Latin America, Africa and North America: Key Geography, Climate and Food Security Facts
Capitals of Latin America and Africa
Guatemala: Guatemala City (Indigenous majority)
El Salvador: San Salvador (Pacific coast only)
Honduras: Tegucigalpa (hard to spell; inland)
Nicaragua: Managua (proposed rival canal route)
Costa Rica: San José (European-descent majority)
Panama: Panama City (canal's Pacific end)
Cuba: Havana (largest Caribbean island, Greater Antilles)
Brazil: Brasília (forward capital, 1960; not Rio or São Paulo)
Argentina: Buenos Aires (on the Río de la Plata)
Colombia: Bogotá (high in the Andes, tierra fría)
Ecuador: Quito (high in the Andes, near the equator)
Peru: Lima (on the coast, where the Atacama desert begins)
Bolivia: La Paz (use La Paz; Sucre is the constitutional capital; on the Altiplano)
Chile: Santiago (central valley)
Uruguay: Montevideo (across the Río de la Plata from Buenos Aires)
Paraguay: Asunción (landlocked, on the Paraguay River)
Venezuela: Caracas (near the Caribbean coast)
Kenya: Nairobi ("Dakar is to Senegal as Nairobi is to Kenya")
Ghana: Accra (coast; cacao and gold)
South Africa: Pretoria (administrative capital; Cape Town is a separate city on the list)
Senegal: Dakar (westernmost point of Africa)
Nigeria: Abuja (forward capital, 1991; not Lagos)
Mozambique: Maputo (far south; Portuguese-speaking)
Tanzania: Dodoma (not Dar es Salaam)
DRC: Kinshasa (on the Congo River, facing Brazzaville)
Zimbabwe: Harare (landlocked)
Côte d'Ivoire: Yamoussoukro (not Abidjan)
Uganda: Kampala (on Lake Victoria)
Malawi: Lilongwe (landlocked, next to Lake Malawi)
Angola: Luanda (has a coast; Portuguese-speaking)
Zambia: Lusaka (landlocked)
Botswana: Gaborone (diamonds; Okavango)
Namibia: Windhoek (Caprivi Strip; uranium)
Ethiopia: Addis Ababa (Horn of Africa; landlocked)
North America
Physical Geography and Climate
Climate: diverse; Arctic and Gulf air collide, producing extreme weather. The 100th meridian marks the 20-inch isohyet: the humid east supports rain-fed farming, while the dry west relies on irrigation and the Ogallala Aquifer. Orographic rainfall: windward slopes are wet; leeward slopes lie in a rain shadow (Great Basin).
Landforms: Rockies, Canadian Shield, Appalachians, Great Plains, Great Lakes, Mississippi–Missouri. Glaciation formed the Great Lakes and fertile Midwest soils. Tectonics: the active West Coast experiences earthquakes and volcanoes.
Agriculture and Climate Change
Agriculture is dominated by large farms; the Midwest and Great Plains produce corn, soy, wheat and cattle. Climate change brings heatwaves, northward crop shifts, pests, erosion and water shortages; CO₂ fertilization may partly offset losses.
Urbanization
Urban sprawl creates car dependence, farmland loss, edge cities, and inner-city decline and revival. The Megalopolis (BosWash) is the Boston–Washington urban corridor. Fall Line cities sit at the Piedmont–Coastal Plain boundary, where waterfalls stopped navigation and powered mills.
Regions and Migration
Formal regions have measurable boundaries (Census). Vernacular regions reflect perceived identity (the South, the Bible Belt). The Bible Belt name persists despite growing religious diversity. Forced migration includes the Middle Passage and the Trail of Tears. The Great Migration moved African Americans from the South to Northern cities. The Bracero Program (1942–64) brought temporary Mexican agricultural and railroad workers. Immigration in 2024 was similar in share to 1890.
