CHAPTER 5
MIDDLE AMERICA
Middle America comprises all the lands and islands
between the United States to the North and South America to the
south. This includes the landmass of Mexico, the narrowing
landmass of Central America and the islands of the Caribbean.
It is a realm of snow-capped mountains in Central Mexico to tropical
islands bathed in the persistent trade winds of the Caribbean.
It is a region plagued by volcanoes, earthquakes, hurricanes and
drought, yet is one of the most sought destinations for tourists
around the world especially from North America.
Middle America replaces the term Central
America which is actually a region within Middle America.
Central America comprises the republics that occupy the mainland
between Mexico and Panama: Guatemala, Belize, Honduras,
El Salvador, Nicaragua and Costa Rica with Panama also belonging
to Central America even though historically it was once a part
of Colombia. Middle America functions as a land bridge between
continental land masses (North and South America) and between
the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.
This is a realm of intense cultural and
political fragmentation. The political geography defines
unification efforts, but countries and regions are working together
to solve mutual problems. The realm contains the Americas’
least-developed territory. In terms of economic potential,
Mexico dominates this realm. By reforming its economy, it
hopes to overcome past economic crisis and expand trade with North
America and South America under the North American Free Trade
Agreement (NAFTA).
Mainland Middle America was the scene of
the emergence of major ancient civilizations. This is one
of the world’s true culture hearths. A source area of new
ideas that radiate outward. This culture hearth is often
referred to as Meso-America which extended from Mexico City to
Nicaragua. The first civilizations arose in the lowlands
of the Yucatán Peninsula, Honduras and Belize, then later
on the high plateaus of central Mexico.
Mayans , Toltecs and Aztecs
Reaching its peak from the Third century
to the Tenth century AD, the Mayan civilization arose in the lowland
tropical areas of Mexico and Central America. It unified
an area larger than any of the Modern Middle American states except
Mexico. Some of its related languages remain in use in the
area today. The Mayan state was a theocracy (ruled by religious
leaders) with a complex religious hierarchy. They also produced
skilled artists, writers, Mathematicians and astronomers.
The Mayans grew cotton, created a textile industry and exported
cotton cloth to nearby communities. The Mayans were eventually
absorbed by the Toltecs, a highland people from Central Mexico.
They formed an empire for three centuries which served as the
basis for Aztec civilization which developed in the many lakes
in the Valley of Mexico which now surrounds present-day Mexico
(most of the lakes having been drained). These lakes formed
a means of internal communication and the Aztecs connected several
of them by canals. This urban complex was known as Tenochtitlán
became the largest city in the Americas. The Aztecs brought
agricultural produce to the cities and tribute paid by their many
subjects to their ruling hierarchy. By the fourteenth century
the Aztecs were expanding their empire throughout Central Mexico
and into Central America. Although they were better borrowers
than innovators, similar to the Romans, the Aztecs were involved
in the domestication of corn (maize), squash, cacao, tomato, beans
and tobacco.
European Contact
At the time of European discovery of the
Americas, there were estimated to be 75 to 100 million Amerindians
in the Middle America realm. Other estimates are more conservative;
up to 25 million according to de Blij. After contact with Spaniards
the population declined rapidly, primarily due to exposure to
small pox. Despite Europeans superior powers, the Aztec
civilization would not have fallen without help from the many
indigenous peoples who were in bondage to the Aztecs in order
to finance their ever expanding empire. Hernán Cortés
led a rebellion against the Aztecs and eventually overthrew them
between 1519-1521. The Spaniards then imposed their way
of life on the remaining population.
In addition to decline in the Amerindian
population, deforestation of surrounding vegetation, introduction
of cattle and substitution of Spanish wheat for maize, they introduced
the Spanish colonial town shown in figure 4-2 of de Blij and Muller.
Each town was located near what was thought to be good agriculture
land so the Amerindians could go out each day and work the fields.
The Spanish established these towns so they could exercise control
over the indigenous population. Establishment of these towns
allowed the Spanish to pursue mining, agricultural ranching and
trade. The introduction of the Roman Catholic Church into
the everyday affairs of the Amerindian population led the acculturation
of the native population.
