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Ch. 9&10 Vocab
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Conquistador | name for the Spanish explorers who claimed land in the Americas for Spain |
| Cultural Convergence | the restriction of a culture from outside influences |
| Caudillo | a Latin American military dictator |
| Pampas | a grasslands 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 wit winds of atleast 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 America's 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 |
| GDP per capita | the total value of goods and services produced within a country in a year, divided by the country's total population |
| Market Economy | an economic system in which decisions about production, price, and other economic factors are determined by the law of supply and demand |
| Command Economy | an economic system that is controlled by a single central government |
| Traditional Economy | an economic systtem in which families produce goods and services for their own use, with little surplus and exchange of goods; also known as subsistence economy |
| Plateau | an area of high flat land. |
| Peninsula | a strip of land that juts out into an ocean |
| Irrigation | the watering of farmland with water drawn from reservoirs or rivers |
| Sinkhole | a hole formed when limestone is dissolved causing the land above to collaps |
| Hacienda | a large Spanish-owned estate in the Americas, often run as a farm or a cattle ranch |
| Land Redistribution | a policy by which land 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 comunity |
| Subsistence Farming | farming that provides only enough for the needs of a family or 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 american 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, that assembles goods for export |