South America

Major geographic Qualities
Size
Almost 3.5% of the Earth's surface
Physiography is dominated by the Andes Mountains and the Amazon basin.

Physiography
Andes - Longest mountain range in the world (7,250 kilometers (4,200 miles) Mt. Aconcagua, is the tallest peak (22,831 feet)
Volcanoes, some still active
Atacama desert

Rivers
Amazon River
Eleven times the volume of the Mississippi, and drains an area equivalent in size to the United States. The force of the current causes Amazon River water to continue flowing 125 miles out to sea before mixing with Atlantic salt water.
Amazon Rainforest
The largest rainforest in the world.Covers 40% of South American Land Includes parts of eight South American countries: Brazil, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, and Suriname.
People in the Amazon forest
Kaiapo Indians in the Brazilian Amazon

Population of South America
Population 371,000,000 in 2005
Population is concentrated along the periphery
Culture
Cultural pluralism exists in most countries and is expressed regionally
Cultural pluralism exists when all groups within a larger society maintain their unique cultural identities.
Cultural Pluralism in south America
Roman Catholicism is the dominant religion of the region as a whole;
Protestantism is growing steadily
Guyana and Suriname have significant Hindu, and Muslim communities
Jewish communities, largest in São Paulo, Brazil and Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Racial categories in South America
Amerindian: native inhabitants
whites of European heritage
African: slaves
Asian: indentured servants
Mestizo: mixed white/Amerindian
Mulatto: mixed black/white
Creole: mixed Amerindian, African, European, Asian
Amerindians
Mulato
Mestizo
White European descendants
Language
Spanish -official language of most South American nations.
51% speak Portuguese, the official language of Brazil
Dutch is the official language of Suriname;
English the official language of Guyana; and
French the official language of French Guiana
Other languages
Aymará in Bolivia, Chile and Peru.
Quechua in Bolivia, Peru, and Ecuador.
Hindi in Suriname
Indonesian in Suriname.
Italian in Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, Venezuela, Colombia
Human Sequence
Cultural Hearth
The Inca Empire
The Inca Empire
The Inca Empire arose from the highlands of Peru sometime in early 13th century in Cuzco (1200-1535 A.D.)
Aerial view of Cuzco
Altiplanos
Altiplanos were key to settlement patterns.
Atiplanos are high-elevation valleys filled and floored by sediments from the adjacent mountains
Spectacular remnant is the Machu Picchu in Peru
Machu Picchu, in Peru
Achievements of the Incas
Great Military strategists
A highly centralized state
20 million subjects at its zenith
Transportation networks and integration efforts were most impressive.
They performed successful skull surgery,
Quipu ( form of writing)
Empire extended from present day Columbia to Chile
The Iberia Invasion
With 183 men and dozens of horses Francisco Pizzaro and his brothers invaded and conquered the Incas in 1531

