Brianna - Geography4031 - Blog

       While learning about many interesting topics throughout the region of Latin America and the Caribbean this semester, I found the most interesting topic to be religion and religious syncretism. I began diving a bit deeper into the textbook and other academic sources. I will use sources listed below in my step-by-step guide. I am most fascinated by the history of religion in Mexico and the effects of Catholicism on the landscape in Mexico. Throughout my research, I have found lots of research on religion in Mexico, but I plan to truly dig deep on the effects of Catholicism and the spread of Catholicism in Mexico on landscape. I was initially inspired and interested by Exercise 10. Key information that will help me throughout my research is Chapter 9 on religion in Latin America and the Caribbean. My goal throughout this term project is to evaluate the history of Catholicism in Mexico, studying current landscape and pre-colonial landscape. I plan to map out the ...

  Map 1: Studying Syncretism in Tlaxcala, Mexico and surrounding areas.      In the map above, there is a pink path. This path represents the border of Tlaxcala, Mexico. This is the example that we will be evaluating to study religion in Latin America and the Caribbean. There are several red and yellow placemarks. These placemarks are indicators of some of the many cities and towns in Tlaxcala. The yellow placemarks represent a city or town that has a name associated with Catholicism. The red placemark represents a city or town that does not have a name associated with Catholicism. By looking at the map, it is apparent that the name diversity is spread fairly even throughout; there is nearly an equal amount yellow and red placemarks. The names of these cities and towns are used as symbolism. The diversity of names displays the differences of religious beliefs in Latin America and the Caribbean, this is where the concept of syncretism comes in.     Syncreti...

        Map 1: US Military Invasions in Countries in Latin America and the Caribbean     In the map above, there are 10 points indicated by a placemark. Each placemark illustrates a country in Latin America and the Caribbean. Within these points, there is data associated with US Military Interventions. The title of each placemark is the date or dates of each US Military Intervention in that country. There are 4 shades throughout the 10 placemarks. The lightest shade of blue represents 1 military invasion, the second shade represents 2 invasions, the third shade represents 3 invasions, and the darkest shade represents 4 invasions. Clicking on each of these placemarks will display this data.       These US Military Interventions have been very impactful to the politics of the countries in the map. It would make sense that the number of interactions would directly impact the political stability of a country. However, this is partially ...

Map 1: HDI in Countries in Latin America and the Caribbeans      In the map above, we will be evaluated the different HDIs in Latin America and the Carribeans. HDI stands for Human Development Index. The information gathered about Human Development Index comes from United Nations Development Programme. The purpose of HDI is to summarize the average achievement of human development in an area. HDI is a number 0.0-1.0, 0.0 meaning no achievement of human development and 1.0 being complete maximum achievement of human development. HDI is measured by life expectancy at birth, years of education, and gross national income per capita.      In the map, you will notice 4 different colored borders. These colors represent the HDI in that country. Red represents an HDI of 0.51-0.716.  Yellow indicates an HDI of 0.718-0.759. Green represents an HDI of 0.765-0.796. Blue represents an HDI of 0.81-0.944. There are some countries left in a grey boundary with...

       In the map above, we will be looking at the precolonial cities and how they compare to Inca's architecture versus Spaniard architecture.      Many of the architecture still remains or remnants were left behind from the precolonial cities. Today, we will be focusing on Zocalo, Mexico, Templo Mayor, Mexico, Tenochtitlan, Teotihuacan, and Cusco, Peru. When the Spaniards arrived to Latin America, they brought disease that the Mayans were not immune to. With this, many of the residents died unfortunately, leaving the Spaniards to take over the majority of the land. By zooming in to the placemarks, you can see descriptions and photos.      Some of the Inca's architecture and pathways still remain to this day. You will notice this by zooming into the "Puma" path. The path represents the precolonial roadway. Puma is located in Cuzco. Animal spirits were very important to the Inca's, especially the puma. The puma is one of the top ...

      By zooming into the map above, you will find key features at the following places: Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, Mexico City, Mexico, Lima, Peru, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and Buenos Aires, Argentina. In these cities, you will find color coded polygon. Red indicates a church or religious building, yellow indicates a palace or government building, and green indicated commercial buildings.  Image 1: Figure 12.5 from Latin America and the Caribbean     If you look closely at the areas listed above, you will find similar land features to those in Figure 12.5.  Each of the cities has a colonial plaza. This plaza is centered between Commercial buildings,  a Church, and a Palacio Municipal. Each city is organized in a gridded pattern. All the cities we mentioned show great similarity to this figure, despite slight differences.      The reason that all of these cities show similarity is because there were rules governing ...