Latin America Test 1

Ice-free corridor

Movement south possible along an "ice free corridor" east of the Rocky Mountains•This corridor opened up 15,000 years ago but may have been blocked by lakes until 13,500 years ago.•Coastal travel possible - coast ice free by 19,000 years ago

Tropical Wet and Dry Climate

Wet season is always the summer (high sun season): humid, buggy•Dry season is pleasant, landscape looks brown - fires at end of season

Llanos

fertile grasslands found in inland areas of Colombia and Venezuela

Chicxulub Asteroid Impact

happened 6 million years ago - was the cause of the extinction of dinosaurs along with 70% of species - proven by cenotes found in what is now Central America

Plinthite

iron oxide layers in highlands that harden when exposed to the sun - covers 5% of highland area - troublesome for farming

Capybara

largest rodent in the world

What crops were domesticated in the Americas and are used globally today?

like corn, beans, tomatoes, potatoes, chocolate, chili peppers, peanuts, pineapple, avocado, papaya etc

Oxisol

made up of clay clumped into sand size aggregates

Give examples of materials or technologies that were especially important to ancient civilizations.

materials to farm, fish, and mine.

Sustainable Development

meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.

How did ancient people manage their forests?

slash and burn

Atlatl

spear thrower

Tepuy

table top mountain found in the Guiana highland

Karst

terrain dominated by limestone bedrock and characterized by rocky ground, caves, sinkholes, underground rivers, and the absence of surface streams and lakes

altitudinal zonation

the division of land into zones based on elevation, which in turn helps determine climate and vegetation

Olmec

the earliest-known Mesoamerican civilization, which flourished around 1200-400 B.C. and influenced later societies throughout the region.

Guaraní

the language of the Guarani, one of the main divisions of the Tupi-Guarani language family and a national language of Paraguay.

Trade winds

the more or less constant winds blowing in horizontal directions over the Earth's surface

Manioc

the starchy tuberous root of a tropical tree, used as food in tropical countries but requiring careful preparation to remove traces of cyanide from the flesh.

Strategically Relevant Environment

things that affect survival and reproduction - affects our view of the environment

Ash falls

volcanic ash falling through the air or collecting loosely on the ground

Cold ocean currents

• Flow from the poles toward the equator • Create cooler climates on the coastlines it flows near

Limestone

Type of lowland that are rich in calcium

Hazards

Unpredictable environmental interference with human projects. Examples: Volcanoes, lahars, etc...

Discuss the idea of environmental hazard. Gilbert White said that humans tend to be either fatalistic or unnecessarily optimistic about hazards, and that engineering solutions may make things worse. Give your ideas and examples referring to such hazards as volcanoes, earthquakes, hurricanes, and floods.

Unpredictable environmental interference with human projects. I believe that if humans are well prepared for these hazards then we wouldn't have as many problems as we do. If we plan and prep for hazards like have a safety kit filled with essentials if you need to evacuate the area, an evacuation manual to show you the best route to escape from the place where the hazard is occurring, and just knowledge on the overall situation so you can stay calm then people can adapt to these hazards.

Discuss the normal situation off the coast of Peru (winds, upwelling, rainfall, fisheries) and how this changes during an El Niño event. Are we currently experiencing an El Niño or a La Niña event?Is one of these events predicted for coming months?

Upwelling off Peruvian coast "fertilizes" water leading to rich fisheries, bird life. This changes when El Nino happens because The upwelling stops due to weaker winds whichleads to the fish moving away because there are fewer nutrients in the water. Our waters are pretty neutral now (subtle el nino), but it is predicted that waters will keep their warm temps into 2020.

Andes

Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Chile and Argentina.

Fallow

After slash and burn, those areas are allowed to go back to forest

Loess

A wind-formed deposit made of fine particles of clay and silt

Aztec

(1200-1521) 1300, they settled in the valley of Mexico. Grew corn. Engaged in frequent warfare to conquer others of the region. Worshipped many gods (polytheistic). Believed the sun god needed human blood to continue his journeys across the sky. Practiced human sacrifices and those sacrificed were captured warriors from other tribes and those who volunteered for the honor.

Continental drift (plate tectonics)

-responsible for earthquakes, volcanoes, climatic changes, etc. -affected distribution of fossils/primate evolutionary history Theory that continents had moved around the earth to the position they are in and are continuing to still move

Highlands

3000-7000 feet in elevation, usually old rocks

Pampa

A grasslands region in Argentina and Uruguay

Amazon River

A major river in South America that flows through Peru, Bolivia, Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador and Brazil.

Yucatán peninsula

A peninsula in Central America extending into the Gulf of Mexico between the Bay of Campeche and the Caribbean Sea.

