Latin America Geography

Front 1

Archipelago

Back 1

A series of islands

Front 2

Basin

Back 2

A low area of land drained by a river and it's tributaries

Front 3

Campesino

Back 3

A peasant farmworker

Front 4

Canopy

Back 4

Umbrella-like covering formed by the tops of trees in a rain forest

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Cash Crop

Back 5

Farm products used for exports.

Front 6

Caudillo

Back 6

Latin American ruler, often a military officer or wealthy individual ruling as a dictator.

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Cay

Back 7

A small island of sand and coral.

Front 8

Columbian Exchange

Back 8

The giving and taking from Latin America to Europe

Front 9

Conquistadores

Back 9

A Spanish leader that conquered Latin America in the 1700's

Front 10

Coral

Back 10

A kind of sea life

Front 11

Cordillera

Back 11

Regions of parallel mountains

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Ejido

Back 12

A Mexican farm communally owned and worked (shared by everyone)

Front 13

Escarpment

Back 13

Steep cliff at the edge of a plateau with a lowland area below.

Front 14

Estuary

Back 14

And area where river currents and ocean tides meet.

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Favela

Back 15

An overcrowded slum in Brazil

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Gasohol

Back 16

Human-mad fuel products from mixing gasoline and alcohol made from sugar cane

Front 17

Gauchos

Back 17

Cowhand in Argentina

Front 18

Guerilla

Back 18

Rebel fighter that uses the natural landscape

Front 19

Hacienda

Back 19

Large estates- plantations, mines, and factories owned by wealthy people (usually from European descent)

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Irrigation

Back 20

Process of collecting water and distributing it to crops.

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Isthmus

Back 21

Narrow stretch of land connecting two larger land areas

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Land Redistribution

Back 22

Breaking up big plantations to produce land for poor farmers

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Latifundio

Back 23

Large estates or plantation owned by wealthy people in Latin America

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Leeward

Back 24

Rain shadow side that receives little participation.

Front 25

Llanos

Back 25

Tropical grasslands that stretch through Eastern Columbia and Venezuela

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Maquiladoras

Back 26

A foreign-owned factory in Mexico where workers assemble parts made in other countries

Front 27

Mestizo

Back 27

In Latin America, a person of mixed Native American and European heritage.

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Migrant Workes

Back 28

Person who earns a living by temporarily moving to work usually in agriculture

Front 29

Mulatto

Back 29

Person in Latin America with both European and African descent.

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Pampas

Back 30

Treeless grassland of Argentina and Uruguay

Front 31

Piedmont

Back 31

A flat area of land at the foot of a mountain,

Front 32

Savanna

Back 32

Broad grassland in the tropics with few trees.

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Selva

Back 33

Brazilian name for the Amazonian rain forests

Front 34

Sertao

Back 34

Tropical lowlands in North East Brazil

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Sinkhole

Back 35

Large holes in the earth that form when the roof of a cave collapses.

Front 36

Slash and Burn Agriculture

Back 36

Cut and burn forest to create farmlands

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Timber line

Back 37

Elevation level above which no trees will grow

Front 38

Tropical Storm

Back 38

An intense storm that occurs in and around the Tropics (ex. hurricanes, cyclones, typhoons)

Front 39

Vertical Zonation

Back 39

Adaption to elevation change of different crops different elevations

Front 40

Windward

Back 40

Rain Shadow side that receives precipitation.