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Latin America (Latin America for short; English: Latin America; ; Spanish: América Latina or Latinoamérica) is usually used to refer to a large area in the southern United States, where Romance is the official language or the main language. Because the Romans family originated from Latin, Latin America got its name. Latin America includes Mexico, most of Central America, South America and the West Indies. Rich in natural resources, but the economic level is low. The residents in this area are mainly engaged in agricultural production, and the industry is mainly engaged in primary processing. All the countries in this region are developing countries.

brief introduction

Latin America

Full name of Latin America: Latin America and America.

Latin America refers to the American region south of the United States, located between 32 42' north latitude and 56 54' south latitude, including Mexico, Central America, West Indies and South America. Latin America is a concept of political geography. As far as the languages of American residents are concerned, English and Latin are dominant. Because this region belongs to the Latin family, many countries south of the United States are called Latin American countries, and this region is called Latin America.

Latin America faces the Atlantic Ocean in the east and the Pacific Ocean in the west, with a total length of 1 1000 km from north to south, a width of 51000 km from east to west, and a narrowest point of only 48 km from the isthmus of Panama. There are Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean Sea in the north. It covers an area of 20.567 million square kilometers. Population 577 million (2008). Mainly Indo-European mulatto, followed by blacks, Indians and whites.

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Attribution country

There are 34 countries and regions in Latin America: Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Cuba, Haiti, Dominica, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados, Grenada, Dominica, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Bahamas, Guyana, French Guiana, Suriname, Venezuela, Colombia, Brazil and Ecuador. There are more than a dozen colonies still under the rule of the United States, Britain, France and the Netherlands.

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geography

range

Caribbean Sea

Latin America refers to the entire southern hemisphere from Mexico. It borders the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean in the east, and the nearest distance to the African continent is about 2494.4 kilometers. West of the Pacific Ocean; South across the Drake Strait, facing Antarctica; Bravo river (Rio Grande River), which borders Mexico and the United States in the north, is adjacent to the United States. It includes Mexico, Central America and South America in North America. Historically, this region was mainly a colony of Latin-speaking countries such as Spain and Portugal, so it was called Latin America. In addition, the West Indies in the Caribbean have the same historical experience as Latin America, and in terms of geographical division, they are customarily placed in the same category as Latin America and the Caribbean. Geographically, the scope of Latin America and the Caribbean Sea starts from the easternmost tip of the South American continent in the east, Punta Blanco (34 46' W) in the northeast of Brazil, and reaches the border between Mexico and the United States on the Pacific coast in the west (117 09 w). It starts from the Colorado River border between Mexico and the United States in the north (32 42' north latitude) and ends at Cape Frowad (53 54' south latitude) at the southernmost tip of the South American continent. Tierra del Fuego across the strait of magellan from Cape Frowad.

The southernmost Cape Horn is located at the highest latitude in South America (55 59' south latitude). In other words, the land in Latin America spans the northern and southern hemispheres from about 32 north latitude to about 55 south latitude, but most of it is in the southern hemisphere. Its main part lies below the equatorial line, between the two tropic of cancer. The equatorial line is several thousand meters north of Quito, Ecuador, not far from Belem, Brazil, where the Amazon River is at its mouth. The Tropic of Capricorn runs through the northern suburb of Sao Paulo, the largest industrial zone in South America. The Tropic of Cancer runs through the Gulf of Mexico, at the latitude near Havana. It can be said that all countries in Latin America and the Caribbean except Uruguay are located or partially located between the two Tropics of Cancer.

topography

Latin America has a complex terrain, and Mexico is basically a grassland, called the Mexican Plateau. Central America is a refuge area. Most of the West Indies are also dominated by mountains. On the Pacific coast of western South America, the Andes stand tall. East of the Andes, plains and plateaus appear alternately, from north to south, Orinoco River Plain, Guyana Plateau, Amazon Plain, Brazil Plateau, La Plata Plain, Patagonia Plateau, etc.

