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209 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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Middle america consists of what 3 regions?
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Mexico, Central America, Caribbean Basin
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Landbridge
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An isthmian link between continents
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Caribbean Basin is divided into the what?
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Greater Antilles and Lesser Antilles
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What culture dominates the Caribbean?
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African
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What cultures dominate the mainland
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Spanish and Amerindian
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NAFTA stands for what?
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North American Free Trade Agreement
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Hispaniola contains what countries?
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Haiti and Dominican Republic
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What is the poorest country in the Americas?
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Haiti
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The northern border of Mexico is defined by what river?
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The Rio Bravo (Rio Grande)
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The Oceans to the East and West of Mexico are what?
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East=Gulf of Mexico
West=Pacific Ocean |
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Central America consists of what 7 republics?
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Guatemala, Belize, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama.
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What regions are in the Greater Antilles?
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Cuba, Jamaica, Hispaniola, and Puerto Rico.
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Isthmus
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Strip of land
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How many islands are in the Caribbean Sea?
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approximately 7000
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archipelago
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A set of islands grouped closely together, usually elongated into a chain.
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Culture hearths
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A source area from which new ideas radiated and whose population could expand and make significant material and intellectual progress.
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Anthropologists refer to the Middle American culture hearth as what?
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Mesoamerica
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Who came first, the Mayas or the Aztecs?
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Maya
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What was the first true urban center in the Western Hemisphere named?
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Teotihuacan
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The area surrounding what is now Mexico City is called what?
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the Valley of Mexico
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Who led the Spaniards in the rebellion against the Aztecs
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Hernan Cortez
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What supreme cultural force transformed Amerindian society?
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The Roman Catholic Church
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Who conceptualized the Mainland-Rimland framework?
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John Augelli
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Mainland-Rimland framework
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The twofold regionalization of the Middle American realm based on its modern cultural history.
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Mestizo
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Derived from the Latin word for "mixed", refers to a person of mixed European (white) Amerindian ancestry
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Hacienda
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Literally, a large estate in a Spanish-speaking country. Generally self sufficient.
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Plantation
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A large estate owned by an individual, family, or corporation and organized to produce a cash crop.
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What are the 3 main reasons a person pushes to or pulls from a country
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Environmental, Economical, Political
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What is the official name of Mexico
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The United States of Mexico
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What is Mexico's Federal District?
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Mexico City
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What is the largest country by population in Central America?
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Guatemala
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What country is the most stable in the Central American Republic?
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Costa Rica
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Panama was a part of what country until the 1880's?
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Columbia
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The Caribbeans were named after what
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The Carib Indians
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When did the US gain control of Puerto Rico?
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After the Spanish American War in 1898
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Most of the Lesser Antilles is owned by whom?
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The British, French and Dutch
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The population of South America is concentrated where?
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Around its peripheries
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Where is the Orinoco River?
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Venezuela
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acculturation
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Cultural modification resulting from inter-cultural borrowing
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60% of Mexicans are what?
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Mestizos
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What percentage of Mexicans are full blooded Amerindians?
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8%
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transculturation
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Cultural borrowing and two-way exchanges that occur when different cultures of approximately equal complexity and technological level come into close contact.
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When did Mexico free itself from Spanish colonial control?
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the early 19th century
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ejidos
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land that the government holds the title to, but the rights to use it are parceled out to village communities and then to individuals for cultivation.
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In 1994 what group in Mexico launched a guerrilla war with coordinated attacks on several towns?
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Mayan peasant farmers in Chiapas called the Zapatista National Liberation Army (ZNLA)
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What are Mexico's biggest natural resources?
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Oil and natural gas
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maquiladoras
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A term given to modern industrial plants in Mexico's US border zone. These foreign-owned factories assemble imported components and/or raw materials, and then export finished manufactures, mainly to the United States.
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What caused Mexico's fall in 2009?
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Columbianization
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Dry Canal
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An overland rail and/or road corridor across an isthmus dedicated to performing the transit functions of a canalized waterway.
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The population of Central America is concentrated where?
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In its highland
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The Andes Mountains are located where?
