Transcript South America

Chapter 12
Section 1
Brazil
Brazil
 Covers 1/2 the continent
– population and area
 Two landforms –
- Coastal plain
- Huge interior plateau
- Plateau drops sharply to the plain
- Escarpment – a steep cliff between two level areas at
different heights
• sertao (interior plateau) – has tropical wet and dry
climate – often extreme drought
Brazil
Four major areas
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Northeast
Southeast
Brazilian Highlands
Amazon River Basin
Northeast Region
Colonized by Portuguese
 Created large sugar plantations
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Port cities - ship the sugar
Imported African slaves to work
Severe poverty
Below average life expectancy
Southeast Region
 Smallest region
 Economic heartland
 Humid subtropical climate
– Fertile soil
– Main cash crop - coffee
 Largest cities
– Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro
 Movement from rural to urban areas
 Slum communities called favelas
Favelas in Rio de Janiero
Brazilian Highlands
Central plateau - geographic heart
Capital city - Brasilia
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1956 - government moved the capital
From Rio De Janeiro
To the interior
To promote development
Built road from coast
Finished 1960
Population - 1.8 million
Amazon River Basin
Largest major region
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More than ½ country
In the tropics
Moist trade winds blow from the Atlantic
More than 80 inches yr
Ave. temperature of 80*
Constant growing season
1000s - plants and animals
The Amazon Indians
 10% Brazilians
 200,000 Indians from 180 tribes
 Population declining
– diseases from foreigners
– Traditional ways are changing due to government
regulations
– losing their culture, language, religion and way of
life
– being assimilated into the culture of the majority
of people
Section Two
Brazil’s Quest for Economic
Growth
 Country of extremes
– Rich in natural resources
– Much poverty
 Government trying to:
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modernize the economy
improve lives of people
create a middle class
increase manufacturing and services
fill needs of growing urban population
Economic Challenges - NE
 Late 1990s thousands of people protested
– President Cardoso promised redistribution of land
– Millions of people did not get land
 Rich owned large plantation
– Workers could work for low wages
 Small farmers continue to live in the sertao
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poor soil, unpredictable weather and rainfall
harsh growing conditions
can’t afford farm equipment
subsistence farming
Economic Challenges - Cities
Rio de Janiero and Sao Paolo
 Favelas (slums)
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People move to cities
Hope to find jobs
Overcrowding
Uneducated, unskilled
Children beg on the streets
High crime
Developing the Interior
Brasilia – new capitol
– Encourage jobs away from crowded cities
– Showed that government wanted to make
life better
Began building roads and infrastructure
Gave away plots of land to encourage
people to move away from coastal areas
Government Policies
Create an industrial base
Built hydroelectric power plant – Istapu
– Cheap renewable energy
– Created jobs
Government established a national bank
Promoted manufacturing
Built steel mills, oil refineries
Development Success
 Manufacturing accounts for 1/3 GNP
 Discovered oil – off shore
 Successful development of gasohol –
– Mixture of gasoline and ethanol (sugar cane)
– Farmers ease the dependence on foreign oil
 1940 – 2/3 employed in agriculture
 1980 – 1/3 employed in manufacturing and ¼
employed in service
Negative Affects
Improvements made but poverty remains
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People have moved to the cities
To get higher paying jobs
Only find unemployment
Favelas have increased 15 X
Brazil Today
8th largest world economy
One of the fastest growing in the world
Former President Luis da Silva
– Worked to improve the economy
New President Dilma Rousseff
– Continuing his work
Brazil’s Future
Is considered a world power
Million of acres of fertile land
Rich culture
Fine climate
Large population
FIFA World Cup 2014
Rio awarded the Olympics in 2016
Chapter 13
Twelve other countries of SA
Separated into three regions
– Northern tropics
– Andean countries
– Southern grassland countries
Section 1
The Northern Tropics
 The Guiana's
 Guyana, Suriname, French Guyana
 Share tropical wet climate, rain forests and
narrow coastal plain on the Atlantic Ocean
 Human geography give each a distinct
personality
 Differences in history and pattern of
colonization
 Population is fewer than 1 million
Suriname
Guyana
French
Guiana
Language and Religion
Guyana
 Speak English – once English colony
 Christian, Muslim, or Hindu
Suriname
 Speak Dutch – colony of Netherlands until 1975
