Deck 12: Latin America

Question 1

Which colonial power coined the term "Latin America" in the mid-nineteenth century as a means to assert its influence?

A) Spain
B) Netherlands
C) France
D) Italy

Answer 1

France

Question 2

What are the two dominant languages spoken in South America?

A) Spanish and French
B) Spanish and English
C) Spanish and Italian
D) Spanish and Portuguese

Answer 2

Spanish and Portuguese

Question 3

How many distinct geographical territories comprise Latin America?

A) four: the Southern Cone, the Andean Nations, Brazil, and the small states in the northwest corner.
B) three: South America, Central America, and the islands of the Caribbean sea.
C) four: Central America, the islands of the Caribbean Sea, Brazil, and South America.
D) three: the Southern Cone, Central America, and the Antilles.

Answer 3

three: South America, Central America, and the islands of the Caribbean sea.

Question 4

South America is home to

A) the world's highest mountain peak.
B) the world's wettest marshlands.
C) the world's largest number of fresh-water lakes.
D) the world's driest desert.

Question 5

Which of the following countries has English as its national language, was under the colonial supervision of the United Kingdom, and was called the "British Honduras" prior to independence?

A) Panama
B) Belize
C) Jamaica
D) Grenada

Question 6

Which of these groups is NOT an indigenous people who inhabited Latin America at the time of the European Conquest?

A) Aztec
B) Arawak
C) Carib
D) Inca

Question 7

Iberian power in Europe began to wane in the

A) 1400s.
B) 1500s.
C) 1700s.
D) 1900s.

Question 8

In the late-eighteenth to early-nineteenth century, the term "criollos" was used to describe

A) American-born citizens who agitated for freedom from colonial empires.
B) colonial citizens loyal to the British Crown.
C) slaves born in the colonies after being brought to the New World as labor.
D) South American dictators.

Question 9

By the early 1800s, the Iberian royals faced which of the following obstacles to their continued rule in the Americas?

A) Other powers, especially the United Kingdom, invading their colonial land holdings
B) Revolts by colonists
C) Their own waning power in Europe
D) All of these are correct.

Question 10

What is the meaning of the Spanish term "caudillismo"?

A) A political system where a rich local land owner administers the law
B) Shared power between indigenous peoples and ethnic Spaniards
C) A system of equal land distribution
D) A neo-colonial trading structure

Question 11

According to your textbook, what became of the nineteenth-century plantation?

A) They were abolished after the revolts against colonial tyranny.
B) They were transformed into twentieth-century corporate farms.
C) They morphed into modern-day militant terrorist groups.
D) They fell apart with the end of slavery.

Question 12

In Latin American studies, what is meant by "dependency" theory?

A) Political rule in Latin America in the nineteenth century was dependent on being a caudillo, or a "leader," who acquires power based on possession of large amounts of land.
B) The global marketplace is an unfair trading ground for most less-developed countries.
C) The system of caudillismo, one of political power, was dependent on another system, the latifundia, which was based on land ownership.
D) The more dependents that a family has, the better its economic well being.

Question 13

Which of the following represents the ISI strategy?

A) Development of national industry and separation from the global economy
B) An indigenous-based economic strategy designed to create greater economic parity among races and classes in the region
C) The permission for immigrants from other countries to enter Latin American countries in greater numbers, to provide a larger workforce
D) Lowering tariffs to encourage exports and imports

Question 14

Which of the following is an example of an international financial institution?

A) The World Bank
B) The Inter-American Development Bank
C) The International Monetary Fund
D) All of these are correct.

Question 15

Which of the following was an effect of the SAPs, or structural adjustment programs, instituted by the international financial institutions in the 1980s?

A) Widespread unemployment
B) Triple-digit inflation
C) Cuts in subsidies
D) All of these are correct.

Question 16

Which two recent neo-liberal treaties affecting a number of Latin Americas nations have struggled and failed to win public support for implementation?

A) NAFTA and the TPP
B) TPP and FTAA
C) FTAA and NAFTA
D) Only the TPP failed to win public support.

Question 17

Increasing trade with ___(1)___ has made Latin America less dependent on the region's previously prominent trading partner(s) ___(2)___.

A) 1 the United States; 2 China and the EU
B) 1 the EU; 2 the United States
C) 1 China; 2 the United States and the EU
D) 1 the EU and the United States; 2 China

Question 18

Until recently, many Latin American governments have been typically

A) Social democratic
B) Marxist
C) Authoritarian
D) Constitutional monarchies

Question 19

Which countries have moved from military dictatorship to democracy?

A) Argentina
B) Brazil
C) Chile
D) All of the above.

Question 20

What role has the United States played in promoting democracy in Latin America?

A) The United States has consistently supported democratically-elected regimes in the region, despite disagreements with certain leaders.
B) The United States supported some military coups in the 1960s and 1970s, but was much more supportive of leftist regimes in the 1980s and 1990s.
C) The United States primarily targeted communist Cuba with anti-regime activities and was unconcerned about regimes in the rest of the region.
D) The United States has consistently undermined democratically-elected Latin American governments with which it had differences, backing right-wing challengers and supporting military coups.