Mainland and Rimland Society
Middle America is actually divided into
two societies: a coastal rimland society and a mainland
society. These contrasts between the Middle American highlands
and coastal areas have been conceptualized as a Mainland-Rimland
framework:
1. A Euro-Amerindian Mainland consisting of
mainland Middle America from Mexico to Panama with the exception
of the Caribbean coast form mid-Yucatán southeastward.
It is dominated by the hacienda, a large estate of Spanish origins.
Native Amerindians lived on the land and had plots where they
could grow their own subsistence corps. The hacienda,
its imprints still visible in mainland middle America is characterized
by inefficient land use and labor. The Amerindian population
is dominated by intermingling of European and Amerindians known
as mestizo.
2. A Euro-African Rimland which includes the
previously stated coastal zone and the islands of the Caribbean.
It is dominated by a mixture of European and African known as
mulatto. Mulattos replaced the earlier indigenous population
who were killed off by diseases introduced by Europeans who
settled the islands. African slaves were brought to this
region to work in large agricultural estates known as plantations.
Plantations are located in the humid tropical coastal lowlands.
They generally produce crops for profit, almost exclusively
for export and are usually a single crop (i.e., sugar cane,
bananas, coffee). Capital and skills are often imported
so that foreign ownership and an out flow of profits occur.
Labor is generally seasonal, idle some times, but needed in
large numbers at other times especially during harvest.
The use of labor at a plantation is typically more efficient
than that of the haciendas.
Both of these systems of land tenure have
left their mark on the human geography of this region. Corporate
investment has brought new concepts of plantation agriculture
in the rimland. On the mainland, haciendas have been placed
in larger ejidos where they are communally owned by groups of
families. In Mexico ejidos have been looked on as a liability
and many have been broken up into smaller farms, with others pressed
into greater specialization and productivity.
Regions of Middle America
Mexico occupies 72 percent of the land
of Middle America and contains 58 percent of the population.
By many accounts, Mexico should be one of the most prosperous
countries on Earth. It has some of the richest mineral deposits
in the world. Mineral deposits such as silver and petroleum
reserves are abundant. Its proximity to the post-industrial
societies of North America (Canada, U.S.) is a potential economic
advantage. The fact that Mexico has fallen short of its
economic potential, is due to the legacy of the Spanish
latifundia (land tenure) system and decades of class stratification.
Mexico’s population of nearly 100 million exceeds the population
of all other countries of the realm.
The Regions of Mexico
Mexico can be divided into seven regions
and they are so distinct that the country has been referred to
as “many Mexicos”. The first contains the border cities,
where the economy and culture have been influenced by the proximity
of the United States. The border economy is dominated by
maquiladoras, import-export businesses. These foreign-owned
(mainly U.S.) factories assemble imported, duty-free components
and raw materials into finished industrial products. At
least 80 percent of the these goods are then reexported to the
United States, whose import tariffs are reduced (although NAFTA
will phase many of these out). Foreign owners benefit from
lower wages while Mexico gains a significant amount of jobs.
By the 1990’s some 2,300 plants employ over 600,000 workers assembling
electronic equipment, auto parts, clothing, plastics and furniture.
These plants account for 20 percent of Mexico’s industrial labor
force and more than 5 percent of its Gross Domestic Product.
The second region of Mexico is the northeast
dominated by the industrial city of Monterrey and its outport
of Tampico. Supported by extensive reserves of natural gas,
manufacturing plants have been established specializing in chemicals,
steel, paper, glass and beer. In the surrounding hinterlands
large cattle ranches and farms specializing in the production
of grain sorghum dominate.
A third region centering on the States
of Veracruz and Tabasco is one of the leading agricultural zones
in all of Middle America. This is also a region of petrochemical
and textile industries and the region where oil was discovered
in Mexico. The rich volcanic and alluvial soils of the southern
gulf coast also tropical rainforest which are being converted
to poor unimproved pasture.
Mexico’s fourth region is the Yucatán
Peninsula which consists of low, flat limestone plateau covered
with scrubby savanna forest vegetation that alternates between
lush green during the rainy summer months and brown during the
dry winter season. This region is covered with sinkholes
which formed from rainwater filtered down through the red topsoil
and into the underlying limestone bedrock. Historically
one of the poorest regions in Mexico, the Yucatán is prospering,
as irrigated citrus groves are planted on former heneguen lands
(looks similar to Yucca plants (Spanish Dagger) and are harvested
to be used for rope and other textile products). This is
the former site of the Mayan Empire which focuses on tourism to
the regions beaches and Mayan ruins.
