9781572309098

This comprehensive text introduces key geographical concepts while providing an incisive, timely, and highly informative primer on Latin America. Thematic chapters trace the development of the region from the pre-Hispanic era to the present, while regional chapters reveal the diversity of its constituent people and places. Coverage includes cultural history; environment and physical geography; land use, agriculture, and urbanization; social and economic processes; and the Latin American diaspora. Enhancing the utility of the text are quick-reference tables and illustrative vignettes, over 160 photographs and maps, and suggestions for further reading at the end of each chapter.

Robert B. Kent is Chair and Professor of Geography and Planning at the University of Akron. He earned a BA and MA from the University of California, Davis, and a PhD from Syracuse University. His research and publications have focused broadly on the human geography of Latin America, especially the Andes and Central America, and on the evolving geography of Latin Americans in the United States. He has traveled, lived, and worked throughout Latin America, including 3 years as an urban and regional planner in Peru for the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), and has worked as a consultant for USAID in Bolivia on numerous occasions. He has been a Fulbright Scholar at the Universidad Nacional de San Juan in San Juan, Argentina, and at the Universidad Pedag=gica Nacional in Tegucigalpa, Honduras. He is a past chair of the Conference of Latin Americanist Geographers and a past councillor and treasurer of the Association of American Geographers. Dr. Kent is the editor of <I>Region in Transition: An Economic and Social Atlas of Northeast Ohio<I*> and a coeditor of <I>Regional Development and Planning for the 21st Century<I*>, and he has published numerous articles and book chapters on regional development, urban planning, cartography, GIS, and cultural geography.

Introduction

1

(7)

Latin America as a Culture Region

8

(29)

The Environment

37

(18)

The Hispanic Caribbean

55

(12)

Peopling Latin America to 1820

67

(24)

The Mesa Central of Mexico

91

(22)

Early Cities and Urban Development

113

(17)

The Andes

130

(24)

Migration, Population Change, and Race

154

(25)

The Central Valley of Chile

179

(8)

The Central American Highlands

187

(19)

Land and People since the Conquest

206

(30)

Brazil's Atlantic Coastal Plain

236

(10)

Contemporary Cities and Urban Patterns

246

(25)

The Southern Brazilian Highlands

271

(21)

Latin American Development in Perspective

292

(16)

The Pampa

308

(14)

Latin America in the World Economy

322

(26)

The Amazon Basin

348

(17)

The Latin American Diaspora

365

(25)

Conclusion

390

(6)

Chapter Notes and Additional Sources

396

(12)

Index

408

(14)

About the Author

422

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Latin America, First Edition Regions and People

Latin America, First Edition Regions and People

1572309091

Summary

Author Biography

Table of Contents

Supplemental Materials