Latin America Latin America is the cultural region of the Americas where Romance languages are predominantly spoken, primarily Spanish language, Spanish and Portuguese language, Portuguese. Latin America is defined according to cultural identity, not geogr ...

, tierra fría ( Spanish for ''cold land'') are mountain locations where high

elevation The elevation of a geographic location (geography), ''location'' is its height above or below a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational equipotenti ...

results in a markedly cooler

climate Climate is the long-term weather pattern in a region, typically averaged over 30 years. More rigorously, it is the mean and variability of meteorological variables over a time spanning from months to millions of years. Some of the meteoro ...

than that encountered in the lowlands at a comparable

latitude In geography, latitude is a geographic coordinate system, geographic coordinate that specifies the north-south position of a point on the surface of the Earth or another celestial body. Latitude is given as an angle that ranges from −90° at t ...

. The combination of low latitude and high altitude — typically between approximately 2,000 m (about 6,500 ft) and 3,500 m (about 11,500 ft)Zech, W. and Hintermaier-Erhard, G. (2002); Böden der Welt – Ein Bildatlas, Heidelberg, p. 98. in locations within 10° of the

equator The equator is the circle of latitude that divides Earth into the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Southern Hemisphere, Southern Hemispheres of Earth, hemispheres. It is an imaginary line located at 0 degrees latitude, about in circumferen ...

— produces a climate that falls into the same category as many

oceanic climate An oceanic climate, also known as a marine climate or maritime climate, is the temperate climate sub-type in Köppen climate classification, Köppen classification represented as ''Cfb'', typical of west coasts in higher middle latitudes of co ...

s found along the west coasts of the continents within the temperate zones — mild temperatures all year round, with monthly averages ranging from about 10°C (50°F) in the coldest months to about 18°C (64.4°F) in the warmest months (at places further poleward the range of altitudes where this climate exists becomes progressively lower). Common crops grown in the tierra fría are potatoes, wheat, barley, oats, corn, and rye. Beyond the ''tierra fría'' is a region known as the '' suni'', '' puna'', or ''

páramo Páramo () may refer to a variety of alpine tundra ecosystems located in the Andes Mountain Range, South America. Some ecologists describe the páramo broadly as "all high, tropical, montane vegetation above the continuous timberline". A narrower ...

s''; near the Equator this encompasses places with altitudes of between roughly 3,500 m (11,500 ft) and 4,500 m (15,000 ft), representing the

treeline The tree line is the edge of a habitat at which trees are capable of growing and beyond which they are not. It is found at high elevations and high latitudes. Beyond the tree line, trees cannot tolerate the environmental conditions (usually low ...

and the

snow line The climatic snow line is the boundary between a snow-covered and snow-free surface. The actual snow line may adjust seasonally, and be either significantly higher in elevation, or lower. The permanent snow line is the level above which snow wil ...

respectively. Vegetation here resembles that found in the

tundra In physical geography, a tundra () is a type of biome where tree growth is hindered by frigid temperatures and short growing seasons. There are three regions and associated types of tundra: #Arctic, Arctic, Alpine tundra, Alpine, and #Antarctic ...

of the polar regions. Still higher is the '' tierra nevada'', where permanent snow and ice prevail. The Peruvian geographer Javier Pulgar Vidal ( Altitudinal zonation) used following altitudes: 2,300 m (end of the Cloud forest or '' Yunga fluvial''), 3,500 m (

Treeline The tree line is the edge of a habitat at which trees are capable of growing and beyond which they are not. It is found at high elevations and high latitudes. Beyond the tree line, trees cannot tolerate the environmental conditions (usually low ...

) and 4,800 m ( Puna end).Pulgar Vidal, Javier: Geografía del Perú; Las Ocho Regiones Naturales del Perú. Edit. Universo S.A., Lima 1979. First Edition (his dissertation of 1940): Las ocho regiones naturales del Perú, Boletín del Museo de historia natural „Javier Prado“, n° especial, Lima, 1941, 17, pp. 145-161. Some of Latin America's largest cities are found in the tierra fria, most notably Bogotá, Colombia, altitude 2,640 m,

Mexico City, Mexico Mexico City is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Mexico, largest city of Mexico, as well as the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North America. It is one of the most important cultural and finan ...

, altitude 2,240 m and Quito, Ecuador, altitude 2,850 m; all three cities are also the capitals of their respective countries.

Agriculture Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created ...

in the region resembles that which is conducted in valley areas in the temperate zones, featuring such crops as

barley Barley (), a member of the grass family, is a major cereal grain grown in temperate climates globally. It was one of the first cultivated grains; it was domesticated in the Fertile Crescent around 9000 BC, giving it nonshattering spikele ...

and

potato The potato () is a starchy tuberous vegetable native to the Americas that is consumed as a staple food in many parts of the world. Potatoes are underground stem tubers of the plant ''Solanum tuberosum'', a perennial in the nightshade famil ...

es.

Literature

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tierra fria Altitudinal life zones of Peru Climate of South America Geography of Mesoamerica Spanish words and phrases Geography of South America Montane ecology

See also

Literature