Canada and Devolution
Indigenous groups include First Nations, Métis and Inuit. Canada is a multinational state, with multiple nations within one state. Devolution transfers power from the central government to regions, as seen in Quebec separatism. A multi-state nation spans borders (Tohono O'odham, Mohawk). Cahokia was a major pre-Columbian Mississippian city.
Energy and the Arctic
The US is a major oil producer. Arctic ice melt opens resources and shipping routes and increases geopolitical competition.
Middle America
Physical Geography
Middle America comprises Mexico, seven Central American countries and the Caribbean. Landforms include the Mexican Plateau, the volcanic axis, the Yucatán and coastal lowlands. Tectonics: the active Pacific margin causes earthquakes and volcanoes. Climates are A (tropical lowlands), B (dry northern Mexico) and H (mountainous highlands). Altitudinal zonation: as elevation rises, temperature falls (lapse rate), producing different crops and vegetation.
Hurricanes
Tropical cyclones are most common in late summer and fall, and the Caribbean is highly exposed. They form over warm ocean water (≥26°C) when an ITCZ disturbance creates low pressure.
Colonial History and Culture
Mainland: Spanish rule, haciendas, and Indigenous and mestizo populations. Rimland: Caribbean plantations, enslaved African labor, and multiple colonial powers. Mestizos are dominant overall; Indigenous populations are concentrated in Guatemala, European descendants in Costa Rica, and Afro-Caribbean populations in the Caribbean. The Columbian Exchange (1492) moved crops, animals and diseases. The Americas gave Europe maize, potatoes and tomatoes; Europe gave the Americas horses, cattle and diseases. The Irish Famine resulted from reliance on one potato variety, causing crop failure, famine and mass emigration.
Central America
Economies rely on bananas, coffee and clothing assembly (CAFTA-DR). Belize was a former British colony (independent 1981), and Guatemala has a territorial dispute over it. The Panama Canal: the US supported Panama's separation from Colombia; Panama assumed control in 1999 and expanded the canal in 2016. It is threatened by drought. Alternatives include Nicaragua canal proposals and Mexico's Isthmus of Tehuantepec rail corridor.
Caribbean
The Greater Antilles include Cuba, Hispaniola (Haiti and the Dominican Republic), Jamaica and Puerto Rico. The Lesser Antilles form a smaller island arc. Colonial ties include French (Guadeloupe), Dutch (ABC islands) and British (BVI) influences. The economy relies on tourism, offshore banking and agriculture.
South America and the Amazon
Physical Geography
South America has 13 territories: nine Spanish-speaking countries, Brazil (Portuguese) and three others (Guyana, Suriname, French Guiana). The Andes form a subduction zone that causes earthquakes and volcanoes. Other uplands include the Brazilian and Guiana Highlands. Major rivers include the Amazon, Negro, Orinoco and Paraná/La Plata. The Atacama Desert is extremely dry due to the cold Humboldt Current and the Andes rain shadow. The Humboldt Current is cold and flows north along Peru; the Brazil Current is warm.
El Niño (ENSO)
El Niño is an unusual warming of eastern Pacific waters off Peru and Ecuador. Effects include heavy coastal rain and flooding, and drought in parts of South America and southern Africa.
Land and Urbanization
Latifundia are large estates; minifundia are small peasant farms. Agrarian reform redistributes land to farmers. Urbanization is about 80–82%, with rural-to-urban migration. The Latin American city model runs from the CBD through an elite commercial spine to poorer periphery and squatter settlements. Catholic dominance is declining while Evangelical and Pentecostal growth expands.
Four Regions
Caribbean North: Venezuela (oil), Colombia (mixed economy), and the Guianas (non-Iberian colonial history). Andean West: Peru, Ecuador and Bolivia, with Inca heritage, Quechua language and potatoes. Southern Cone: Chile, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay, with temperate climates, European immigration and agricultural exports. Brazil: Portuguese-speaking, with a major industrial and agricultural economy.