The poorest region of Mexico, the fifth
or south includes the states of Guerrero, Oaxaca and Chiapas and
consists mostly of vast mountain ranges. Much of this region
is dominated by large estates owned by foreign owners and local
landowners. The rest of the population must eke out a living
on poor quality lands. Land redistribution which has occurred
in the rest of Mexico has stalled here as the Mexican governments
efforts at establishing plantations have failed. The serfs
or “Peones” of the region have organized into a rebel force known
as the Zapatistas and has launched a guerrilla force intended
to enact land reform and ending of the extreme poverty of this
region.
A sixth region-Mexico’s core region-consists
of a great interlocking series of snow capped volcanoes and highland
valleys extending east to west along the 19th parallel.
The largest of these valley’s the valley of Mexico, lies above
7,000 feet in altitude and experiences cool temperatures throughout
the year. This region contains Mexico City which consists
of over 20 million inhabitants and may be the largest city in
the world by the year 2010. Mexico City is one of the most
crowded, polluted and crime-ridden cities in the world.
The city suffers from chronic water shortages and grinding poverty
and lies in the shadows of one of the most potentially dangerous
volcanic mountain ranges and has suffered devastating earthquakes.
Mexico’s final region is the west, centering
on Guadalajara. This semi-arid region is developing rapidly
through irrigated commercial agriculture and trade with the United
States.
Economic-Geographic Transformation
The implementation of the North American
Free Trade Agreement of 1994 has changed the economic geography
of Mexico. Its plan is to bind the economies of Mexico,
the United States and Canada and Chile into a single free trade
zone and market of nearly 470 million people. The implementation
of NAFTA was followed by a number of unexpected political
and economic crises. The devaluation of the peso in
1994, political assassination, continued illegal immigration to
the United States from Mexico, opposition to Mexico’s dominant
political party the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) by
leftists and conservative opposition and the Zapatista Rebellion
in Chiapas have all served to challenge the recent economic boom
Mexico experienced in the early 1990’s. In addition, concerns
over environmental impacts of NAFTA, in particular inadequately
disposed industrial wastes along the border and rising opposition
to expansion of NAFTA
in the United States, are raising doubts as to whether the original
intents of NAFTA will ever be realized.
Caribbean America
Caribbean America consists of:
1. The Greater Antilles-Cuba, Hispanola, Jamaica
and Puerto Rico.
2. The Lesser Antilles-small islands situated
in the eastern Caribbean between Puerto Rico and Trinidad.
3. Rimland nations of Belize, Guyana, Suriname
and French Guinea.
Often portrayed as tropical paradises in the popular
media, these nations face three challenges to their economic well-being
and attempts to improve their financial condition.
The first obstacle is their small size
and relatively harsh physical environment. Their small size
makes it relatively difficult to attain industrial self-sufficiency.
Many of these nations face shortages of fresh water and farmland.
During the winter and spring, little precipitation falls and when
the rainy season shows up from May to November, devastating hurricanes
are possible. The entire Caribbean region is situated on
the Caribbean Plate which collides with the North American Plate
resulting in earthquakes and volcanoes especially in the Eastern
Caribbean. Some of the worst natural disasters in history
have occurred in this region, with the 1902 volcanic eruptions
on the island of Martinique, one of the worst in history,
killing 30,000 people. Presently, the island of Montserratt
has been evacuated because of volcanic eruptions.
The second challenge is overcoming the
colonial legacy. Most of the islands are politically independent
but many functions as economic colonies, exporting relatively
low-value raw materials, such as bananas and bauxite and importing
relatively expensive processed products. The colonial legacy
also left deep social and racial divisions. Following the
near extermination of the native population due primarily to expose
to European diseases, African slaves were introduced as a labor
supply. Their descendents now constitute the principal population
of the Lesser Antilles, Jamaica and Haiti and a minority of people
in Trinidad and Tobago and Cuba, Dominican Republic and Puerto
Rico. All of the populations have a European culture
base (except Haiti which is African based). In many cases,
the lighter ones skin is in these countries, the higher their
socioeconomic status.