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Western Coast of South America
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Altitudinal Zones
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Vertical regions defined by physical-environmental zones at various elevations, particularly in the highlands of South and Middle America
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tierra caliente
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The lowest of the altitudinal zones.
"hot land" |
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What is grown in the tierra caliente?
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Sugar, bananas, corn, coffee and tobacco.
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What altitudinal zone contains Middle and South America's highest population?
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tierra templada
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tierra templada
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the intermediate altutudinal zone of settlement in Middle and South America. The "temperate" zone.
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What crops are grown in the tierra templada?
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Coffee, tobacco, corn and some wheat.
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tierra fria
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cold, high-lying altitudinal zone of settlement in Andean South America.
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What type of land is located on the tierra fria. And what is cultivated there?
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coniferous. Pastures and wheat, barley and potatoes.
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tierra helada
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4th altitudinal zone in Andean South America, the highest-lying habitable altitudinal zone.
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Tierra nevada
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The highest altitudinal zone, a zone of permanent snow and ice.
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In central America are populations greater to the Pacific or Caribbean sides?
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Pacific
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What is the most infamous gang in Central America?
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Mara Salvartrucha
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Who was part of the CAFTA
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Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Dominican Republic.
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CAFTA stands for what?
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Central American Free Trade Agreement
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When did Guatemala become a separate republic?
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1838
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What do the mestizos of Guatemala call themselves?
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Ladinos
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When did the civil war between the Guatemalan Mestizos and Amerindians begin and end?
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1960-1996
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What Central American country was a dependency of the UK? What was it called then and when did it gain its independence?
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Belize. British Honduras. 1981
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Honduras is still under devastation from what natural disaster, when?
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Hurricane, Mitch of 1998
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Name the 3 poorest countries in the Americas' in order.
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Haiti, Nicaragua, Honduras
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Territorially what is Central Americas smallest country?
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El Salvador
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What is the Capitol of Nicaragua?
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Managua
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What side of Nicaragua is home to the Amerindians?
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The Caribbean side.
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What type of government did Nicaragua have until the end of the 1970's?
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Dictatorial government
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Costa Rica's tierra templada is centered in the .
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Valle Central (Central Valley)
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What are the 4 major exports in Costa Rica
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Coffee, Bananas, tropical fruits and seafood
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Who was the first to try and build a canal through Panama? When was this?
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The French in 1880s
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When did the Panama Canal open?
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1914
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When did the withdrawal of the US's control of the Panama Canal finally occur?
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December 31, 1999
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Where is the only remaining gap in the intercontinental Pan American Highway located?
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Darien Province in Eastern Panama
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Brazil Touches every country except
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Chile and Ecuador
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What are the two landlocked countries of South America?
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Bolivia and Paraguay
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what is the effect on the equator called that impacts the directions of the winds?
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Coriolis effect
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What is the predominant heritage of South America?
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Spanish
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What is the poorest country in South America?
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Paraguay
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What is the most Native American country in South America?
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Bolivia
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What is the Spanish city structure?
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Grid format
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What is the Capital of Brazil?
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Brazilia
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What is the driest place on earth?
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Atacama Desert
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What is the highest lake in the World?
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Lake Titicaca
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According to the Inca's where did the first Inca originate from?
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Lake Titicaca
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What caused the current devastation of the Caribbean Basin?
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The Collapse of the sugar trade
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Where is Santo Domingo?
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Dominican Republic
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Port-au-Prince is the capitol of what state?
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Haiti
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mulatto
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A person of mixed African and European ancestry
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What is the largest Caribbean Island state, both by territory and population?
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Cuba
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What is the capitol of Cuba?
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Havana
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What is the highest mountain chain in Cuba?
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Sierra Maestra
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Jamaica recognizes who as the chief of state?
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The British monarch
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What is the official language of Jamaica?
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English
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What is Jamaica's largest source of income?
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Tourism
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What is the capitol of Jamaica and where is it located?
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Kingston on its southeast coast
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What tribe formed the dominant indigenous population in Haiti?
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Arawaks
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Who killed off the Arawak Indians?
