world regional geography...cartel politics: mergers, splits, and power struggles •mexico as a...
TRANSCRIPT
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WORLD REGIONAL
GEOGRAPHY
By Brett Lucas
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Regions
MIDDLE AMERICA – Part 2
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Mexico: Physiography
Mexican landmass:
Two peninsulas and an isthmus
Mountain backbone
Sierra Madre Occidental and Sierra Madre Oriental
Center is the Plateau of Mexico, includes the Valley of Mexico
Tropical climates
Dominated by aridity
Some more humid areas in the south
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Mexico: Regions of Mexico
Regionally diverse
Core Area anchored by
Mexico City
Transition zone diving
Hispanic-mestizo north
from Amerindian south
Gulf Coast is Mexico’s
petroleum center
NAFTA North is
economically dynamic
• Diversity with regions
– Southern Highlands: luxurious Acapulco and
interior Amerindian farms
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Mexico: Population Patterns
Growth slowing due to drop in fertility
Distribution
Densely populated in central States and southern highlands
Least-populated in dry and rugged northern deserts
High rate of urbanization
Except in Amerindian highlands
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Mexico: A Mix of Cultures
Culture in Mexico:
Fusion of heritages
Not a one-way incorporation of
European culture, as acculturation
But a two-way exchange of cultural
traits, or transculturation
Strong Amerindian presence:
Linguistic persistence
Dress, cuisine, artistic, and
architectural styles and folkways
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Mexico:
Agriculture: Fragmented Modernization
Breaking up the haciendas after independence:
Ejidos are government-held farmlands redistributed to
peasant communities.
System of land management is an Amerindian legacy.
Half of Mexican lands are these “social landholdings.”
Reforms did not increase production.
Fragmented lands cause low yields and rural poverty.
Irrigated northwest agriculture:
Large-scale commercial agriculture
Improving, but still tough to compete with U.S. crops
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Among the Realm’s Great Cities: Mexico City
World’s largest urban agglomeration:
Primate city, hub of the nation
Social contrasts:
Affluence surrounded by middle class surrounded by poverty
Environmental crises:
Inefficient fresh water supply
Air pollution and geologic hazards
And still, Mexico City grows by 100,000 to 300,000 per year
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Mexico: States of Contrast
North vs. south:
Income is higher and rural poverty lower in North.
Economic growth and infrastructure investment is lower in southern States.
By various social indices, the south lags.
Political consequences:
Guerilla war in Chiapas
Polarized 2006 presidential campaign
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Mexico: States of Contrast
Map Analysis Activity:
States of Mexico
1. Identify regions of states that are poor and small, small and rich, rich and large, large and poor.
2. Speculate the reasons for their characteristics and location.
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Mexico: The Drug Wars
Colombian drug cartels are in northern Mexico.
Various routes connect all the Americas.
Cartel competition:
Territorial control over entry points, processing, transport routes, and “export valves”
Cartel politics: mergers, splits, and power struggles
• Mexico as a failed state:
– Rampant corruption – Government’s lack of
control over its territory
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Mexico: Mexico’s Future
Government’s agenda:
End destabilizing violence.
Reduce regional inequalities.
Close the gap between rich and poor.
Spread the positive effects of NAFTA southward:
Invest in infrastructure, education, and antipoverty.
Improve on the foundations of economic interaction with
the United States.
Possibility of a dry canal, as an overland rail and/or road
across its isthmus, to compete with the Panama Canal.
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The Central American Republics:
A Land Bridge
Volcanic highland belt flanked by lowlands on both coasts:
Provides fertile volcanic soils
Biodiversity hot spot in Costa Rica and Panama:
Has a higher-than-usual concentration of natural plant and animal species
Threat of deforestation
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The Central American Republics:
A Land Bridge
Population concentrated in
cooler uplands are known as
tierra templada.
Borders confine El
Salvadorians to coastal
tropical lowlands are known
as tierra caliente.
Population pressures on the
environment:
Demographic explosion
of the mid-20th century
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The Central American Republics: Guatemala
Historical geography:
Heart of Maya Empire and significant Amerindian cultural influence.
Once part of Mexico; mestizos (ladinos) secured independence.
Guatemalan politics:
Military regimes have dominated.
Many died in 1960–1996 civil war between poor Amerindians and better-off ladinos.