geology

Latin America

Latin America is 1. 1 000 km long from north to south, with a total area of more than 20.7 million square kilometers, accounting for 13.8% of the world's land area, equivalent to three times that of the European continent, of which South America (including nearby islands) accounts for about179,700 square kilometers, accounting for the world's land area. The coastline of Latin America is 45,000 kilometers long, of which the coastline of South America is about 28,700 kilometers long, mostly the eroded coast consistent with the trend of mountains. The Pacific coast, especially the coast between south latitude 10 ~ 33, is a typical ascending fault coast. The steep cliffs are close to the deep sea, and there are almost no transitional coastal plains and offshore continental shelves. The Peruvian trench and the Chilean trench with a depth of more than 6000 meters are close to the coast, and some places are even less than 100 km. The Pacific coast of Colombia and Ecuador was invaded by seawater due to subsidence, and the coastline was tortuous, forming a big bay, of which Guayaquil Bay is the largest bay along the Pacific coast of South America. The southern coast of Chile belongs to the fjord type, with winding coast and mixed islands. The Pacific coast of Mexico and Central America is the outer belt of the Alps fold, and there are many volcanoes, which are part of the volcanic belt along the Pacific coast, and the coastal plain is relatively narrow. The east coast of Mexico and the south coast of the United States form the Gulf of Mexico. The coastal plain in this area extends all the way to Yucatan Peninsula, with a general width of 100 km to 500 km and a maximum width of 800 km. It is formed by the seabed recently exposed from the continental margin. In the western section of the Caribbean coast in the northern part of the South American continent, the north and south mountains intersect the coast vertically, and seawater invades along the longitudinal valleys between the mountains, forming inland bays, such as Darian Bay and Venezuelan Bay. The entire Atlantic coast, except the east coast of Brazil and a section of coast extending northward from Cabo Blanco, is basically a sunken coast with a broad continental shelf, especially a section of coast extending northwest from the mouth of the Amazon River and a section of Atlantic coast extending 30 ~ 40 south latitude. It is a straight and shallow valley that inundates the coast, and the estuary forms a trumpet-shaped triangular harbor. Some coasts, such as the south coast of Brazil, are closed by silt, forming lagoons.

islands

Yucatan peninsula

There are few peninsulas in Latin America, mainly Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico (10.8 million square kilometers), California Peninsula in northern Mexico (10.4 million square kilometers), Guajira Peninsula in northern South America (10.4 million square kilometers) and Taitao Peninsula in southern Chile (10.8 million square kilometers). There are many islands in Latin America, covering an area of about 390 thousand square kilometers, mainly distributed in the northern and eastern coastal areas of the Caribbean and the southern tip of the South American continent. The islands in the Caribbean are composed of the Greater Antilles, the Lesser Antilles and the Bahamas. The largest island is Cuba, located in the Greater Antilles, with an area of110.086 million square kilometers from the Florida Peninsula in the United States to the north. The coastal islands at the southern tip of the South American continent mainly include Tierra del Fuego, which faces the mainland across the strait of magellan, and the Malvinas Islands (Falkland Islands) located in the sea area between the South Atlantic and Antarctica. The latter is more than 500 kilometers away from Argentine territory in the west, and it is currently an island with sovereignty disputes between Argentina and Britain. At the mouth of the Amazon River, there is the world's largest Malajo Island, which is alluvial by rivers and covers an area of nearly 50,000 square kilometers. It is considered as the largest eco-tourism resort in the world, with lush plants. A local bird with red feathers is endemic to the region. In addition, some countries in Latin America have some archipelagos and islands in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans far from land.

Ilhad Marajo

In the Atlantic Ocean, there are Trinda Island and Martin-Vaz Island, which are about 0/100 kilometers away from Brazil, San Pedro-Sao Paulo Island, which is 900 kilometers away from Brazil, and Fernando de Noronha Island, which is 345 kilometers away from the easternmost part of Brazil. In the Pacific Ocean, there is Easter Island in Chile, which is the farthest island from the South American continent (3,700 kilometers from the coast of Chile). There are thousands of giant "Mao 'ai" stone statues with a respect of 90 tons each, as well as words that have not been deciphered so far, adding a confusing mystery to this island. Juan Fernandez Islands, 600 kilometers away from the mainland, of which Masidi Island is one of the oldest lands in America and enjoys a long reputation because it is said that it is the place where the story of Robinson Crusoe takes place. In addition, the important islands in the Pacific Ocean are Saragomez Island in Chile; 900 kilometers from the coast of Ecuador, just below the equator, there are Galapagos Islands, where a variety of complex climatic conditions and ups and downs of topography have formed a unique and diverse ecological environment and species, providing an important basis for Darwin's hypothesis of species evolution and species origin.

