Chapter 13
Countries of South
America
Countries of South
America
 They are grouped into 3 regions:
 The Northern Tropics
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Surname
Guyana
French Guiana
Venezuela
Columbia
 The Andean Countries
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Ecuador
Peru
Bolivia
Chile
 The Southern Grassland Countries
 Paraguay
 Uruguay
 Argentina
The Northern Tropics –
The Guianas
 Made up of Guyana, Suriname, and French
Guiana
 Tropical wet climate
 They share rain forest and narrow coastal plain
 Different human geography then the rest of
South America
 Guyana – official language is English
 Suriname – official language is Dutch
 French Guiana – official language is French
The Guianas
 The ethnic composition varies between the three countries
 Guyana –
 The two major ethnic groups are African (descendent from slavery)
and Asian (descendent from workers coming from China, India and
Southeast Asia to work on plantations).
 Suriname –
 Over 50 percent of the population is descendent from Asian workers.
10% from African descent, and 30% are mulattoes (mixed African and
other ancestry). The remaining population are indigenous
 French Guiana –
 Similar population to Suriname, but mulattoes are the larges ethnic
group. There is also a higher population of European in French
Guiana
 The economies of the three countries are similar
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Share natural resources
Fishing for shrimp and other fish
Farmers grow sugar cane and rice
Miners extract bauxite – Guyana is one of the world’s larges exporters
of bauxite
Venezuela
 Official language is Spanish
 Ethnicity is mestizo or European descent
 The northwest corner of Venezuela has the Andes mountains
 A lower range of mountains stretch across the rest of northern
Venezuela
 Most of the people live in fertile mountain valleys
 Venezuela’s large cities have ranchos (small shacks) where almost
1/3 of the people live
 The southeastern part of Venezuela is the Guiana Highlands
 It covers nearly half of the country
 Here is where the world's highest waterfall (Angel Falls) is located
(3200 feet)
 Between the two highland regions there is a large river called the
Orinoco
 Along both sides of the river are wide tropical grasslands called the
Llanos
 During the rainy season there is flooding and the rest of the year it is
hot and dry
Venezuela
 The climate in Venezuela varies depending on the
elevation (even though it is close to the equator)
 Farmers grow different crops at different elevations
 Coffee trees are suited for growing in the tierra templada
climate zone (page 250)
 Oil is what brings Venezuela its wealth
 Four beds of “liquid gold”
 Each year they pump about 700 million barrels of oil out of the
ground (in the top 10 oil producers in the world)
 Because Venezuela’s oil reserves are finite (won’t last forever),
they have invested in a large share of its oil profits in other
industries
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Developing bauxite and iron mines
Building power plants
Setting up factories
This is all set up so there are jobs when the oil wells run dry
Colombia
 Borders the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea
 Has three physical regions: lowlands, mountains, and
Llanos (grassy plains)
 75% of the population live between the cordilleras of
the Andes
 Bogota, the capital, is on a high plateau of the Andes
 Colombia’s largest crop is coffee
 The farmland is mostly owned by wealthy families who
rent the land to tenant farmers
 Small farmers (campesinos) are barely able to grow
enough food for their families because they try to grow
coffee
 The country is at risk if the demand for coffee drops or
if the coffee trees are destroyed
 Officials have encouraged the export of other products
Colombia
 Drug Trade
 Coffee is the major legal crop
 Marijuana and cocaine are made from the leaves of the coca
plant
 It is illegally exported from Colombia
 It is estimated that smuggling illegal drugs brings twice as
much money into Colombia a coffee does
 Those who control the drug trade have lots of power
 The government of Colombia and the U.S. are working
together to stop the drug trade and the violence associated
with it.
 Social Challenges
 Rough political history
 Gained independence from Spain in 1824
 Disputes between the two major political parties has had
violent results
 In the 1950’s about 200,000 people ere killed in a civil war
 Since 1958 the two parties have attempted to work together to
develop the economy
The Andean Countries
 The Andes stretch for 4500 miles, from the Caribbean Sea to the
southern tip of South America
 In some places the mountain range is nearly 500 miles wide
 The Andes have three distinct environments
 Coastal Plain
 Stretches the entire Pacific coast
 As thin as a foot and as thick as 100 miles wide
 Some areas are so dry, but it perfectly preserves things like textiles woven
100’s of years ago or even human mummies
 Highlands
 The plateaus reach as high as 6500-16000 feet - they are called altiplano
or paramos depending on the country you are in
 At the highest the climate and vegetation is known as the Alpine Tundra
 Tropical Forests
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Inland, on the eastern slopes are the tropical forests
These forested regions are called the selva
The Amazon River basin begins in the selva
Not many people live in this area
The Andean Countries
 The Andes offer areas of rich natural resources, the
soil is suited for growing a variety of crops depending
on the elevation
 Vertical Trade: people in the area live by vertical trade.
