Chapter 10 – Pacific South America
Section Notes
Video
Physical Geography
History and Culture
Pacific South America Today
Impact of the Andes Mountains
Close-up
Climate Zones in the Andes
World Almanac
Languages in Pacific South
America
Quick Facts
Chapter 10 Visual Summary
Maps
Pacific South America: Political
Pacific South America: Physical
Bolivia: Resources
Languages in Pacific South America
Pacific South America
Images
Physical Geography
An Inca City
Andean Culture
Harvesting Grapes
Chile’s Exports to the United
States, 2004
Physical Geography
The Big Idea
The Andes dominate Pacific South America’s physical
geography and influence the region’s climate and
resources.
Main Ideas
• The Andes are the main physical feature of Pacific South
America.
• The region’s climate and vegetation change with elevation.
• Key natural resources in the region include lumber, oil, and
minerals.
Main Idea 1:
The Andes are the main physical feature of
Pacific South America.
• The countries of Pacific South America stretch along coast from
the equator almost to the Arctic Circle.
• Chile is so long that it covers about half the coast by itself.
• Bolivia is landlocked.
• All countries share one major physical feature: the high Andes
mountains.
Physical Features
Mountains – The Andes
Water and Islands
• Run through Ecuador, Peru,
Bolivia, and Chile
• Andean glaciers are source of
tributaries for the Amazon River.
• Rise more than 20,000 feet
(6,800 m) above sea level
• Few other major rivers
• At junction of two tectonic
plates
• Earthquakes a threat
• Landscape differs from rugged
ice caps in the south to rounded
in the north.
• The range splits into two ridges.
• An altiplano, or broad, high
plateau, lies between the
ridges.
• Rivers on altiplano drain into
two lakes.
• At the southern tip, the Strait of
Magellan links the Atlantic and
Pacific oceans.
• A strait is a narrow body of
water connecting two larger
bodies of water.
• Chile and Ecuador both control
large islands in the Pacific.
Main Idea 2:
The region’s climate and vegetation change
with elevation.
• Five different climates in Andes due to elevation
– The lowest hot and humid level supports sugarcane and banana
crops and rainforests.
– The second moist level supports coffee farms and mountain forests.
– The third cooler zone of forests and grasslands supports potatoes
and wheat.
– The fourth level supports grasslands and meadows and is too cool for
trees.
– The fifth level is too cold for vegetation and ground is always covered
with ice or snow.
Deserts
• Atacama Desert in Northern Chile in coastal region
– About 600 miles (965 km) long
– Rain falls less than five times a century.
– Fog and low clouds are common and form when a cold
current in the Pacific Ocean chills the warmer air above the
ocean’s surface.
– Cloud cover keeps the air near the ground from being
warmed by the sun.
• Coastal Chile is one of the cloudiest—and driest—places on
Earth.
• In Peru, rivers cut through dry coastal regions.
El Niño
• El Niño
– Every two to seven years
– An ocean and weather pattern that affects the Pacific coast
– Cool Pacific water near the coast warms
• Causes extreme weather events with global effects
– Fish leave warm waters affecting food supply.
– Heavy rains and flooding along the coast
Main Idea 3:
Key natural resources in the region include
lumber, oil, and minerals.
• Forests in Chile, Peru, and Ecuador provide lumber.
• Coastal waters are rich in fish.
• Ecuador: large oil and gas reserves
• Bolivia: tin, gold, silver, lead, and zinc
• Chile: exports more copper than any other country in the
world
• Not much good farmland
History and Culture
The Big Idea
Native cultures and Spanish colonization have shaped the
history and culture of Pacific South America.
Main Ideas
• The countries of Pacific South America share a history
influenced by the Inca civilization and Spanish
colonization.
• The culture of Pacific South America includes American
Indian and Spanish influences.
Main Idea 1:
The countries of Pacific South America share
a history influenced by the Inca civilization
and Spanish colonization.
• Peru’s first advanced civilization reached its height in
about 900 BC in the Andes.
• They farmed on mountainsides and in coastal areas.
– Built stone terraces into the steep mountainside
– Irrigation systems to store water
• Agriculture supported large populations.
• In the Bolivian highlands, the Tiahuanaco made huge
stone carvings.
• In a coastal civilization, people drew the Nazca lines so
large they can only be recognized from the sky.
The Inca Empire
• Early 1500s: The Inca
controlled an area that
stretched from northern
Ecuador to central Chile.
• As many as 12 million
people in the empire
• Highly organized
• Irrigation projects
turned deserts into rich
farmland.
• Thousands of miles of
stone-paved roads
• Rope suspension bridges
• No wheeled vehicles or
horses
• Relay teams of runners
carried messages from
one end of the empire
to the other.