 Christian, Muslim, Hindu
French Guyana –
 Speak French – an overseas department of France
 Catholic
Effects of Migration
Ethnic composition varies from country to
country
Different patterns of migration
Ethnic Differences – Guyana
Europeans brought slaves to work sugar
plantations
After slavery was abolished, needed workers
Workers from China, India and SW Asia
arrived
½ population is of Asian decent and speak
Hindi or Urdu or other languages of India
43% of African ancestry
Ethnic Differences - Suriname
Greater variety of ethnic backgrounds
50% Asian ancestry workers from 1800s
10% African ancestry
30% Mulattoes – mixed African and other
ancestry
Rest are indigenous Indians
Ethnic Differences – French
Guyana
Largest group is mulattos
African slaves married whites
Number of people with European descent
because it is owned by France
Economies
Similar primary economies
– Shared natural resources
Lowlands - agriculture– sugar cane and rice
Coastal - large fishing and shrimp industries
Hills – mine bauxite
– metal used to make aluminum
– Guyana – largest exporter of bauxite
Venezuela
 Population - 24 million
 Better economy than Guyana's
– GNP - $3530 compared with Guyana GNP of $780
– Life expectancy is 73.1 compared with Guyana at 64
 Major exporter - oil – member /OPEC
 Culture - like the rest of SA
 People – mostly mestizos or of European decent
 Former Spanish colony
 Official language - Spanish
 Official religion - Roman Catholic
The Andean Highlands Venezuela
NW corner – Andes
– tower over narrow coastline
Northern Venezuela
– lower range of mountains, hills, and plateaus
Most people
– live in fertile mountain valleys
Caracas - capital
– in valley
Caracas
Capital
Majority people
– live in the city
– Poverty
– Ranchitos are small shacks in slums
Government has used wealth from oil
– help poverty
– yet 1/3 people live in ranchitos –
Waterfalls and Grasslands
Guiana Highlands –
– southeast –
– covers ½ the country
SE - border with Brazil
– tropical rain forests
World’s highest waterfall - Angel Falls –
– Canaima National Park on the Churun River,
a tributary of the Orinoco River
Angel Falls – Canaima
National Park
Waterfalls and Grasslands
 Between the two highland regions
– Orinoco River flows through central Venezuela
On both sides - savannas
– called llanos (plains in Spanish)
 Rainy and dry seasons
Important cattle grazing
Very similar to the geography of AZ, NM,
Elevation and Climate
Lies in Tropics
Climate
– depends on elevation
– not distance from equator
Different crops grown at different
elevations
Coffee # 1 crop
– trees grow in Tierra Templada
Vertical Climate Zones
Tierra Helada – 14,000’ [below 20*] snow
Puna – 10,000’ [20-55*]
grazing
Tierra Fria – 6000’ [55-65*]
potatoes, wheat
Tierra Templada – 3000’ [65-75]
coffee
Tierra Caliente – Sea Level [75-80*] rice
Oil Rich Region
Four large beds of oil
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Eastern Llanos
Orinoco delta
Lowlands near Lake Maracaibo
Offshore
Top ten oil producers
Venezuelan government
Developed bauxite and iron mines
Building power plants
Setting up factories
Current ruler – Hugo Chavez
– Anti American dictator
– Corrupt elections
– Popular with the people
Socialist economy
Colombia
Named after Christopher Columbus
Borders Atlantic and Pacific Oceans
Fourth largest in area
Second largest in population
– 40 million
Land and Climate
3 distinct physical regions
– Lowlands, mountains, llanos or grassy plains
75% people live in fertile valleys
– between three cordilleras (parallel mountain
ranges)
Bogata
– Capital
– Lies in high plateau of the Andes
A Single Crop
# 1 crop is coffee
– second only to Brazil
– Grown on 300,000 small farms - campesinos
Most farmland
– owned by few wealthy families
– rent small farms to tenant farmers at high price
• barely enough to support themselves
• focus on coffee as a cash crop
• dependent on fluctuation of world coffee market
The Drug Trade
Farmers make more money
– growing coca plants (leaves make cocaine)
– marijuana
Drug cartels destabilize the country
Illegal drug trade
– holds considerable power
– violence
– pressure from US
History of Colombia
1830 Venezuela and Ecuador separated
– became New Granada
1863 changed - United States of Colombia
1886 Republic of Colombia
Stormy political history
1950s bloody civil war
– between two political parties
Social Challenges
Minority holds power and wealth
– Descendents of Spanish
Majority in poverty
– Occasional violence
Government - Republic
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Executive branch dominates
President Alvaro Uribe Velez
Elected in 2006 – pro US
Doesn’t get along with Hugo Chavez
Section 2
The Andean Countries
 The Andes Mountains
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Backbone of Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia and Chile
5000 miles long
some places 500 miles wide
some peaks are over 20,000 ft.