Mining and Extraction
Potosí (Bolivia) was a major Spanish colonial silver-mining center, illustrating extractive colonialism. Lithium extraction from salt flats uses large amounts of water, creating risks for ecosystems and Indigenous communities. Colonial silver and modern lithium show a continuing pattern of resource extraction.
Mexico and Brazil
Mexico
Geography: 31 states plus Mexico City; population is concentrated centrally; the Sierra Madre Oriental and Occidental; few navigable interior rivers. Cultural layers run from Indigenous to Spanish to modern. Maize was domesticated in Mexico, and small farmers preserve its genetic diversity. Industry: maquiladoras are border assembly factories; NAFTA became USMCA.
Migration and Remittances
Push factors encourage departure; pull factors are the attractions of destinations. Remittances are money migrants send home, a major economic force (about $62B annually in Mexico, per lecture). In 2026, border crossings declined sharply.
Brazil
Brazil is an upper-middle-income economy, industrialized and a major agricultural exporter (soybeans). Cities include São Paulo, Rio and Belo Horizonte, and it is highly urbanized (about 80%). Inequality is visible, with favelas alongside wealthy neighborhoods. Brazil has five regions: North, Northeast, Central-West, Southeast and South. The North (Amazon) contrasts with the more developed industrial and agricultural South. The Belo Monte Dam is a major hydroelectric project on the Xingu River. The Cerrado savanna has been transformed by soybean cultivation.
The Amazon
The Amazon is flat, extremely wet (over 80–100 inches a year) and biodiverse; bluffs are important for settlements. Development and conservation compete: the forest is a natural ecosystem and an economic resource. Deforestation follows a sequence from roads to cattle ranching to soybean expansion. The pre-Columbian Amazon held complex Indigenous societies that shaped the forests; it was not untouched wilderness. Terra preta (ADE) is human-created fertile soil made with charcoal and organic waste (biochar) that retains nutrients and moisture. Indigenous-managed cultural forests include orchards, açaí agroforestry, earthworks and settlements. Population declined by about 90% after European contact, causing loss of cultural continuity. Exaggerating past human impacts could be used to justify present deforestation. Biocultural conservation protects both biodiversity and Indigenous culture and land management. Indigenous territories cover about 20% of the Brazilian Amazon and are major barriers to deforestation.
Sub-Saharan Africa
Physical Geography
Africa is a high plateau surrounded by escarpments, so waterfalls limit inland river navigation. The East African Rift is a diverging plate boundary that created rift lakes; East Africa is the origin of Homo sapiens. Mt. Kenya and Kilimanjaro have snow despite their equatorial location. The Sahel is a semi-arid region south of the Sahara facing drought and desertification; sorghum and millet are drought-resistant crops. El Niño causes drought and crop failure in southern Africa. The Bab al-Mandeb is a Red Sea–Gulf of Aden shipping chokepoint.
Colonial History
Precolonial empires included Ghana, Mali, Songhai, Great Zimbabwe and Aksum. The Berlin Conference (1884–85) saw European powers partition Africa without African participation, beginning the Scramble for Africa. The colonial legacy includes resource extraction, imposed governance, altered land and labor systems, and arbitrary borders that created ethnic divisions and governance problems. Ethiopia and Liberia remained independent in 1913. The Maasai span multiple states (Kenya and Tanzania). South Sudan is the newest country (2011).
Population and Urbanization
The population is about 1.2 billion, projected to reach about 2 billion by 2050; the total fertility rate is about 4.4 (replacement is 2.1), per lecture. A wide-base population pyramid indicates a young, rapidly growing population. HIV/AIDS has a major impact on life expectancy, especially in southern Africa. Urbanization is about 45% and rising rapidly, with informal settlements. In Kibera (Nairobi), sack and berm farming produces food and builds social capital.
Economy
Tourism centers on safaris and game parks, raising conservation versus local livelihood tensions. In the Maasai Mara, pastoralists were displaced by protected areas, though research shows cattle and wildlife can coexist. Minerals include cobalt (DRC), manganese and chromium (South Africa), diamonds (Botswana), gold (Ghana) and uranium (Namibia and Niger). China's Belt and Road Initiative funds infrastructure such as roads and railways, and manufacturing. Farm exports include coffee (East Africa), cacao (Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire) and cut flowers (Kenya).