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Spanish colonists
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What was "Saint Dominique" and at the time who owned it.
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Haiti, the French
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When did Puerto Ricans begin electing their own governor?
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1948
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When did Puerto Rico become a commonwealth state?
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1952
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What is the unemployment rate of Puerto Rico?
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45%
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Why do many people in Puerto Rico, whom could be working, do not?
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They would receive less benefits from the US government!!!!!!!!!
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Puerto Rico receives an annual subsidy from the US government totaling over how much?
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4 billion dollars
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The Bahamas consists of how many coral islands?
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3000
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What area of the antilles was the former British Colony?
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The Bahamas
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Which Island contains most of the Bahamas inhabitants?
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New Providence Island
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What is the capital of New Providence Island?
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Nassau
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The lesser antilles are grouped geographically into what?
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the Leeward Islands and the Windward Islands.
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Guadeloupe and Martinique are dependencies of whom?
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The French
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The Leeward Islands extend from where to where?
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US Virgin Islands to Guadeloupe and Martinique
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The Windward Islands extend from where to where?
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St. Lucia to Netherlands Antilles off the Venezuelan coast
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Who is the largest supplier of liquefied natural gas for the US?
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Trinidad
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What is the Capitol of Trinidad?
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Port of Spain
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South America is connected to middle america by what state?
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Panama
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What is the capitol of Peru?
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Lima
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Where is the Patagonian Plateau located?
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Argentina
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South America was originally inhabited by who?
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Amerindian Migrants from North and Middle America
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Altiplanos
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High-elevation plateau, basin, or valley between even higher mountain ranges, especially in the Andes of South America
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What was South Americas greatest indigenous empire?
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Inca
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What was the core area of the Inca empire?
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Cuzco, Peru
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Who built the stone structures of Machu Picchu?
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The Inca
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What brought an end to the Inca empire?
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Spanish Invaders in the 1530's
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What would you call a map of South America before the arrival of Europeans?
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"Pre-Columbian"
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Hispanic disease killed what percent of native Amazonians?
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90%
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What was the name of the leader who overthrew the Inca's?
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Francisco Pizarro
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How many men defeated the Incan empire?
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183
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Land alienation
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The takeover of indigenously held land by foreigners
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What was the name of the treaty that divided the world in half?
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Treaty Tordesillas
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Who wrote up the Treaty of Tordesillas?
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Pope Alexander the VI
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In the treaty of Tordesillas who received the west and who received the east?
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West- Spain
East- Portugal |
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What were the settlers of Sao Paulo called?
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Paulistas
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Who got the better partitioning of South America?
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The Spanish
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What state holds South Americas largest black population?
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Brazil
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What two states in south america were the first to stake their independence from Spain?
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Argentina and Chile
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Who led the independence movement in South America and what year did it defeat the Spanish power?
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Simon Bolivar, 1824
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Plural societies
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A society in which two or more populations groups, each practicing its own culture, live adjacent to one another without mixing inside a single state.
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What is the difference between for commercial or for subsistence use?
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Commercial or market is for profit. Subsistence is primarily for household use.
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hidrovia (water highways) are opening what area in South America up to barge transport?
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the Parana-Paraguay Basin
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What is the dominant free trade organization for South America?
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Mercosur/I
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What part of South America has the highest rate of urbanization?
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Southern
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What 3 south American states have most of their population living in cities?
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Argentina, Chile and Uruguay.
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What area constitutes South Americas least Urbanized?
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The Andean Mountain Area
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What are the 3 Megacities of South America and where are they located?
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Sao Paulo- Brazil
Rio de Janeiro- Brazil Buenos Aires- Argentina |
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Informal sector
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Part of the CBD where many first comers go where workers are undocumented and money transactions are beyond the control of the government
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Vast shantytowns in South American cities are know as what to spanish-speaking areas and what in Brazil?
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Barrios- Spanish
favelas- Brazil |
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What are the 4 republics of western South America?
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Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia and Paraguay
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What is the capitol of Columbia?
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Bogota
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insurgent state
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Territorial embodiment of a successful guerrilla movement. the establishment by anitgovernment insurgents of a territorial base in which they exercise full control; thus a state within a state.
