Central America: Geography Of The Americas (1955)

[Music] lying southeast of Mexico is a long narrow strip of land connecting the North and South American continents it is centrally located between the two and called Central America this area was discovered by Christopher Columbus who claimed it for Spain Columbus and other explorers who came after him found the land inhabited by Indian tribes some of them were living in cities like this one in Guatemala here they worshiped their gods and because they were an agricultural people most of their ceremonies were dedicated to the gods who made agriculture possible corn was the basic crop of Indian agriculture the Indian tribes of Central America lost their lands during the 16th century to men from Spain who were called conquistadores or conquerors the conquistadores found a Strange Land of jungle forests fearsome volcanoes that sometimes erupted and beautiful mountainous Highlands some of the Spaniards settled in this part of the new world Central America they built many large cities this one in Guatemala has many buildings that resemble those of 16th century Spain corn remained the most important food crop for both the Spaniards and the Indians the land was as it still is today largely agricultural farmers were among the people who in the 19th century joined the armies of revolt against Spain their leaders were men like Francisco Moran one of the liberators who helped the countries of Central America gain Independence today there are six independent republics Guatemala Honduras El Salvador Nicaragua Costa Rica and Panama British Honduras is the only European possession we can study Central America by looking at its three regions the hot low lands the temperate plateau and the cool mountain lands in Spanish these areas are called Tira Cente Tira templada and Tira friia this cross-section map shows that the different areas lie at different altitudes do you think these differences in altitude affect the way people live let's see by looking at each of the regions beginning with the Tira friia or cool Mountain Land in the highest coolest parts of the TIAA we can find little human activity forests of pine cover the high slopes wood from these trees is a Central American export many of the people of the Highlands are Indians descendants of the original tribes in the cool Uplands farmers raise mostly corn beans and wheat some farmers raise sheep for wool and meat sheep are easily raised in the cool Uplands of the Tira friia however most Central Americans live in the Tira templada the temperate lands region this region is the most densely populated because of its favorable climate and fertile lands here are many of the larger cities the busy trading centers of Central America even in the modern cities old Customs are often found with we can see Spanish influences in the churches and in the homes of the people many City Homes have beautiful patios a style of building borrowed from Spain but the ti templ region is not all cities there are small farms where food crops are grown and large Farms called Finas where coffee is grown on the fina are miles of large green shrubs coffee trees these are trees in El Salvador Miguel Ramirez works on the FAA as a coffee picker here are ripe coffee berries inside the berries are the beans from which coffee is made the same day the berries are picked they're put into a vat of water that carries them through a machine called a Masher the Masher will remove the outer skin and Pulp of the berries leaving only the coffee beans the beans flow down a trough into a large tank where they are left to ferment for 2 or 3 days next they are thoroughly washed the beans flow down the washing trough to a large concrete yard called the drying patio workers using rake-like tools turn the beans over and over so that they will dry thoroughly in the warm sun these are dried coffee beans later a machine will remove the husk likee outer covering here we can see both the outer skin and the inner coffee beans these coffee beans are the chief crop of the ti templada region they're also the chief export of Central America other export crops are found in the Tira Cente or hot lowlands region of Central America among the dense forests of of the lowlands region is a kind of tree that is very valuable the mahogany tree from trees like this come mahogany logs another valuable export mahogany trees often grow to Great size in the hot lowlands forests these same dense forests of the Tira Cente must sometimes be cleared for another important crop of the lowlands after workers have cleared away the jungle holes are dug to plant bananas cuting of the banana stocks are placed in the ground where they take root and grow during the 10 to 15 months of the growing period the banana plants are constantly sprayed to protect them from disease and insects finally the mature plants bear fruit green bananas bananas are grown on plantations these banana plantations resemble the coffee thinkers of the tier templada the administration building is the headquarters of the plantation one of its most important rooms is the radio room here messages are received from the banana company's ships at Sea when the plantation is notified of the arrival of a cargo ship the men go out to harvest the crop using long hooked poles some of the men pull the banana plants down then with a knife the bunch is cut from the plant other men carry the Bunches of fruit to stations where they are washed to remove the chemical spray then the bananas are loaded into Freight cars the cars carry the fruit straight to the dock where the cargo ship is waiting on the ship the bananas are loaded into the refrigerated hold when loaded the ship will sail for the United States with a cargo the port at leaves is but one of the many sea ports on both coasts of Central America two of these colon and Balboa are important cities because they are gateways to the Panama Canal a strategic Waterway which cuts through the ismus of Panama through this canal pass many of the major shipping lanes of the world the canal with its system of locks and toe cars is one of the best engineered and most heavily traveled in the world yes the Panama Canal is another of the many things that are important in understanding the geography of the Americas we've seen how the three main regions of Central America are related to the way the people live in the Tia friia or cool Highlands region we saw sheep being raised and small farms where most food crops are grown in the Tira templada or temperate region we saw how coffee the chief export crop of Central America is grown and processed and finally in the warm TI Cente region we saw how bananas are grown and chipped remembering the three main regions and how people live in them will help us understand the geography of Central America connecting link between the two American continents [Music]