Term | Definition |
conquistadors | name for the spanish explorers who claimed land in the americas for Spain. |
cultural convergence | the contact and interaction of one culture with another. |
caudillos | A latin american military dictator. |
pampas | a grasslands region in argentina and uruguay. |
cays | a small low islan dor coral reef. |
coral | the rocklike skeletons of tiny sea animals. |
tropical storms | a storm with winds of at least 39 miles per hour. |
hurricanes | a destructive tropical storm that forms over the atlantic ocean, usually in lae 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. |
Mestizos | a person of mixed european and native american heritage |
mulattoes | a person of mixed african and european ancestry. |
Canopy | the uppermost layer of a forest where tree branches meet. |
market economy | an 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 year, divided by the countries total population. |
command economy | an economic system which is controlled by a single central government. |
traditional economy | an economic system in which families produce goods and services for their own use with little surplus and exchange of goods alson known as a substance economy. |
Plateau | an area of high flat land. |
peninsula | a strip of land that juts out into a ocean. |
irrigation | the watering of farmland with water drawn from reservoirs or rivers. |
haciendas | 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. |
ejidos | farmland owned collectivelly by members of a rural community. |
subsistience farming | farming that provides only enough for the needs of a family or a village. |
latifundios | a large commercial farm owned by a private individual or a farming company. |
cash crops | a farm crop grown for sale and profit. |
migrant workers | 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 along the united states canada and nexico. |
maquiladoras | a factory in mexico along the united states border that assembles goods for export. |