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 * Physical Geography **

Climate


The climate depends on the location in Latin America. There are five prevalent climates that dominate Latin America. The five include: 1. Dry Climate Zone (Dry, hot)- very dry but do gets some regular rainfalls. Grassy with desert shrubs. 2. Tropical Climate Zone (include rainforests) - very hot and rainy all year round 3. Temperate Doastal plains-Flat, not too hot/cold 4. Temperate Highlands-Highlands, not too hot/cold 5. Mountains (change in temps depending on altitude)

The average temperature for Latin America is 20.5-30*C but the temperature may vary greatly on how far one is from the equator since Latin America encompasses the whole west side of the Southern Hemisphere.

Many natural hazards occur in Latin America. There were earthquakes in Mexico, volcanic eruptions in Colombia, hurricanes and floods in Haiti, and drought and mudflows in Brazil.

Landforms of Place/ Surrounding Area
Mountains and Highlands are mostly on the western side of Latin America. This makes it hard for people to travel, so many people live in the north or the eastern side of Latin America. Andes and Sierra Madres are some of the mountains in Latin America. There are Plains in Latin America that are mostly used for grazing livestock (Pampas and EC). There are also deserts in Latin America, and these include Atacama, Patagonia, and Rain Shadows.

The Amazon River is the major river that flows in Latin America, as well as Orinoco River Basin and Parana River. The Amazon River originates in the Andes in Peru. Orinoco River Basin originates from near the Brazilian border in the south of Veenzuela, and Parana River originates from Paranaiba and Grande rivers in southern Brazil.

Vegetation


As Latin America has big parts of Amazon River and Rainforest, most vegetation, plants and animals relate from there. More than half of the world's estimated 10 million species of plants, animals, and insects live in the tropical rainforests. The Amazon Rainforest provides 80% of developed world's diet. It provides fruits such as avocados, coconuts, figs, oranges, lemons, grapefruit, bananas, guavas, pineapples, mangoes, tomatoes, as well as vegetables including corn, rice, potatoes, winter squash and yams. They also provide spices like black pepper, cayenne, chocolate, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, sugar cane, turmeric, coffee, vanilla, nuts.

Animals
There are an estimated 15,000 different kinds of animals in the Amazon Rainforest. These include animals like Anaconda Snake, Jaguar, Manatee, Piranha, Tapir, Tucuxi and the Boto Dolphin (River Dolphins), and the Vampire Bat. 


 * Human Geography **

Artifacts
Tripod Ceramic Bowl, Guatemala. Early Classic Maya, A.D. 300-600

Latin America's architecture is very similar to Spanish architecture because South America, Central America, Mexico and parts of US were colonized by the Spanish. Depending on location and historical circumstance, this shared heritage was often enriched and made uniquely Latin American through Spanish and Portuguese interaction with indigenous Indian traditions, as well as with the cultures of West African blacks, brought to the Americas in slavery. From the 16th to the 19th century (Colonial Period), Latin America was part of the Spanish and Portuguese colonial empires. Art was sometimes imported from Iberia but was more commonly created by Iberian immigrants and indigenous artisans. Major architectural projects had to be approved by the central governments in Europe before they could be constructed in America. Therefore, colonial art and architecture development in Latin America closely paralleled to those in Spain and Portugal. However, there were distinctive variations in style, caused by the differences in topography and climate.

Economy
During the 1980's through the beginning of the 1990's, Latin America suffered its worst economic and social crisis since the great depression of the 1930's. Great number of people, an estimate og 240 million people were living in poverty until 1990. For the last 50 years, Latin America has lived through a sustained period of economic and social deprivation. Yet despite all these problems, Latin America was living through its most substantive and broadly based process of democratization. With the exception of the US sponsored military dictatorships, Latin America went through a a process of democratization where democracies replaced dictatorship. However new economic and politics lead to the recent 'crashes'.

Language
There are many different languages spoken in Latin America, but the dominant ones are Portuguese (52%) and Spanish. Although Spanish is the official language of most countries in South America, Portuguese is the most commonly spoken language. The Portuguese had conquered the land that is now Brazil and used their language in the land. Over time, Portuguese became the language most used in the area and became the national language of Brazil. Since Brazil makes up 52 % of Latin America's population, Portuguese is the language most used before Spanish. French and English are spoken and sometimes are co-official language for some Caribbean islands. There also many small native languages that have been preserved.

Politics
Latin America is political developing. Latin America will hold six presidential elections this year, in addition to six legislative ones and two major referendums.

Dominant Religions
The dominant religions in Latin America are Roman Catholicism and Protestantism. Spain and Portugal were Catholics, and it is known that when they conquered South America, they converted most of the people into Catholics. Roman Catholicism is dominant over Protestantism but Protestantism has been slowly gaining popularity over time.

Population
Latin America has a population of over 569 million people. They are concentrated around the coasts and major countries but farther away from the South Pole.