What landform patterns, and patterns of the evolution of plants and animals, does the theory of continental drift explain? Is it surprising to you that this theory was not widely accepted until the 1960s? Why might researchers have difficulty accepting dramatic changes in their theoretical frameworks(paradigms)?

Amazon flowed from Africa to Pacific (no Andes), which shows that South America and Africa were close at some point in times. Rift between America and Africa may be a center of evolution of flowering plants. Fossils of certain species are found in Africa and South America. No it's not surprising. They would have difficulty accepting changes because it is very hard to in fact prove that this truly happened because we don't know what caused it.

Tropical Wet Climate

Amazon lowlands. Rainy all year

Moche

Andean civilization in early Peru

Southern Cone

Argentina, Chile, Uruguay. People that live there mainly immigrated from Europe.

A number of early civilizations collapsed. Give examples and possible reasons for these collapses, including among the Maya.

Betty Meggers: Law of environmental limitation of culture (the level to which a culture can develop is dependent upon the agricultural potentiality of the environment it occupies). Also volcanoes, el nino, (next are all Maya) population growth, warfare drought. Jared Diamond: decisions

Andean Countries

Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, Argentina (not considered to be geopolitically Andean), and Chile (not considered to be geopolitically Andean). They all are connected by the Andes mountains and for the most part share culture.

Central American land bridge

Called Berinigia. First Americans entered by this land bridge around 15,000 years ago from Russia.

Which steps of these three processes might have been unattractive and thus required violence to accomplish? Give examples.

Changing from chiefdoms to civilizations. The poor would not want to switch to civilizations because they would have to pay taxes, wouldn't be well nourished, work harder, and would be subject to draft, so the people in power had to forcefully control the peasants to cooperate with their wants.

Cuicuilco

Competed with Teotihuacan for the valley of Mexico, collapsed due to volcanic eruption of Xitle

Guiana Highlands

Cover Venezuela, all the Guianas, northern part of Brazil, and a part of Colombia

Gro Harlem Brundtland

Did the Brundtland Commision of UN, 1984-1987. Came up with sustainable development.

Latin America

Mexico, central America., Caribbean, and south America. Perception, communication, and art defines Latin America. Product of global political and economic interactions, especially colonialism.

Materialist (Environmental Circumscription) theory(Robert Carneiro)

Early civilizations developed in areas of "environmental circumscription" with limited agricultural land•Few were able to escape control by despotic leaders•Social Circumscription, could not leave because land did not give them resources anywhere else to survive

Discuss the challenges of living in mountain areas, including earthquakes, the temperature and air pressure problems of very high elevations, the transportation and agricultural challenges of steeply sloping lands. How might people adapt to these problems? How have they adapted? Give examples.

Extreme weather (very cold so it is hard to farm)•Low air pressure (breathing problems)•Steep slopes (hard to get around these areas)•Earthquakes (bad for house and buildings). Water retention, reducing erosion: terraces•Frost risk: greenhouses, Concentrate development in flat areas (altiplanos)•Airports. People's bodies adapt to living at high altitudes.

What evidence do you find most convincing that Native Americans entered the Americas across the Beringia land bridge? Which do you find least convincing? Why?

I find it convincing that they came from Russia to Alaska from this bridge because geographically they are very close to each other. I find the fact that they walked over there very unpractical because that means that they would would need to bring along with them enough supplies to last the journey for everyone who is crossing, and it just sounds unrealistic for them to carry all of these things.

Wet season

In the summer when crops flourish

Latin culture

Introduced via conquest by Spain and Portugal starting in 1492•Language (Spanish, Portuguese, French)•Religion (Roman Catholic)•Law, diet, clothing, architecture, habits of personal and social interaction•Politics (nation-state, importance of cities)

What are the three major challenges of farming the Oxisol soils of highlands? What have been found to be solutions to these problems?

Ironstone Risk•Compaction Risk•Nutrient Loss Risk. Some Oxisol areas have plinthite (iron oxide) layers•If exposed to sun, can harden into ironstone•Solution: avoid plinthite (5% of area). Oxisol is made up of clay clumped into sand size aggregates•If compacted by machinery, the sandy aggregates can be crushed into a claypan•Solution: avoid using heavy machinery. Most nutrients in Oxisol ecosystem are in vegetation•If vegetation is removed, soil fertility is quickly lost•Solutions: swidden (slash and burn/shifting cultivation), dark earths(adding trash or ash), fertilization (chemical fertilization).

Idealist theory (big gods)

Moralizing religion. Key to building a large complex society and its increased productivity. Violence declined.

Inca

Largest and most powerful Andean empire. Controlled the Pacific coast of South America from Ecuador to Chile from its capital of Cuzco.

What is culture and what factors might cause it to spread or change?

Learned habitual behavior and associated objects, webs of communication, societies, landscapes. Spreads through communication (acculturation), migration, conquest. Changes over time (adaptation, politics).