People from villages at different elevations meet to
trade their crops. Because people grow crops suited for
their climate zone, at the market they can trade “up” or
“down”
 The population of the area still has between 25-55% of
the original Natives
 Some of these groups lived for centuries as high has
17000 feet
 These people have developed larger hearts and lungs
 This allows them to work and live on thin oxygen
Ecuador
 Name comes from Equator, because the Equator cuts
across the country
 About ¼ of the population is Indigenous and speak
Quechua
 These people subsistence farm
 10% of the population are European decent – but have
the most influence and wealth in the country
 About 50% of the population are mestizo, who speak
Spanish and live in highland cities and towns
 The population is evenly distributed between the
highlands and the coastal lowlands = but the tropical
forest region to the east of the mountains is sparsely
populated
 In the 60’s they discovered oil in the selva lowlands
 Petroleum is Ecuador's chief export
 ¾ of the production is controlled by a state-owned oil company
Peru
 Peru was the heart of the huge Inca Empire – that fell to the
Spanish in the early 1500’s
 About 45% of the population is indigenous and speak Quechua or
Aymara
 Most live by subsistence farming or herding llamas and
alpacas
 There are many native ruins left from the Inca Empire
 Most other Peruvians are mestizo and live in urban areas
 Most work in low wage jobs for factories that produce fish meal
for animal feed or on plantations
 Poverty is widespread in Peru
 There is a small portion of the population that are European
descent, but control most of the country's wealth and are the
leaders in the government
 There are many Asian immigrants that moved to Peru
 In the 90’s the President was a Peruvian of Japanese ancestry
(Alberto Fujimori )
Bolivia
 Bolivia is landlocked, and does not have any coastal ports
 Lake Titicaca is the world’s highest navigable lake
 Recently, a large temple was discovered submerged in the lake,
adding to its mystery and fascination.
 According to Incan history, after a great flood, the god Viracocha
arose from Lake Titicaca to create the world. He commanded the
sun (Inti), moon (Mama Kilya) and stars to rise, then went to
Tiahuanaco to create the first human beings, Mallku Kapac and
Mama Ocllo. These first humans, the "Inca Adam and Eve," were
formed from stone and brought to life by Viracocha, who commanded
them to go out and populate the world. Thus Lake Titicaca is the
birthplace of the Incas, whose spirits return to their origin in the lake
upon death.
 Bolivia has many minerals including tin, they are the have Western
Hemisphere's largest tin reserve
 The best ores have been removed
 Most of the people are indigenous and subsistence farm in the
highlands
 Bolivia’s climate varies with the altitude from humid and tropical to
cold and semiarid
Chile
 Chile means “end of the land”
 The country is about 2700 miles long, but only about 100 miles
wide
 2/3 of the people are mestizo
 Nearly ¼ of the people are European descent (mostly Spanish,
British and German)
 Very few indigenous people
 The Atacama Desert is in the north and uninhabited
 ¾ of the people in the area live in the Central Valley
 It is a region of fertile river basins – between the Andes and the
coastal ranges
 Chile’s summer season comes during the Northern Hemisphere’s
winter – the products find good markets in the U.S. and Europe
during this time
 Santiago – the capital – has a very high unemployment and many
crowded communities
 Many people in Chile live below the poverty line
Southern Grassland
Countries
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The countries boundaries in this area are formed by the Rio de la Plata
system
The Plata is an Estuary – a broad river mouth formed where a flooded
river valley meets the sea
 The four rivers in the system are: the Uruguay, the Pilcomayo, the Paraguay,
and the Parana
 This system allows an inexpensive way for people to ship goods
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The Andes are in the western part of Argentina
 They include the four highest mountains in the Western Hemisphere on of
which is Mount Aconcagua (22831 feet)
 Gradually they give way to the piedmont (or foothills) region
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The tropical lowlands is called the Gran Chaco is a hot interior lowland
region of savanna and dense shrub that covers part of Paraguay and
Argentina
The pampas of Argentina Uruguay stretch for hundreds of miles. This
area used to be a grazing area for cows, now it produces 80% of
Argentina’s grain and 70% of the meat
The Patagonia area is desolate, dry, cold and foggy.
 It is well suited for raising sheep and has rich deposits of oil and bauxite
Paraguay
 Paraguay is landlocked, but the Plata river system
provides an outlet to the sea
 Almost all of the population lives in the highlands
 Half of the people live in urban areas
 Most are mestizos who speak Guarani (local
Indigenous language) as well as Spanish
 The economy is based on agriculture
 Paraguay was ruled by military dictator until 1989
 He was replaced by a new military leader who tried to
be more responsive to peoples needs
 In the 1990’s the people held their first democratic
elections
Uruguay
 From the Indian word “river of painted bird”
 The name comes from the tropical birds in the area
 Much of the area is rolling grasslands the country’s economy is
based on raising livestock, processing meat, and making products
such as wool and leather
 75% of the land is devoted to livestock grazing and 10% to raising
grains to feed cattle and sheep
 Uruguay does not produce fuel and very little consumer goods
 They have to import all of those items, which is very expensive
 Most are European descent a (Italian and Spanish)
 There is a large middle class in the country and there are very few
slums
 Uruguay has a unstable political history
 In 1973, the military took power for 12 years
 Since 1985 there has been free elections
 People have demonstrations to show their desire for freedom of press
and other rights
Argentina
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Most of Argentina’s population is European descent (Italian and Spanish)
More than 80% of the people live in cities
Buenos Aires is Latin America’s wealthiest city and Argentina is the wealthiest
nation
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Argentina from the 1940’s-1983 was rule by military dictators
Best known was Juan Domingo Peron – president from 1946-1955
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He wanted to develop Argentina’s industry and distribute the wealth more evenly
His wife was seen as a heroine for the poor (Eva)
Most of the other dictators used the government power to help the wealthy
All censored the newspapers and closed universities and even imprisoned
opponents
Conditions were very bad in the 1970’s – people were kidnapped by the military
and never seen again – this period was called “the dirty wars”
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The wealth is unevenly distributed
Because the city is busy and filled with many factories and business, the air pollution is
very bad
The city has many poor people
Every Thursday a group of women would march in front of the presidential palace and
carry picture of missing family members
In 1981 Argentina lost a war with Great Britain over the Falkland Island
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The military agreed to allow open elections
Since then the government has tried to cut spending and improve the country
Practice Counties in South
America …
 http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/South
_America_Geography.htm
Places to know for the
test….
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Andes Mountain Range
Straight of Magellan
Rio de la Plata
Guiana Highlands
Llanos
Atlantic Ocean
Pacific Ocean