• No written language
Spanish Rule
• The Inca Empire did not last long.
• The Spanish explorer Francisco Pizarro captured the Inca king.
• Despite payment of gold and silver ransom, Pizarro ordered the
Inca king killed.
• By 1535 Spain had conquered the Inca Empire.
• Spanish rulers often dealt harshly with the Indians, forcing them
to work in mines or on plantations.
• A Spanish viceroy, or governor, was appointed by the king of
Spain to make sure the Indians followed the Spanish laws and
customs that had replaced native traditions.
Independence
• Early 1800s: People in Pacific South America revolted against
Spanish rule.
• Creoles, American-born descendants of Europeans, led the
revolts.
• 1825: Independence for Chile, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia
Main Idea 3:
The culture of Pacific South America includes
American Indian and Spanish influences.
• Most people speak Spanish, but millions speak native languages.
• Bolivia’s population has the highest percentage of South American
Indians of any country on the continent.
• Bolivian Indians follow customs and lifestyles that have existed for
many centuries.
• They dress in traditional styles—full skirts and derby hats for the
women and colorful, striped ponchos for the men.
• Most people are Roman Catholic, though some practice ancient
religious customs.
• Every June people participate in sun worship ceremony where they
wear traditional costumes and wooden masks and play traditional
instruments, such as flute.
Pacific South America Today
The Big Idea
The countries of Pacific South America are working to
overcome challenges of poverty and political instability.
Main Ideas
• Ecuador struggles with poverty and political instability.
• Bolivia’s government is trying to gain stability and improve
the economy.
• Peru has made progress against poverty and violence.
• Chile has a stable government and a strong economy.
Main Idea 1:
Ecuador struggles with poverty and political
instability.
Government
Economic Regions
• A democracy with
instability because of
widespread poverty
• The country has had nine
different presidents in ten
years.
• 2005: People forced the
president from power after
• The coastal lowlands has
agriculture and industry
and Guayaquil, Ecuador’s
major port and commercial
city.
• The Andean region of
Ecuador is poorer, though
open-air markets and
Spanish colonial buildings
attract tourists to Quito,
the capital, and other
towns.
• The Amazon basin has oil,
Ecuador’s main export.
– he fired the country’s
supreme court to gain
power
– economic reforms had
failed to improve
housing, medical care, or
education in the country
Main Idea 2:
Bolivia’s government is trying to gain
stability and improve the economy.
Government
Economy
• After years of military rule,
Bolivia is a democracy.
• Poverty has been a cause of
political unrest in recent
years.
• Two capital cities:
• Bolivia is the poorest
country in South America.
• In the eastern plains, there
are few roads and little
money for investment.
• However, foreign aid helped
development.
– Sucre where the supreme
court meets
– La Paz, an industrial
center located at 12,000
feet above sea level, where
congress meets
• Early 2000s: People forced
presidents to resign after
reforms failed to improve
housing, medical care, and
education.
Main Idea 3:
Peru has made progress against poverty
and violence.
• Peru’s capital, Lima, is the largest city in the region.
– Home to nearly one-third of all Peruvians
– High-rise apartments and private houses, some from the colonial era
– Industry, universities, and government jobs
• Most poor people don't live in slums, but build their own houses
on city outskirts.
• These “young towns” develop into large, permanent suburbs.
• Many young town people are migrants from the highlands.
• They came to escape violence in their home villages.
Peru Today
Government
Resources
•
1980s and 1990s: A terrorist group called the
Shining Path opposed government policies.
•
About 70,000 people died in violence.
•
Peru’s economy suffered.
•
Government arrested leaders and made progress
against political violence and poverty.
•
The country has an elected president and congress.
•
Peru’s resources are key factors in its economic
progress.
•
Some mineral deposits are near the coast
•
Hydroelectric projects on rivers provide energy.
•
In Peru’s less developed highlands, Indians grow
potatoes and corn.
Main Idea 4:
Chile has a stable government and a strong
economy.
Government
• 1970: Chileans elected a
president who had some ideas
influenced by communism.
• A few years later he was
overthrown and died in a U.S.backed military coup, or a
sudden overthrow of a
government by a small group
of people.
• In the years after the coup,
military rulers imprisoned or
killed thousands of people to
end dissent.
• Late 1980s: The rulers
weakened, and Chile created a
stable, democratic
government.
Economy
• Economy is strongest in the
region.
• About one-third of Chileans
live in central Chile.
• This region includes the
capital, Santiago.
• Mild climate allows many
crops.
• Farming, fishing, forestry, and
mining form the basis of
Chile’s economy.
• Copper accounts for more
than one-third of Chile’s
exports.
• Chile trades with the U.S.,
Argentina, Brazil, and China.
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