climate

In three-quarters of the tropical areas of Latin America, its climatic conditions are the most superior among all continents in the world. Judging from the temperature, the average annual temperature in most areas is above 20 degrees Celsius, which is warm and hot compared with other states. It is neither as cold as Asia and North America, nor as hot as Africa. In terms of humidity, the average annual precipitation of the whole continent is as high as 1.342 mm, which is 3.2 times that of Oceania and is the wettest continent in the world. The climate types are mainly tropical rain forest and savanna climate. The tropical rain forest climate is mainly distributed in the Amazon plain, and the tropical grassland is mainly distributed in the Brazilian plateau.

agricultural product

Many places in Latin America have a suitable climate. There is plenty of rain, fertile soil and rich agricultural products. The main food crops are rice, wheat and corn. Sugarcane, coffee, bananas and cotton are the most important cash crops. Sugar production accounts for about a quarter of the world's sugar production, and the Caribbean is called the "world sugar pot". Cuba is the country that exported the most to the Tang Dynasty in the world. The output of coffee has far surpassed that of Africa. More than 60% of the coffee in the international market comes from Latin America, and Brazil ranks first in the world in the production and export of coffee. Banana production is also very large, and the export volume accounts for about 80% of the world's total exports. Ecuador is the largest banana exporter in the world, and Honduras, Panama, Guatemala and other countries also export a lot. Cotton production is growing rapidly, and many countries export cotton, among which Brazil and Mexico export the most. In addition, there are vast forests and rich coastal fishery resources, and Peru's coastal waters are one of the world-famous fishing grounds.

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history

Indians are pioneers in South America. The plateau in the middle of the Andes is the birthplace of ancient civilization in South America. As early as around 10 century, the Incas, an Indian tribe living in this area, established the Inca Empire centered on Cuzco in southern Peru. At the peak of15th century, its territory started from northern Ecuador in the north and reached Talka in Chile in the south, with a population of about 900 ~120,000. At that time, agriculture was quite developed, with corn, beans, potatoes, cassava, quinoa and other crops planted, llamas and alpacas domesticated, and reached a high level in water conservancy irrigation projects, transportation routes, construction and handicrafts. Brilliant Inca culture is an important part of human material civilization and spiritual civilization. Colombia, southern Chile and Paraguay are relatively densely populated areas outside the Inca Empire.

/kloc-At the beginning of the 6th century, Portuguese and Spanish colonists began to invade. Portugal invaded Brazil, and Spain ruled a vast area of South America except Brazil. /kloc-At the end of 0/6, British, French and Dutch colonialists fought fiercely to carve up Guyana and some offshore islands. Since then, the whole continent has entered a period of 300 years of colonial rule. Spain has established three viceroy posts in South America: Peru (including Peru and Chile), Granada Novo (including Colombia, Ecuador and Venezuela) and La Plata (including Argentina, Bolivia, Paraguay and Uruguay), and Portugal has established a viceroy post in Brazil. Colonists used violence to promote all kinds of slavery, forced Indians to work in plantations or mines for free, and plundered land and gold and silver wealth in South America. Indian homes were destroyed, ancient civilizations were destroyed, and the population dropped sharply. In order to supplement the shortage of labor, the colonists imported a large number of black slaves from Africa. The mercantilist policy of the suzerain forced the colonial people to specialize in producing one or two kinds of agricultural and mineral products that could make huge profits in the international market, forming a single product system, which led to abnormal social and economic development. With the influx of immigrants, the social systems, customs, religious beliefs and cultural traditions of Spain, Portugal and other countries spread to all parts of South America, and Spanish and Portuguese gradually replaced Indian and became widely used official languages.