The third challenge is to preserve both
the local ways of life and the environmental balance in the face
of an ever increasing number of foreign visitors. While
Caribbean tourism (which brings as many as 25 million visitors
annually) is generally beneficial for many islands, there are
some problems. Tourism sometimes has the effect of devaluating
local culture which is adapted to suit visitors’ tastes.
Resentment occurs when hotels tower over substandard housing and
the intervention of islands governments and multinational corporations
removes opportunities from local entrepreneurs in favor of large
operators and major resorts. For this reason tourism is
often referred to as the ‘irritant industry.”
Cuba contains over half the level land
of the Caribbean islands. By the beginning of the twentieth
century when Cuba became an independent country whose population
had only 1.5 million. With American assistance, tropical
diseases were reduced, tourism increased and sugarcane was established
on the island. Despite these advances, the average Cuban
saw little improvements in their standards of living and the government
was corrupt.
In 1959, Fidel Castro and a band of communist
revolutionaries overthrew the Batista government with the intent
of lessening Cuban dependence on the United States, eliminate
private ownership of land to government owned, diversify agriculture
and to eliminate the Spanish bias towards farming. This
had the effect of driving Cuba to submission to the Soviet
Union whose economic assistance (up to 5 billion dollars a year)
helped overcome the United States economic embargo (still in effect
today). The collapse of the Soviet Union has led to even
further reduction of standards of living in Cuba. Despite
the economic hardships Castro still has significant support especially
in rural areas. Other nations, especially European, are
beginning to establish trade relations with Cuba.
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico presently holds the status
of an American commonwealth. The people pay no U.S. federal
income tax and do not vote in federal elections but are otherwise
entitled to all federal programs. The population is evenly
divided between those who favor statehood and those who want to
remain a commonwealth. After World War II, a three-prong
development program was instigated that emphasized of tourism.
Much of the tourist trade comes from the United States particularly
after the economic embargo of Cuba.
Hispanola: Haiti and the Dominican Republic
Haiti, with its Afro-French culture and
its nearly uniform black population is the poorest country in
the Western Hemisphere. Extreme poverty, rampant corruption
and environmental degradation plague this struggling nation.
After being run by the Duvalier family as a feudal kingdom for
decades, a catholic priest named Jean-Bertrand Aristide was elected
president in 1991. Arristide was forced into exile by the
military which was overthrown by the U.S. military in 1994, allowing
Aristide to return to power. Still the country needs massive
social and economic reforms. In contrast the Dominican Republic
which occupies the eastern two-thirds of Hispanola, is Hispanic
culturally, with areas of subsistence and mechanized agriculture.
Road transportation and industrial infrastructure are good in
comparison to nearby areas. Tourism is booming and the Dominican
Republic has faced achieved one of the highest rates of economic
growth in Latin America during the past thirty years.
Jamaica consists of a high rugged core
surrounded by a limestone plateau that extends into some of the
most beautiful and popular beaches in the Caribbean. Bauxite
is abundant in lowland basins and is the nations leading export.
Industry is limited by meager domestic energy sources. Jamaica’s
culture is British having been captured from Spain in 1655.
Although mining and tourism supply needed revenue. Jamaican
society is undergoing severe stresses particularly with respect
to the matriarchal society that dominates the country.
Considered a rimland nation primarily because
of its ethnic makeup. Belize gained its independence from
Britain in 1981 though Guatemala continues to claim the region.
Sugar and citrus dominate the region. This country has been
plagued by severe hurricanes during its history. This is
why a new capital city, Belmopan, has been built inland.
Central America
Central America faces difficult problems
with each of its six countries facing serious economic and political
problems. Other problems include lack of natural resources,
geographic isolation, rugged topography, poor transportation infrastructure,
environmental hazards and degradation and the lingering effects
of land-tenure systems. The inefficient hacienda are found
here as they are in southern Mexico.
Agriculture dominates Central American
economies. Two new agricultural products have recently joined
coffee and bananas as important sources of revenue. They
are irrigated cotton and cattle ranching for export. One
of the unfortunate by products of ranching has been tropical
deforestation as rainforests are cleared for grazing.