 Longest, unbroken mountain chain in world
 Only higher mountains - the Himalayas
 Shape the geography and economy
Physical Characteristics
Three distinct environments
– Coastal plain
– Highlands
– Tropical forests
Coastal Plain
Between mountains and sea
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a narrow plain
stretches along the Pacific ocean
maybe only a sandy beach
maybe 100 miles wide
Atacama Desert - Center
 One of the most lifeless deserts
– Northern plain of Chile
– winds lose moisture in cold waters on Peru
Current
– only dry air reaches land
Archaeological treasures
– Dry heat preserves fossils
Coastal Plains –North & South
 North
– Coast of Ecuador
– More rainfall - humid rainforests
South
– Southern Chile
– Mediterranean climate
– hot dry summers and mild winters
Andes Highlands
Andes rise from 6500 to 16,000
Between cordilleras
– highland valleys and plateaus
Plateau regions
– Different names in different countries
– Altiplanos – Peru and Bolivia
– Paramos - Ecuador
Climate of the Andes
Climate varies with elevation
– Alpine tundra above the timber line
– Highest altitudes
• midsection of the mountain chain
• snow-covered year round
Further north - mountains
– temperatures are warmer
– more rains
– thick rain forests
Tropical Forests/Interior
 Eastern slopes of the Andes
– descends to forested tropical lowlands
 Stark contrast between dry mountains and
steamy lowlands
 Selva – lowlands
– Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia
– beginnings of rain forests of the Amazon River basin
– few people live here
– many native rain forest animals/plants
People and the Environment
Andes draws people because of natural
resources
– mineral deposits
– gold, silver, tin, copper
Areas of rich soil
– depending on the elevation
Mountains serves as barriers to trade
– within each country
– with the entire world
Economic Activities
 Vertical Trade – market town
– people from different elevations meet
– grow different things at different elevations
– they trade their crops up and down
 bananas/sugar cane
– trade up to potatoes/ cabbages
– or trade down to coastal fishermen
– trade up further up too highland cheese-makers
 all meet in the market town
Ecuador
Ecuador
 Takes name from equator – Quito - capital
 25% - Indian decent
– Speak Quechua, language of Incas
– Follow traditional lifestyle in highlands
– Subsistence agriculture
 10% Europeans
– own largest farms
– most political influence
 50% Mestizos
– speak Spanish
– live in highland cities and towns
– some work in factories
Physical Effects
Natives Americans
– have lived for centuries at high altitudes
Andean Indians
– been living at thin, oxygen poor air
– Over time - have developed larger hearts
and lungs
Ecuador
Tenant farmers
– grow bananas, cacao, coffee
More natives - moving from the
highlands to the coastal lowlands
Tropical rain forests sparsely populated
Ecuador
1960s discovery of oil in the selva
lowlands
Challenges are how to transport the oil
to the coast
75% production controlled by
Petroecuador – not always managed
Petroleum became #1 export
Country’s economy has grown steadily.
Peru
Peru
Capital - Lima
Most of the country – Andes
Northwest interior is heavy rainforest
Peru
 Heart of the vast Inca Empire
– Fell to the Spaniards in early 1500s
– Conquistadors destroyed the empire
 Incan descendents remain 45% population
– Speak Quechua or Aymara
– Subsistence farming, herding llamas, alpacas
 Magnificent ruins such as Machu Picchu and
the Inca capital of Cuzco
Manchu Picchu
People of Peru
Most others are Mestizos
– Work in factories, plantations
– Widespread poverty and unemployment
European minority
– control wealth
– government leaders
Asians have immigrated
Politics and Government
 Independence from Spain in 1821 - various
dictators until 1995
 Peruvian of Japanese ancestry was elected as
president – Alberto Fujimori
– Initially improved economy
– In 2nd term he suppressed a revolt called the
Shining Path which lead to his suspending
democratic rights
– Reelected in 2000 pressure from outside world led
to his resignation
 Current leader – Alan Garcia Perez
Bolivia
Bolivia
Landlocked
Contains world’s highest navigable lake
–Lake Titicaca - on the border between
Bolivia and Peru
Two capitals – LaPaz and Sucre
LaPaz – constitutional, judicial
Sucre - administrative
Bolivian people
Majority of people are Indians
Subsistence farmers who live in
highlands
Grow potatoes, wheat, barley
Herd alpacas and llamas
Bolivia
Many ores have already been mined
Climate varies with elevation
From humid subtropical to semi-arid
Cold thin air makes physical activity
difficult
Chile
Chile
Chile means ‘end of the land’
– Named by Indians
2700 miles long, 100 miles wide
Population of 15 million
66% people are mestizos, 25% Europeans
Few are of Amerindian decent
Chile
Atacama Desert in north is uninhabited
75% people live in Central Valley
Region of fertile river basins between Andes
and coastal ranges
Productive summer growing season
– opposite our seasons
– market for produce – fruits, grapes, vegetables
Chile
33% population live in Santiago (capital)
– Many move into the city - jobs
– Many are illiterate and unskilled
– High unemployment
Economy has grown rapidly – still poverty
Elected 1st women president in 2006–
Michelle Bachelet
Section Three
The Southern Grassland Countries
Uruguay, Paraguay, Argentina
Most prosperous countries in SA
More in common with European
countries than with rest of SA
Rivers and Regions
Southern SA
– several physical regions
– varying landforms, climates & vegetations
Bound together by a great river system
Rivers
Several large rivers flow
– from the interior
– into the Rio de la Plata (River of Silver)
– Estuary – broad river mouth formed where a
flooded river valley meets the sea
4 rivers form boundaries
– The Uruguay, the Paraguay, the Parana and
the Pilcomayo
Great Rivers
Located on the Rio de la Plata
– Capitals of Uruguay (Montevideo)
– Argentina (Buenos Aires)
Inexpensive system
– travel
– transportation of goods
Paraguay
Paraguay
 Landlocked but
– has an outlet to the sea – Rio de la Plata
 People live in the highlands in the east
 50% people live
– in urban areas
– the capital city of Asuncion on the Paraguay R.
