Term | Definition |
Conquistador | Name for the Spanish explorers who claimed land in the Americas for Spain. |
Cultural Convergence | The contact and interaction of one culture with another. |
Caudillo | A Latin American military dictator |
Pampas | A grassland region in Argentina and Uruguay. |
Cay | A small, low island or coral reef. |
Coral | The rock like skeletons of tiny sea animals. |
Tropical Storm | A storm with winds of at least 39 miles per hour. |
Hurricane | A destructive tropical storm that forms over the Atlantic Ocean, usually in late summer and early fall, with winds of at least 74 Miles per hour. |
El Nino | A warm ocean current off South Americas northwestern coast that influences global weather patterns. |
Canopy | The uppermost layer of a forest where tree branches meet. |
Mestizo | A person of mixed European and Native American heritage. |
Mulatto | A person of mixed African and European ancestry. |
Market Economy | A economic system in which decisions about production price, and other economic factors are determined by the law of supply and demand. |
GDP Per Capita | The total value of goods and services produced within a country in a years, divided by the country's total population. |
Command Economy | An economic system that is controlled by a single central government. |
Traditional Economy | An economic system in which families produce goods and service for their own use, with little surplus and exchange of goods; also known as a subsistence economy. |
Plateau | A area of high, of flat land. |
Peninsula | A strip of land that juts out into an ocean. |
Irrigation | The watering of farmland with waters drawn from reservoirs or rivers. |
Sinkhole | A hole formed when limestone is dissolved causing the land above to collapse. |
Hacienda | A large Spanish-owned estate in the Americas, often run as a farm or a cattle ranch. |
Land Distribution | A policy by which is taken from those who own large amounts and redistributed to those who have little or none. |
Ejido | Farmland owned collectively by members of a rural community. |
Subsistence Farming | Farming that provides only enough for the needs of a family or a village. |
Latifundio | A large commercial farm owned by a private individual or a farming company. |
Cash Crop | A farm crop grown for sale and profit. |
Migrant Worker | A worker who travels from place to place, working where extra help is needed to cultivate or harvest crops. |
NAFTA | North America Free Trade Agreement, which phased out trade barriers among the United States, Canada, and Mexico. |
Maquiladora | A factory in Mexico along the United States border, |