Lecture 15: Food Security and Agroecology
Food Security
The FAO defines food security as consistent physical and economic access to sufficient, safe, nutritious food. It has four pillars: availability (sufficient food supply), access (ability to afford or obtain food), utilization (nutrition, safety, sanitation and healthcare), and stability (the other three maintained over time). Sub-Saharan Africa has severe food insecurity and remains a major concern through 2030.
Two Approaches to Agriculture
The New Green Revolution (NGR) uses hybrid seeds, synthetic fertilizers, mechanization and precision agriculture, backed by AGRA, Gates and Rockefeller. It can increase yields and profits but creates dependence on expensive inputs and disadvantages poorer farmers.
Agroecology uses composting, intercropping, crop diversification and farmer participation. It combines ecological sustainability with social justice and supports local knowledge and resilience.
NGR Research and Case Studies
A Kansanga review of 39 studies found 60.5% negative, 31.5% positive and 8% mixed outcomes. In Rwanda, the NGR replaced affordable local adaptations with costly inputs, increasing the vulnerability of poor farmers. In northern Ghana, mechanization led to removal of shea and dawadawa trees, causing environmental damage and loss of women's income. Political ecology shows that agricultural policies have unequal effects depending on wealth, gender and power.
Agroecology in Malawi
Methods include compost, intercropping, diversification, farmer-to-farmer learning and recipe days. Results include improved production and dietary diversity, and peer training increased long-term adoption of sustainable farming. Moseley argues agroecology is less neocolonial because it prioritizes African knowledge and autonomy over imported technologies.
Post-Harvest Food Loss
Losses are about 20% in Sub-Saharan Africa and 24% in West Africa, compared with about 13% globally (lecture figures). Fruits and vegetables lose 30–40%, largely due to lack of cold storage. A Ghana project with solar-powered cold storage lowers temperatures and may reduce spoilage (preliminary findings).
Readings: North America
American agriculture is dominated by large industrial farms in the Midwest, Great Plains (corn, soy, wheat, cattle), California Central Valley and South. The Bible Belt is a vernacular region in the South; the label persists despite declining religiosity, so regional identities lag behind reality. Fall Line cities sit at the Piedmont–Coastal Plain boundary, where waterfalls stopped navigation and powered mills, helping cities like Washington and Richmond grow. Cahokia was a major pre-Columbian Mississippian mound city near St. Louis, evidence of complex Indigenous societies. The Tohono O'odham are a multi-state Indigenous nation (US and Mexico); the border wall divides communities, damages sacred sites and threatens sovereignty.
Readings: Middle America
Latin America was popularized by 19th-century France to emphasize Romance languages, but the term overlooks Indigenous and African identities and non-Latin areas. The Panama Canal depends on Gatún Lake rainwater; El Niño drought reduces ships and cargo loads, disrupting global trade. The migration slowdown (2026) saw sharp declines in US–Mexico crossings linked to stricter US border policies, affecting migration and remittances.
Readings: South America
El Niño (ENSO) causes unusual eastern Pacific warming, bringing coastal floods to Peru and Ecuador and drought to some interior regions and southern Africa, disrupting farming and fisheries. The Treaty of Tordesillas (1494) divided territorial claims between Spain and Portugal, making Brazil Portuguese-speaking while most other South American countries are Spanish-speaking. Evangelical growth expands Evangelical and Pentecostal churches in historically Catholic Latin America, driving religious and political change.