The people of South America have waged a long and heroic struggle for freedom and reconciliation. In the second half of the18th century, the colonial system maintained by the suzerain country became the biggest obstacle to social development. The development of this major contradiction pushed the people of South America onto the road of the war of independence. 18 10, the fire of armed uprisings spread all over South America. After more than ten years of bloody fighting, the colonial rule of Spain and Portugal was finally overthrown. By 1826, 10 national independent countries were established one after another, and only a few areas such as Guyana were still under colonial rule of Britain, France and the Netherlands.

After independence, the local white landlord class mastered the political power of most countries, practiced dictatorship, safeguarded land ownership and feudal exploitation of large estates, and the economic development was slow. Britain, the United States and other countries take advantage of this situation to turn the country into a place where they supply raw materials, dump goods and export capital. In particular, the United States, which rose at the end of 19, with its economic strength and favorable geographical position, squeezed out other countries and became the hegemon of South America. The people of South America have waged a long struggle against imperialism, hegemonism, colonialism and safeguarding national sovereignty. After World War II, the struggle became deeper and wider. South American countries took the lead in launching the struggle against the maritime hegemony of superpowers, set off a wave of nationalization with the recovery of their own resources as the main content, actively promoted regional economic integration, strived to establish a new international economic order, and made great achievements in developing the national economy.

1966 and 1975, the former British Guiana and Dutch Guiana gained independence from colonial rule. At present, there are 12 independent countries in South America except French Guiana and Malvinas Islands (Falkland Islands) disputed by Britain and Argentina. They are all developing countries.

Latin America

Latin America used to be the place where Indians worked and lived. Since Spanish and Portuguese adventurers set foot in Latin America in 1492, they have quickly become colonies of these two countries. /kloc-At the end of the 6th century, Britain, France, the Netherlands and other countries seized some islands of the West Indies, the edge of the South American continent and a few areas of the Central American isthmus from Spain. /kloc-At the beginning of the 9th century, Spain and Portugal successively declared their independence. In the past decade, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados, Guyana, Bahamas, Grenada, Suriname, Dominica, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent, the Grenadines, Belize, Antigua and Barbuda have also got rid of the rule of Britain and the Netherlands and declared their independence. At present, there are more than a dozen colonies ruled by Britain, America, France and Holland. Latin American countries that gained independence from Spanish and Portuguese colonial rule were later controlled and plundered by the United States, Britain and other countries. Especially the United States, from 1946 to 1969, gained $23.5 billion from Latin America. Latin American countries have waged a long struggle to safeguard national sovereignty, protect their own resources and develop their national economy. Many countries have also announced that they will exercise jurisdiction over 200 miles of coastal waters, and oppose the robbery of superpowers trying to dominate the oceans and plunder the resources of other countries.

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natural resource

The main part of Latin America is located on both sides of the low latitude and equatorial line, and 80% of the region is located in the tropics and subtropics, with mild climate, small temperature difference, abundant rainfall and relatively uniform seasonal distribution. Superior geographical location and climatic conditions provide abundant natural resources for Latin America, and also provide good conditions for the growth and reproduction of animals and plants. The average elevation in Latin America is only 600 meters, with plateaus, hills and mountains above 300 meters accounting for 40% of the total area, and plains below 300 meters accounting for 60%, especially in the vast area east of the Andes in South America, which is vast and relatively flat, providing the possibility for the development of the Amazon River system and many rivers with the longest flow, the widest basin and the largest flow in the world.

forestry

Amazon Rainforest

Latin America is rich in forestry resources and a continent with a large forest coverage. South America's forest area is 9.2 million square kilometers, accounting for more than 50% of the total area of the mainland and about 23% of the world's forest area. The total forest area of Mexico, Central America and Caribbean Islands is about 700,000 square kilometers. The tropical rain forest in this area is the largest and best preserved in the world, with a total area of 5.5 million square kilometers, of which 3.3 million square kilometers are in Brazil, accounting for 60% of the tropical rain forest area in this area, and the remaining 40% are distributed in French Guiana, Suriname, Guyana, Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia. Latin America is also rich in animal and plant resources. According to statistics, the species of plants and animals in the Amazon rainforest are unique in the world, with as many as 86,000 to 90,000 species of plants alone. There are many edible, medicinal and economic resources, such as mahogany, sandalwood, mahogany, balsam wood, snake Sang Mu, cinnamon, cinchona and various coconut and palm trees. Some valuable economic forests, such as spruce and cedar, grow in Andes and Central America. There are also salt-tolerant mangroves and tannin extract trees in coastal areas. Waterlogging-tolerant trees and other plants grow on the floodplain.

