing expectations
Was replaced in 2008 by UNASUR
Countries from region leading charge
against agricultural protectionism in U.S. and E.U.
Until the last couple of years, Brazil
grew its economy by once again exporting a lot of raw materials, but this time
to China.
Chile did as well; but it has a more
traditionally structured economy and isnt collapsing.