Economic potential: minerals and soil
Concept Caching:
Bombil Pek cave and sinkhole
Northern Guatemala
© Matt Ebiner
http://conceptcaching.com/view_a_cache.php?cid=603
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The Central American Republics: Belize
History more like a Caribbean island:
British dependency
Changing demographics
Emigration of African Belizeans
Replaced by other Central American refugees
Hispanicized cultural geography
Spanish as lingua franca
• Economic transformation:
– New crops and industries – Tourism and ecotourism – Offshore banking offering
financial haven for foreign
money
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The Central American Republics
El Salvador
Densely populated and homogeneously mestizo
Coffee Republic
Large landholdings and subjugated peasant labor
Civil War effects:
Arms supplied by other states
Remittances sent by affluent émigrés
Honduras
Still recovering from Category-5 Hurricane Mitch in 1998
Pre-1998, economy was third poorest in the realm
Potential for ecotourism
Hindered by poor infrastructure and lack of funds
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The Central American Republics: Nicaragua
Triangle of land:
Core of the country on the Pacific side
Caribbean side home to remote Amerindian peoples
Difficulties:
Political instability
Devastation of Hurricane Mitch
Accelerated population growth
Reliance on remittances and aid
Concept Caching: Sandinista Revolution Mural Managua, Nicaragua
© Barbara Weightman
http://conceptcaching.com/view_a_cache.php?cid=520
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The Central American Republics: Costa Rica
Internal political stability:
Democratic tradition
Remote from regional strife
Concentrated on economic development:
Region’s highest standard of living,
literacy rate, and life expectancy
Agriculture and tourism
The Valle Central:
Main coffee-growing area in the
tierra templada
Concept Caching:
View of San José, Costa Rica
© Barbara Weightman
http://conceptcaching.com/view_a_cache.php?cid=521
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The Central American Republics: Panama
The Panama Canal:
Expansion to boost interoceanic traffic
Increases business in Panama
Panama’s geographies:
Usual Central American culture, language, and topography
Territorially small, but global
Trading entrepôt and ultramodern port facilities
Panama City: financial center for canal revenues and drug industry
© H.J. de Blij, P.O. Muller, and John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Concept Caching: Panama Canal – Miraflores Locks
© Colonel Eugene J. Palka
http://conceptcaching.com/view_a_cache.php?cid=452
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The Caribbean Basin:
Fragmentation and Insularity
Island arc
Greater Antilles
Four larger islands as the western segment
Lesser Antilles
Eastern segment of smaller islands reaching to the South American coast
Fragmented geography: territorially small and often separated by considerable distances
• Challenging circumstances:
– Few economic opportunities – Expensive imports – Limited interaction with
outside world
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The Caribbean Basin: Ethnicity and Class
Rigid social stratification:
Closely linked with ethnicity, as a colonial legacy
Rankings: Europeans at top, Hispanics, mixed European-
African or mulatto, then Afro-Caribbean
Caribbean societies:
Minorities hold power and exert influence
Perpetuation of historic advantage
South and East Asian presence:
After end of slavery, groups arrived as indentured laborers
Many languages, cultures
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The Greater Antilles: Cuba
Global geopolitics:
Cuban revolution
Overthrew American-
backed dictator
Castro—Communist
dictatorship
Cold War
Soviet nuclear missiles
Guantanamo Bay
Economic opportunities:
Raw materials and agriculture
Venezuelan oil
• Challenging circumstances:
– Poverty, crowded slums, aging infrastructure, and
unemployment
– Some liberalization by Raúl Castro a necessity
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The Greater Antilles: Jamaica
Colonial legacy:
Member of British Commonwealth still recognizing the British
monarch and English as official language
Entirely Afro-Caribbean population
Declining economic prospects:
Slow population, economic growth and incomes
Raw materials and agricultural exports disadvantaged
Must import its necessities: oil and food
Tourism is a world away from ordinary Jamaica
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The Greater Antilles: Haiti
Environmental disasters:
Center of “Hurricane Alley”
In 2008, four tropical cyclones in one season
Atop dangerous fault zone
In 2010, ruinous earthquake
Few natural resources
History of instability, repression, and deprivation
Heavy reliance on aid and remittances
• Shares the island of
Hispaniola with the
Dominican Republic
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The Greater Antilles: Dominican Republic
Dominican Republic’s advantages:
Wider range of natural environments
Stronger resource base
Tourism industry
Economic implosion:
Bank fraud and government corruption brought down a strong economy
• Occupies a larger share of
the island of Hispaniola than
its neighbor, Haiti
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The Greater Antilles: Puerto Rico
U.S. Commonwealth and a complicated arrangement:
Has its own constitution, considerable autonomy, and an annual subsidy
Weak economy:
Industrialization and low wages kept locals impoverished
Massive emigration
Underdeveloped private sector
• Recent referendums resulted in
continuation of Commonwealth
status, rather than U.S.
statehood or independence
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The Lesser Antilles
Environmental risks include earthquakes, volcanoes, and
hurricanes.
Socioeconomic problems: limited resources, overpopulation,
difficult agricultural industry, and market limitations.
Benefit to insularity and environment: Tourism.
Predicament of the small-island developing economies: some
islands chose to maintain a political relationship with former
colonial ruler.