Culture

Learned habitual behavior and associated objects, webs of communication, societies, landscapes. With improved learning and health, increased tolerance, and opportunities to come together with others, culture enhances our quality of life and increases overall well-being for both individuals and communities. It also gives us a sense of identity that distinguishes your group from others. This can be beneficial in forming close relationships.

What are the locations, resources, potentials, and problems of the limestone lowlands? The loess lowlands? Other lowlands?

Location of Limestone: Mexico coast, Yucatan; Cuba and low islands. Resources: springs, building materials, fertile Mollisol soils. Potentials: Rocks rich in calcium. Problems: erosion hazard, thin soils. Location of Loess: Pampa, Argentina. Resources: fertile Mollisol soils. Potentials: poorly drained. Problems: erosion, dust storms. Location of Mixed Sediments: (Medium soils)•Orinoco Lowlands (Llanos, O)•Amazon Lowlands (A, note strange shape)•Chaco and Pantanal (Ch)

Discuss the resources of highland areas, including mineral resources, and waterpower resources. Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of dam development. Since dams have a limited life span, and reservoirs destroy habitat and livelihoods, under what conditions should they be promoted to produce clean hydroelectric power?

Location of highlands: Guiana Highland (G)•Brazilian Highland (B). Resources: minerals, water, waterfalls. Advantages of Dams: Hydroelectric power is clean, flood control, and good source of irrigation. Disadvantage: Dams impact ecosystems and livelihoods. I believe that we should still use them because everything that we do is going to have negative consequences, and using dams is a better alternative than using wind turbines to produce energy. However, we need to limit the building of dams, provide for people who need to move, and make sure we are building them in areas where it is not affecting the local animal population.

La Niña

Mass drought

Maya

Mesoamerican civilization concentrated in Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula and in Guatemala and Honduras but never unified into a single empire. Major contributions were in mathematics, astronomy, and development of the calendar. Peak of culture 250-900 AD

Describe the location and resources of Latin American mountains, including the uses of cooler mountain temperatures for agriculture, and the use of water for irrigation canals.

Mexico, Peru, Argentina, Chile, Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Panamá, Bolivia, Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela. Resources: Cooler temperatures•Reduce insect pests and diseases•Improve quality of some crops (coffee, roses)•Greater human comfort•Water resources•Altitudinal Zonation

Describe the location, resources and hazards of Latin American volcanoes. How have people coped with these hazards?

Neovolcanic Axis•Central American Volcanic Axis•Baja California, Lesser Antilles, Galapagos•Northern Andes•Central Andes•Central Chile•Southern Chile. Resources: fertile soil, lakes, building materials, and national identity. Hazards: Gases, "bombs"•Volcanic ash•Calderas (crater lakes)•Flash floods from icecaps (lahars)•Hot gas ejections (nuée ardente), Pyroclastic flows and hot gases (nuée ardente), Lava flows•Climate change. Monitoring•Public Education•Hazard mapping

Discuss how our visions of the environment might change as our goals and values change.

Our visions of our environment coincide with our goals and values. If our goals and values are to preserve the environment for our survival and reproduction needs, to sustain nature, and just to preserve the environment because it gives us so much then we will see our environment as beautiful, meaningful, and worth preserving. If our goals and values change to selfish needs of our own, then we will not view the environment in the same way. Our goals and values can change due to changes in culture, politics, and economics.

Discuss the hazards of hurricanes and droughts in tropical areas.

Overall can lead to climate change. Hurricanes: flooding, heavy rains, and tornadoes Drought: Shortage of water and death of crops

What is Latin America? Provide some examples of how images of Latin America have changed over time, perhaps including as discussed in Knapp and Caviedes Chapter 1. Do remnants of historical images persist today (if so, describe)?

Perception, communication, and art defines Latin America. Product of global political and economic interactions, especially colonialism. I believe that remnants of historical images still do persist today because in the past many people believed that Latin America was only a place filled with crime, drugs, and poverty. This has changed over time but this thought process still persists in some peoples' heads.

Landforms

Provide a framework for looking at the environment. Rocks are the material of which landforms are made.

Brundtland Commission

The Brundtland Commission was designed to unite countries to pursue sustainable development together. It defined sustainable development as meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.

Paraná Lava Flow

The Parana lava flow was 130 million years ago show how lava was spread. It shows an overlap between South America and Africa which promotes the idea of Pangea.

Brazilian Highland

Southeast of Brazil. Used to have active volcanoes there but they are dormant now. This produced fertile soil. Lots of erosion has shaped these highlands. Lots of diversity of animals and biomes.