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What was the name of the most brutal and powerful insurgent group in Colombia?
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Farclandia (FARC)
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Failed State
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A country whose institutions have collapsed and in which anarchy prevails.
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What was the name of the president elected in 2002 that helped revive Columbia's economy?
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Alvaro Uribe
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What % of cocaine consumed in the U.S. comes from columbia?
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70%
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Why does the U.S. refuse to approve a free trade agreement with Columbia?
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The Uribe governments alleged tilt towards right wing paramilitaries in connection with the amnesty program
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What is the capital of Venezuela?
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Caracas
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What is the "lake" between Columbia and Venezuela?
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"Lake" Maracaibo
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What is the savanna country in the Orinoco basin known as?
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Llanos
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What is the worlds leading oil producing area?
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Maracaibo lowlands, in Venezuela
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Who is the president of Venezuela?
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Hugo Chavez
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What are the three Guianas and from who are they a legacy?
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Guyana / British
Suriname / Dutch French Guiana / French (still owned by french) |
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What do the economies of the 3 Guiana's resemble?
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Those of the Caribbean middle american domains
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What is causing the environmental controversy in Guyana and Suriname?
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Timber companies from Asia's pacific rim
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What is the common language in Suriname and what is it derived from ?
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Sranan Tongo / Dutch and English
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What is the only dependency in mainland South America?
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French Guiana
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What is the capital of French Guiana?
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Cayenne
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What important European structure is located in French Guiana and where?
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The European french agencies launch complex. Kourou on the coast
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The word peon is an old Spanish word meaning what?
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indebted day laborer
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The hills in the Andes of Ecuador are drained by what river?
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Guayas river
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What is the largest city in Ecuador?
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Guayaquil
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What is the capital of Ecuador?
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Quito
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What was the name of the pipe line in Esmereldas constructed in 1972, that was the source of numerous oil spills and environmental disasters.
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The Trans Andean pipeline
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What is the capital of Bolivia?
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La Paz
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What is the capital of Paraguay?
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Asuncion
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Paraguay ended its history or ruthless dictatorial rule with the election of who?
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Fernando Lugo
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What is the river located between Brazil and Paraguay?
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Paraná River
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What is the name of the Dam located on the Paraná River?
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Itaipu Dam
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What are Hizbullah?
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Iranian-backed terrorists
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What makes up South Americas "southern Cone"? (3)
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Argentina, Chile and Uruguay
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What is the capital of Argentina?
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Buenos Aires
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What is the Federal District of Argentina?
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Buenos Aires
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How many provinces make up Argentina?
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23
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What president caused Argentina to fall into the "dirty War" of 1976-1983?
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Juan Peron
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Who owns the Malvina's (Falkland Islands)
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The British
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The Atacama Desert is located where?
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Peru
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What is the capitol of Chile and in what region is it located?
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Santiago, Middle Chile
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What is the chief port of Chile?
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Valparaiso
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The Atacama Desert contains the worlds largest exploitable deposits of what?
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Nitrates
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What is the capital of Uruguay?
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Montevideo
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Who is Brazil's president?
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Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, commonly called Lula
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What is the name of the oil company in Brazil?
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Petrobras
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Brasil is a federal district consisting of how many states?
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26
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Periodic sea-surface-warming events off the continent's south Americas western coast that skew weather patterns is called?
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El Nino
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Cerrado
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Regional term referring ti the fertile savannas of Brazil's interior central-west that make it one of the world's most promising agricultural frontiers.
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Growth-pole concept
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a location where a set of activities, given a start, will expand and generate widening ripples of development in the surrounding area.
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Who owns the Cayman Islands
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The British
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Who owns Montserrat
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The British
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Who owns Aruba?
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The Dutch
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Who owns Saint Martin?
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The French
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Name the alltitudinal zones from 1-5
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1Caliente
2 Templata 3 Fria 4 Helada 5 Nevada |
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What makes up mesoamerica?
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Southern Mexico, Belize, and guatemala
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Yucatan is part of what?
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Mexico
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What is the most European state in South America?
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Uruguay
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