Today over 3 million acres of woodland in Central America and
Mexico disappear each year. The causes of deforestation
are related to the persistent economic and demographic problems
of the disadvantaged countries. Because tropical soils are
nutrient-poor, newly deforested areas function for only a few
years. These fields eventually must be abandoned for other
lands which will eventually be abandoned. Without the protection
of trees, local soil erosion and flooding immediately become problems,
affecting still productive areas. Another problem is the
rapid logging of tropical woodlands as the timber industry increasingly
turns to forested tropical regions. The rapid population
growth of the region puts additional pressure as more and more
peasants are required to extract a subsistence ways of life from
inferior lands.
It is believed that unless large-scale
changes are enacted, early in the 21st century the tropical rainforests
will be reduced to remnant states in the western Amazon Basin
and the middle Congo basin in Africa. Biologically the rainforest
is the richest most diversified region on Earth. It contains
over 50 percent of all plant and animal life despite covering
less than 5 percent of the Earth’s surface. Rainforests
serve as evolutionary birthplaces for new species. They
are also repositories of valuable medicinal, food and industrial
products.
Another consequence of deforestation is
possible alteration of the world’s climate. The burning
of forests adds large quantities of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.
Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas which traps infrared radiation
in the Earth’s atmosphere resulting in increasing temperatures.
This global warming could lead to rising sea levels, more intense
storms, melting ice caps and changes in life zones for plants
and animals.
The Countries of Central America
Guatemala is the largest of the Central
American nations in population and one of the poorest. The
northern half called the Petén is sparsely populated low
land rainforest that offers agricultural possibilities.
Roads are being constructed in connection it with the rest of
the country. The highlands that parallel the Pacific ocean
contain the bulk of Guatemala’s population. Along the southern
coast and slopes of the adjacent mountains lie the main commercial
agricultural zone. Cotton, sugar, coffee and cattle are
widely produced.
El Salvador is the most densely populated
of all Central American nations. The effects of that heavy
populated pressure are seen in the deforested and eroded hillsides.
In contrast to other Central American nations, El Salvador does
not have an agricultural frontier. Production must come
from higher yields per unit of land rather than expanding land
under cultivation. Traditional land holding patterns have
not been broken and little has been done to improve agricultural
efficiency.
Honduras is sparsely settled compared to
other Central American countries. Agriculture is almost
the sole occupation. In the largely deforested highlands,
subsistence farming, traditional livestock raising, small-scale
mining and commercial coffee growing are the dominant activities.
Social relationships continue to be highly stratified among the
peoples of the interior cities and villages and the masses have
little opportunity to advance.
Nicaragua is basically an agricultural
country with most of its production coming from the lowland area
near Managua. Much of eastern Nicaragua is sparsely populated
and little developed. The country has been plagued by political
instability throughout its history. Dictatorships on the
left and right have led to U.S. involvement especially during
the early part of the twentieth century.
Costa Rica differs from other central American
countries in that much of the population is literate (93 percent),
infrastructure is and the government is democratic and stable.
Agriculture is productive with large land holdings existing nest
to medium and small owner farms. Although its is a progressive
country, high population growth could pose problems later on.
Panama owes its existence and economic
viability to the Panama Canal. Built by the United States
on land leased from Panama, the Canal is now being turned over
the Panamanians under a treaty signed in 1978; with full
control commencing in 1999. Much of the canals activities
contribute to 55 percent of the countries Gross Domestic Product.
The area in and around the Panama Canal is a cross roads with
English and Spanish spoken by the majority of the population.
Since the canal acts as a funnel, finished products and raw materials
can be brought together in Panama for transshipment elsewhere.
The regions importance to U.S. interests was demonstrated by the
United States military intervention and ouster of former president
Manuel Noriega in 1989.
Questions for Review
1. What are some of the natural hazards
that plague the Caribbean Basin? Why does Mexico City face
such environmental and social problems?
2. Discuss the different economic regions
of Mexico. What are Maquilladoras?
3. Discuss the physical and cultural differences
between Rimland and Mainland Middle America.
4. What are the three challenges that face
Caribbean America?
5. Why is the tourist industry called the
"irritant industry" in Middle America?
6. Why is tropical deforestation a problem
locally and globally-click on the deforestation link for additional
information.
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