Mexico

Front 1

land bridge

Back 1

a strip of land that connects two larger landmasses

Front 2

Vertical climate zones

Back 2

a climate zone that occurs as elevation increases, with its own natural vegetation and crops

Front 3

Conquistador

Back 3

Spanish for “conqueror”; Spanish soldier who participated in conquest of indigenous peoples of Latin America

Front 4

Mestizo

Back 4

refers to people of mixed indigenous and European descent

Front 5

Syncretism

Back 5

a blending of beliefs and practices from different religions into one faith

Front 6

Megacity

Back 6

great city that is made up of several large and small cities

Front 7

Extended family

Back 7

household made up of several generations of family members

Front 8

Maquiladora

Back 8

in Mexico, a manufacturing plant owned by a foreign company

Front 9

Deforestation

Back 9

process in which arable land becomes desert; the destruction of land in arid and semiarid climates

Front 10

Isthmus

Back 10

a narrow strip of land connecting two larger land areas

Front 11

Archipelago

Back 11

a group or chain of islands

Front 12

Population pressure

Back 12

the sum of factors within a population that reduce the ability of an environment to support the population, therefore resulting in migration or population decline

Front 13

Patois

Back 13

a dialect used in everyday speech that blends elements of several languages

Front 14

Latifundia

Back 14

in Latin America, large agricultural estates owned by families or corporations

Front 15

minifundia

Back 15

in Latin America, small farms that produce food chiefly for family use