Chapter 8 assessment

Chapter 8, Section 1

1. How do geographers divide the large region that is known as Latin America? Geographers divide this large region up by where the region is located. Also they divide Latin America up by three sub-regions-Middle America (Mexico to Panama), the Caribbean, and South America.

2. What natural resources make Latin America an economically important region? The resources that make Latin America an economically important region are oil and natural gas, gold, silver, emeralds, copper, and bauxite (the main source of aluminum). Latin America has many different varieties of minerals, that are important to the rest of the world.

Creative Writing: The people of Latin America benefit greatly from their water systems. Write a paragraph that describes how the people use the region’s rivers. There are many different rivers in Latin America. For example, The people of the United States use the Rio Grande as a border between the two countries. Also, sailors use the Panama Canal to travel easily to the two oceans without going around the southern part of South America. Most of Parana, Paraguay, and Uruguay Rivers form the second largest river system of South America. It drains the eastern half of South America, and also provide hydroelectric power. The largest water system in South America is the Amazon River, ts the world's second largest river. It travels across 6,400km of land, and has more than ten times the water volume of the Mississippi River. People travel across these rivers year round, transporting goods and people.

Chapter 8, Section 2

1. Which climate regions are represented in Latin America? The different climates that are shown in Latin America are tropical wet, tropical dry, humid subtropical, and dry climates. Theses different climates depend on where the area is.

2. How do Latin America’s location and landforms affect climates even within particular regions? In Latin America you may be inside the Tropics, but the climate is still affected by the elevation. For example, if your in the tropics you would expect it to be nice, sunny, and warm, but if you are at an elevation of 8,000 feet the temperature will probably be 60degrees.

Creative Writing: Pretend you are on a hiking tour of one of the climate regions of Latin America. In the form of a journal entry, write about the area you are hiking by describing its vegetation and climate. Dear Journal,
What a day its been. The hike is dangerous, but exhilarating. The guide said we are around 12,000 feet. He only knows a certain amount of English so hes mostly quite during the day, which lets me think a lot. It puzzles me that as we climb higher and higher there is less and less trees. Also the weather has started to get cooler, thank goodness that I brought an extra pair of socks. I should get a good nights sleep before I hike tomorrow.
-Devin