Altiplano

Spanish for "high plain," a region in Peru and Bolivia encircled by the Andes

Define "ethics" and their importance for shared life in society. What was the Brundtland Commission and how did it define sustainability?What would sustainability ethics look like?

Standards of behavior at the largest scale. Based on reciprocity (shared life) in society. Supported by tradition, reason. Involve institutions as well as individuals. The Brundtland Commission was designed to unite countries to pursue sustainable development together. It defined sustainable development as meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. Sustainability ethics is all about future generations. This includes reduction of global poverty, environmental conservation, and respect for human rights and cultural diversity.

Ethics

Standards of behavior at the largest scale•Based on reciprocity (shared life) in society•Supported by tradition, reason•Involve institutions as well as individuals

Tropics

Sun is overhead at noon at least once a year (high energy input)•Thus between Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn•Centered on Equator

Sustainability Ethics

Sustainability ethics is all about future generations. This includes reduction of global poverty, environmental conservation, and respect for human rights and cultural diversity.

What are the defining characteristics of the tropics as a temperature region? How have people in the tropics adapted to the temperature regime?

Temperate and average temperatures. Rain in summer and dry season in winter. They have made architectural adaptations on the roofs of their houses to withstand the rain.

According to Charles Mann, what are some misunderstandings about America prior to 1492? How have these misunderstandings been corrected? Give examples.

That the environment was completely pristine and untouched before the Europeans colonized and that the early natives living there were basically barbarians who had no culture. These mistakes have been corrected by exploration and writing and education. However, some education systems still teach the old beliefs.

How might impacts of asteroids or comets affected Latin American environmental history? Refer to the Paraná Lava flow and Chicxulub Asteroid Impact in your answer.

The Parana lava flow was 130 million years ago show how lava was spread. It shows an overlap between South America and Africa which promotes the idea of Pangea. The Chicxulub Asteroid occurred 66 million years ago in Mexico and caused dinosaur extinctions.

What is the "pristine myth"? Give examples of how Native Americans may have changed their environment prior to 1492.

The idea that the environment was pristine and untouched before the Europeans arrived. Most of tropical forests were cut down and farmed before Europeans arrived•People probably encouraged favored forest species to grow after fallows, other species went extinct due to over hunting possibly.

Amazon Basin

The land drained by the Amazon River

Pleistocene Overkill

The overkill hypothesis argues that humans were responsible for the Late Pleistocene extinction of megafauna in North and South America.

Define dark earths(terra pretas)and explain how they were produced, where they are located, and their significance.

They restore fertility after slash and burn. They are produced by adding ash and trash. They are located in the Amazon Basin.

Dark earths (Terra Preta)

They restore fertility. Formed by adding trash and ash etc. They store carbon.

Isolated fauna (Neotropics)

Titanoboa cerrejonensis•World's largest snake 43' long•Colombia, 60 mya. "Terror Birds"•Top predators after dinosaurs died out•Were world's largest birds (7', 400 lbs)

El Niño

Trade winds that make warm water rise and cause mass flooding. Leads to disease and fish moving away.

Environment

What affects survival and reproduction. Resources (positive) and hazards (negative). Also what is seen as beautiful, meaningful, worth preserving. Depends on culture, politics/economics; changes over time and space.

Peru Current

a cold current that flows northward along the western coast of south america giving it a cooler climate than it would otherwise have

Clay pan

a dense, compact, slowly permeable layer in the subsoil having a much higher clay content than the overlying material, from which it is separated by a sharply defined boundary.

Lahar

a destructive mudflow on the slopes of a volcano.

Ironstone

a formation risk to farming oxisols - iron oxide (plinthite) layers harden into ironstone if exposed to sun - covers 5% of highlands area

Caldera

a large crater lake caused by a volcanic explosion

Raised fields

a large cultivated elevation meant to allow cultivators control some environmental factors like flooding

Central America

a region of seven countries between Mexico and South America including Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Panama

Mollisol

a soil of an order comprising temperate grassland soils with a dark, humus-rich surface layer containing high concentrations of calcium and magnesium.

Medieval Warm Period

a time of warm climate in the North Atlantic region, lasting from about AD 800-1300. It was followed by a cooler period in the North Atlantic termed the Little Ice Age

Define and distinguish between: a.Domestication b.The adoption of farming as a way of life in villages c.The creation of chiefdoms and the creation of civilization

a. the cultivation of a plant or crop. And the taming of certain animals like dogs, llamas, guinea pigs etc b. Farming allows staying in one spot; enables accumulation of wealth and respect for ancestors c. Flexible government based on charisma•No true cities, bureaucracies, or standing armies. Many non-agricultural specialists•Cities, taxes, armies, kings

Rice paddies

an irrigated or flooded field where rice is grown

Shield

any of the large stable areas of low relief in the Earth's crust that are composed of Precambrian crystalline rocks. Western South America