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Chapter 9
Chapter 9 Vocabulary
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Conquistadors | Name for the Spanish explores 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 grassland region in Argentina and Uruguay |
| Cays | A small, low island or coral reef |
| Coral | The rock like skeletons of 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 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 undermost layer of a forest where tree branches meet |
| Mestizos | A person of mixed European and Native American heritage |
| Mulattoes | A person of mixed African and European ancestry |
| 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 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 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 the 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 collapse. |
| 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 money 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 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, that assembles goods for export. |