animal

Various types of climatic conditions and vegetation in Latin America provide favorable conditions for the growth and reproduction of animals, forming a rich and independent new tropical zone for animals. Amazon rain forest is the region with the richest vertebrates in the world, and mammals, amphibians and reptiles are both rich and have regional characteristics. The species of birds are also the richest in the world, with 1600 species in Brazil alone.

commercial crop

Latin America has great potential for developing food crops and cash crops. The cultivated land area in the whole region is 65.438+0.6 billion hectares, accounting for about 7.7% of the total area; The area of land suitable for farming is 570 million hectares. In Latin America, corn, wheat, rice, beans and other food crops as well as cash crops, such as sugarcane, bananas, cocoa, cotton, citrus and coffee, are widely planted. Among them, Brazil's coffee, banana and cassava production ranks 1, soybean production ranks second and cocoa production ranks third. South America has a large area of grassland and pasture, with grassland area of about 440 million hectares, accounting for about 25% of the total area of the whole continent, exceeding 14% of the total grassland area of the world, which is suitable for large-scale development of animal husbandry. Argentina's pasture area is 65.438+0.4 billion hectares. Pampas grassland is a famous natural pasture in Latin America, which is famous for producing a large number of high-quality beef and mutton.

waterpower

There are many rivers in Latin America, criss-crossing, and the big rivers are mainly distributed in South America. In terms of basin area, 84% rivers flow into the Atlantic Ocean, 65,438+065,438+0% rivers flow into the Pacific Ocean, and the remaining 5% rivers are inland rivers. Latin America is rich in precipitation, with the average annual precipitation above 1 000 mm, accounting for 70% of the mainland area; There is also snow water from the Andes, which is rich in hydraulic resources. It is estimated that the hydraulic reserves are 467 million kilowatts, accounting for 16.9% of the world's hydraulic reserves, and the hydraulic resources in Brazil alone are 21300 million kilowatts. The developed water resources in Latin America account for about 3.6% of the world's water resources, which are concentrated in some main tributaries of the Amazon River, such as parana river, San Francisco River and Orinoco River.

mineral

Latin America is rich in mineral resources, most of which are more than 20 kinds of basic mineral resources needed by modern industry, and some mineral reserves rank among the top in the world. For example, Mexico's proven oil reserves reached 654.38+003 billion tons, and Venezuela's oil reserves exceeded 8 billion tons, both of which ranked among the top in the world. The proven natural gas reserves in Latin America are about 3 trillion cubic meters, mainly distributed in Mexico and Argentina. Iron ore reserves are about1000 billion tons, and Brazil ranks first in the world in terms of iron ore reserves and second in terms of output and export. Copper reserves are about 6,543.8+billion tons, ranking first in all continents, among which Chile ranks second in the world and Peru ranks fourth in the world. The coal reserves are about 50 billion tons, mainly distributed in Colombia and Brazil. The coal reserves in Colombia alone are as high as 24 billion tons. Besides, beryllium, tantalum and niobium in Brazil, bauxite in Suriname and Jamaica, silver and sulfur in Mexico, saltpeter in Chile, nickel in Cuba and emeralds in Colombia are all the best in the world.

seafood

Latin America and the Caribbean have a long coastline, surrounded by two oceans from east to west, facing the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean, and rich in fishery resources. There are many natural fishing grounds, such as the coastal areas of Peru and Chile, the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean, the coastal areas of Brazil and the South Atlantic. These are all important fishing grounds in the world, and they are rich in sardines, tuna, bass, mackerel, cod and many kinds of shrimp. The catch is among the highest in the world. In addition, inland rivers in Latin America are rich in freshwater fish, with more than 2,500 to 3,000 species.