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| A popular but controversial strategy to redistribute land to peasant farmers. Throughout the 20th century, various states redistributed land from large estates or granted title from vast public lands in order to reallocate resources to the poor and stimulate development. Agrarian reform occurred in various forms, from awarding individual plots or communally held land to creating state-run collective farms. |
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| The largest intermontane plateau in the Andes, which straddles Peru and Bolivia and ranges in elevation from 10,000 to 13,000 feet (3,000 to 4,000 meters) |
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| Central America Free Trade Association |
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| CAFTA -- This is a trade agreement between the United States and Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Honduras, Costa Rica, and the Dominican Republic to reduce tariffs and increase trade between member countries. |
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| A popular theory to explain patterns of economic development in Latin America. Its central premise is that underdevelopment was created by the expansion of European capitalism into the region that served to develop "core" countries in Europe and to improverish and make dependent peripherl areas such as Latin America |
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| An economic strategy in which a country adopts the U.S. dollar as its official currency. a country can be partially dollarized, using U.S. dollars alongside its national currency, or fully dollarized, when the U.S. dollar becomes the only medium of exchange and a country gives up its own national currency. Panama fully dollarized in 1904; more recently Ecuador fully dollarized in 2000. |
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| An abnormally large warm current that appears off the coast of Ecuador and Peru in December during an El Nino Year, torrential rains can bring devastating floods along the pacific coast and drought conditions in the interior continents of the Americans. |
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| The conversion of tropical forests into pasture for cattle ranching. Typically, this process involves introducing species of grasses and cattle, mostly from Africa |
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| Planned industrial centers developed by states in order to increase manufacturing and stimulate economic growth in underdeveloped areas |
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| A much-debated concept that presupposes a dual economic system consisting of formal and informal sectors. The informal sector includes self-employment, low-wage jobs that are usually unregulated and untaxed. Street vending, shoe shining, artisn manufacturing, and even self-built housin are considered part of the informal sector. Some scholars include illegal activities such as drug smuggling, and prostitution in the informal economy. |
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| A large estate or landholding. |
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| Assembly plants on the Mexican border built by foreign capital. Most of their products are exported to the United States. |
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| Urban conglomerations of more than 10 million people |
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| The Southern Common Market established in 1991 that calls for free trade among member states and common external tariffs for nonmember states. Argentina, Paraguay, Brazil, and Uruguay are members; Chile is an associate member. |
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| A person of mixed European and Indian Ancestry |
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| A small landholding farmed by peasants or tenants who produce food for subsistence and the market |
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| Economic policies widely adopted in the 1990s that stress privatization, export production, and few restrictions on imports |
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| Tropical ecosystems of the America that evolved in relative isolation and support diverse and unique flora and fauna. |
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| Organization of American States (OAS) |
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| Founded in 1948 and headquartered in Washington D.C. the organization advocates hemispheric cooperation and dialog. Most states in America belong except Cuba |
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| Monics sent by immigrants working abroad to family members and communities in countries of origin. For many countries in the developing world, remittances often amount to billions of dollars each year. For small countries, remittancs can equal 5-10 percent of a country's gross domestic product. |
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| The flow of internal migrants from rural areas to cities that began in the 1950s and intensified in the 1960s and 1970s |
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| Large upland areas of very old exposed rocks that range in elevation from 600 to 5,000 feet (200 to 1,500 meters) The three major shields in South America are Guiana, Brazilian, and Patagonian |
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| Makeshift housing on land not legally owned or rented by urban migrants, usually in unoccupied open spaces within or on the outskirts of a rapidly growing city |
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| Subnational Organizations |
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| Groups that form along ethnic, ideological, or territorial lines that can induce serious internal divisions within a state |
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| Supranational Organizations |
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| Governing bodes that include several states, such as trade organizations, and often involve a loss of some state powers to achieve the organization's goals |
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| The blending of different belief systems. In Latin America, many animist practices were folded into christian worship |
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| A treaty signed in 1494 between Spain and Portugal that drew a north-south line some 300 leagues west of Azores and Cape Verde Islands. Spain received the land west of the line and Portugal the land to east |
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| A state in which a disproportionately large city, such as London, New York, or Bangkok, dominates the urban system and is the center economic, political, and cultural life. |
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