 Most people are mestizos
– speak Guarani (local Indian language) & Spanish
Paraguay
Agricultural economy
– Cotton, grains, livestock
Itaipu Dam
– Paraguay and Brazil combined to build
– world’s largest hydroelectric project
– on the Parana River
Paraguay Government
 Long periods
– authoritarian rulers
– wars, political instability, and infighting
 1954 – 1989 military dictator, Higinio Morinigo
– political freedoms limited
 Overthrown
– by another general - made the government responsible
to the people
 1993 –Constitutional Republic
– elected first civilian president
Uruguay
Uruguay
 Means “river of the painted bird”
– all the tropical birds
– along the “Rio de la Plata”
 Spanish arrived in 1516
– military center
Rolling grasslands
– Economy- agriculture, livestock, meat processing, leather and
wool production
 75% land used for grazing and grains to feed livestock
 Dependent upon imports
– fuel and consumer goods
Uruguay
80% are Europeans,
– mainly Italian and Spanish
Large middle class
– Live comfortably in urban areas
Montevideo - capital on the Atlantic Ocean
Easy to get to Europe
Tourists areas - nice beaches
Uruguay
Independence from Spain
– Long road
– Politically unstable until mid 1980s
Government is a Republic
– Since then - free elections
– President – Tabare Vazquez Rosas
Argentina
Argentina
8th largest country in the world
4 main geographical areas –
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Andes
Tropical lowlands – Gran Chaco
Grasslands - Pampas
Plateau area - Patagonia
Andean Region
Highest peaks of Andes
– Western Argentina
– 4 highest peaks in the Western Hemisphere
– Highest is Mt. Aconcagua at 22,831 ft.
Gradually slopes down to a gently rolling
piedmont or foothills
Tropical Lowland
The Gran Chaco
– great swamp – hot interior lowland
– covers parts of Argentina, Paraguay, Brazil
and Bolivia
Temperatures are mild
Rainfall is seasonal
Mostly used for cattle grazing
Grasslands
Pampas of Uruguay and Argentina
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Temperate grasslands –
Home to the gauchos – SA cowboys
Rich black soil good for growing
Compete with US for overseas grain exports
Breadbasket – producing 80% nation’s
grain and meat
– Warm summers and cold winters
Patagonia
South of the Pampas
– Dry, cold, foggy plain
Known for sheep grazing
Rich deposits of oil and bauxite
People and Government
Discovered by Spanish in 1516
80% Europeans
– Italians, Spanish, German
8% Mestizos
Most live in urban areas
One of the wealthiest countries – uneven
wealth
Highest GNP in all of South America
Buenos Aires
Capital – important European connection
Manufacturing and factories
Heavy air pollution
Large areas of slums
High unemployment
Political History
 Independence from Spain in 1860s
 Mid 1940s-1983 many dictators
 Best know dictator was Juan Peron
– Wanted to develop industry and distribute wealth –
wife Eva Peron – “Evita”
 Conditions in the 1970s became known as the
Dirty Wars
 Many Germans, Europeans escaped from
Europe during and after WWII (Nazis)
Government
1981 war with Great Britain
– over the Falkland Islands
Facing disgrace the military rulers agreed
to allow open elections
Current leaders
– trying to get Argentina into good shape
economically
– Improve international standing