Exploring Our World: Latin America and Canada, Europe, and Australia © 2012 Georgia Edition

Chapter 4: Physical Geography of Latin America

Chapter Overviews

Latin America stretches from Mexico in North America to the southernmost tip of South America. Geographers divide the region of Latin America into three subregions. The subregions are Middle America, which includes Mexico and the countries of Central America; the islands of the Caribbean; and South America. Rugged mountain ranges, thick tropical forests, meandering river systems, and vast grasslands are found in Latin America. Mexico has high mountain ranges along its eastern and western coasts with a high plateau between; located where four tectonic plates meet, the country has active volcanoes and frequent earthquakes. Some islands of the Caribbean were also formed by volcanoes, some of which are still active. The Andes mountain ranges stretch along the Pacific coast of South America for about 5,500 miles (8,851 km). The Amazon Basin of South America is east of the Andes. It contains the Amazon River and the world's largest rain forest.

The region is rich in natural resources including fresh water, minerals such as bauxite and gold, fertile soil, timber, oil, and natural gas. However, the physical geography of the land, political instability, lack of infrastructure, and a shortage of major highway systems in some areas of the region have made the economic development of those resources difficult.

Since most of Latin America is located between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn, much of the region has warm temperatures year round and plenty of rain. The Amazon Basin, including the world's largest rain forest, cover 2.7 million square miles (7.0 million sq. km) of South America. However, altitudes and wind conditions cause variations in climate resulting in cooler temperatures and drier conditions in some areas like the Andes. One of the world's driest areas, the Atacama Desert, is found in South America. Temperate, Mediterranean, and marine west coast climates are also found in the region.