Latin America

Robert B. Kent is Chair and Professor of Geography and Planning at the University of Akron. He earned a BA and MA from the University of California, Davis, and a PhD from Syracuse University. His research and publications have focused broadly on the human geography of Latin America, especially the Andes and Central America, and on the evolving geography of Latin Americans in the United States. He has traveled, lived, and worked throughout Latin America, including 3 years as an urban and regional planner in Peru for the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), and has worked as a consultant for USAID in Bolivia on numerous occasions. He has been a Fulbright Scholar at the Universidad Nacional de San Juan in San Juan, Argentina, and at the Universidad Pedagogica Nacional in Tegucigalpa, Honduras. He is a past chair of the Conference of Latin Americanist Geographers and a past councillor and treasurer of the Association of American Geographers. Dr. Kent is the editor of Region in Transition: An Economic and Social Atlas of Northeast Ohio and a coeditor of Regional Development and Planning for the 21st Century, and he has published numerous articles and book chapters on regional development, urban planning, cartography, GIS, and cultural geography.

Introduction. Latin America as a Culture Region. The Environment. The Hispanic Caribbean. Peopling Latin America to 1820. The Mesa Central of Mexico. Early Cities and Urban Development. The Andes. Migration, Population Change, and Race. The Central Valley of Chile. The Central American Highlands. Land and People since the Conquest. Brazil’s Atlantic Coastal Plain. Contemporary Cities and Urban Patterns. The Southern Brazilian Highlands. Latin American Development in Perspective. The Pampa. Latin America in the World Economy. The Amazon Basin. The Latin American Diaspora. Conclusion. Chapter Notes and Additional Sources.