Sub regions and history

This map depicts the route Hernan Cortes took from Veracruz to the Aztec city Tenochtitlan. Also included in the map is the line formed by the Treaty of Tordesillas which split the "New World"
between Portugal and Spain. Cortes and his men journeyed across large plateaus and mountain ranges in order to reach the city. Once there, Cortes killed Moctezuma and exploited the city states wealth, as well as using the people as slaves. This excursion was the start of colonization in this area that was detrimental to the indigenous populations of Mexico. From this point the Spanish colonization of Latin America dominated and Spanish replaced indigenous languages across the region. 

Formal sub regions of Latin America and the Caribbean

This map shows the different sub regions of Latin America and the Caribbean. As you can tell it is almost impossible to create very distinct and clear boundaries that include all countries with the same color pin mark. My subregions are based off of the languages of Latin American and Caribbean countries. Spanish speaking countries, for the most part, are to the left of the yellow line on the map, but every country with a yellow pin mark speaks Spanish and is included in that sub region. Brazil is the only country in the Portuguese region and it is surrounded by the red border. The English speaking countries are mainly in the Caribbean and most of them are inside of the green line. However, all English speaking countries are marked with a blue pin. The last region is the French speaking countries, but since there are so few it is hard to plot out their region, however they are marked with a purple pin.

My name is John Roy, I'm a sophomore from Louisiana. I have always been interested in geography since a young age which is why I decided to minor in it. Costa Rica was the first Latin American country I visited and I was shocked by the natural beauty of the region immediately. By taking this class I hope to increase my knowledge about the regions culture, landscape, politics, and religion. I'm eager to learn all of the new information this class will provide to me. I have taken two semesters of Spanish and have two more to complete. Latin American culture is very fascinating to me and I'm excited explore it at such an in depth level in this class. 

Arenal Volcano, Costa Rica