Readings: Sub-Saharan Africa
The Scramble for Africa was the European partition at the Berlin Conference (1884–85) without African participation; arbitrary borders divided ethnic groups. The baobab is a drought-resistant Sahel tree providing food and medicine, threatened by climate change, and illustrates traditional ecological knowledge (TEK). Chinese investment through the BRI funds infrastructure and manufacturing (Ethiopia, Rwanda), creating jobs but raising concerns about debt and dependence. In the Maasai and wildlife case, conservation excludes pastoralists to create "wild" tourist landscapes, though research shows cattle and wildlife can coexist. Moseley et al. argue agroecology is less neocolonial: local knowledge, crop diversity and farmer autonomy versus expensive imported inputs and dependence.
Concept Glossary
Political Geography
Devolution transfers power from central government to regions, as in Quebec separatism. South Sudan's independence illustrates the more extreme outcome of secession. A multinational state contains multiple nations within one state (Canada: English, French and Indigenous nations). A multi-state nation spans borders (Tohono O'odham across the US and Mexico; Maasai across Kenya and Tanzania). Colonialism is direct foreign political and economic control (European rule in Africa and Latin America). Neocolonialism is indirect foreign control through economics, debt, trade or aid (input-dependent agriculture, foreign investment). The Scramble for Africa was the European partition at Berlin (1884–85), creating arbitrary borders and ethnic divisions. A forward capital is a relocated or planned capital to encourage regional development (Brasília, Abuja).
Urbanization and Population
Urbanization is the increasing urban share of population: about 80% in North and Latin America, and about 45% in Sub-Saharan Africa. A megalopolis is a connected metropolitan corridor (BosWash). Urban sprawl is low-density outward city growth, creating car dependence, farmland loss and edge cities. Squatter settlements are informal housing, often with limited services (Kibera, Brazilian favelas). Fall Line cities sit at the Piedmont–Coastal Plain transition, where waterfalls stopped boats and powered mills. Urban agriculture is city food production (Kibera sack gardens provide food and social capital). Migration is movement within or across countries, such as the Great Migration (US) and Mexico to US. Remittances are money migrants send home (Mexico about $62B per year, per lecture). TFR (total fertility rate) is average births per woman; replacement is about 2.1, and Sub-Saharan Africa is about 4.4 (lecture figures). A population pyramid shows age and sex structure: a wide base means a young, growing population (Sub-Saharan Africa), while a column shape means slower growth and aging (US and Canada).
Physical Geography and Environment
Orographic rainfall results from mountain uplift, producing windward rain and leeward rain shadows (Pacific Northwest and Great Basin; Andes and Atacama). Hurricanes are tropical cyclones fueled by warm ocean water (about 26°C or higher); the Caribbean is highly exposed. El Niño (ENSO) is warming of the equatorial Pacific, causing floods in Peru and Ecuador, drought in parts of southern Africa and Panama Canal water shortages. The Tropics lie between 23.5°N and 23.5°S and include the Amazon, Central America and much of Sub-Saharan Africa. Deforestation is forest clearing; in the Amazon, roads lead to cattle and then soybeans. Park–people conflict occurs when conservation restricts local livelihoods (Maasai Mara), contrasting with Indigenous forest protection in the Amazon. TEK (traditional ecological knowledge) is environmental knowledge accumulated over generations (baobab, terra preta, cultural forests). Agroecology is ecologically sustainable and socially just farming through compost, crop diversity, local knowledge and farmer control.
Vertical Zonation
The lapse rate is the temperature drop of about 6.5°C per 1,000 m of elevation gain. Tierra helada (above 3,600 m) is freezing, used for llama and alpaca grazing. Tierra fría (1,800–3,600 m) is cool, growing potatoes, wheat and barley. Tierra templada (900–1,800 m) is mild, growing coffee and maize. Tierra caliente (0–900 m) is hot, growing bananas, sugarcane and cacao.
Köppen Climate Types
A = Tropical: Amazon, Yucatán, Congo. B = Arid: Atacama, Sahara, northern Mexico. C = Moderate: US Southeast, Southern Cone, South African coast. D = Continental: US Midwest and Northeast, southern Canada. E = Polar: Canadian Arctic, Greenland. H = Highland: Andes, Ethiopian Highlands, Kilimanjaro.