Iberian Invasion
A treaty signed in 1494 between Spain and Portugal
East central part of (present day Brazil) became a Portuguese sphere of influence
Impact of the Iberian Conquest
Land alienation
Taxes were instituted
Forced-labor system
Lima, headquarters of the Spanish conquerors became one of the richest cities in the world
Legacy of the Incas
The major languages of the empire, Quechua and Aymara, were employed by the Roman Catholic Church to evangelize in the Andean region.
Today, Quechua and Aymara remain the most widespread Amerindian languages
Independence
Simon Bolivar led the independent movement in the north in 1824.
Independence
Argentina and Chile were first to establish their independence from Spain ( 1816 and 1818) respectively
Independence
States emerged based on the physical geography of the continent
Ex. Andes intervening between Chile and Argentina,
Cultural Fragmentation
Cultural Fragmentation
John Augelli attempted a regional generalization of the continents.
He identified four cultural regions
Tropical-plantation sphere
European-commercial sphere
Amerind-subsistence sphere
Mestizo-transitional sphere
CULTURE SPHERES
Resembles Middle America’s Rimland
Locations, soils, & tropical climates favor plantation crops, especially sugar.
Initially relied on African slave labor
Failure of the system-Poverty striven
CULTURE SPHERES
The most “Latin” part of South America
Includes the Pampas - temperate grasslands
Economically most advanced
Transportation networks and quality of life are excellent.
CULTURE SPHERES
Correlates with the former Inca Empire
Feudal socioeconomic structure persists
Includes some of South America’s poorest areas
Subsistence agriculture must contend with difficult environmental challenges.
CULTURE SPHERES
Surrounds the Amerindian-subsistence region
A zone of mixture- culturally & agriculturally
Transitional -- economic connotations: extremes of European commercial and Amerind-subsistence region
CULTURE SPHERES
Characteristics are difficult to classify.
Sparsely populated
Isolation and lack of change- notable features
Development of Amazonia may prompt significant changes.
SOUTH AMERICA’S CULTURE SPHERES
Hacienda system
The hacienda system was a system of large land-holdings that were an end in themselves
Practiced in
Argentina,
parts of Brazil,
Mexico and
New Granada
Economic Integration
ECONOMIC INTEGRATION
MERCOSUR
LAUNCHED IN 1995
A SOUTHERN CONE COMMON MARKET
INCLUDES BRAZIL, ARGENTINA, URUGUAY, AND PARAGUAY and Now VENZUELA
Bolivia and Chile are associate members
ANDEAN COMMUNITY
INITIALLY FORMED IN 1969 (ANDEAN PACT)
RESTARTED IN 1995 as a custom Union
MEMBERS ARE VENEZUELA, COLOMBIA, PERU, ECUADOR, AND BOLIVIA
Venezuela withdrew its membership in 2006
ECONOMIC INTEGRATION(CONTINUED)
SOUTH AMERICAN COMMUNITY OF NATIONS
Founded in 1994 in Cuzco
A forerunner to a union of all 12 South American states similar to EU
ECONOMIC INTEGRATION(CONTINUED)
Free trade Area of the Americas( FTAA)
Promoted by NAFTA
To create a free trade area from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego
Opposed by peasants and workers in South America
URBANIZATION
The percentage of a country’s population living in cities
79% - continent-wide in South America
South America's increase based on rate of “natural increase” and internal migration
URBANIZATION
Argentina, Chile, Uruguay -87%
Brazil 81%
Peru 72%
Megacities ( city’s population exceeding than 10 million)
Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro- Brazil
Buenos Aires- Argentina
Urbanization
Spanish colonizers laid out their cities around a central square, or plaza, dominated by; Church and government buildings
GENERALIZED MODEL OFTHE LATIN AMERICAN CITY
Elite Residential Sector
GENERALIZED MODEL OF THE LATIN AMERICAN CITY
GENERALIZED MODEL OFTHE LATIN AMERICAN CITY
GENERALIZED MODEL OFTHE LATIN AMERICAN CITY
GENERALIZED MODEL OFTHE LATIN AMERICAN CITY
THE NORTH (CARIBBEAN SOUTH AMERICA)
Venezuela, Colombia, Guyana, Suriname, French Guiana
Regional character: coastal locations, early European plantation development, forced migration of black laborers
Venezuela – 27.2 million people
Oil from lake Maracaibo is chief resource
Caracas & Valencia - key cities
CARIBBEAN SOUTH AMERICA(CONTINUED)
Colombia – 46.9 million people
Coffee, oil & coal - major exports
Cocaine - leading economic activity
Torn by internal violence
Bogotá & Medellin - key cities
The Guianas (French Guiana, Guyana, Suriname) - populations< 1.5 million Ethnically diverse Poverty stricken Face environmental crisis THE WEST(ANDEAN SOUTH AMERICA) Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia Regional character: Amerindian populations, subsistence agriculture, mountainous environments, poverty Peru – 28.4 million people Lima is its primate city. Economic activities - fishing, irrigated agriculture, sugar, cotton, rice, fruit, oil, minerals (an emerging economy!) ANDEAN SOUTH AMERICA(CONTINUED) Ecuador – 14.0 million people Main exports: oil, coffee, cacao, bananas Guayaquil - largest city and commercial center Quito - capital and administrative center Bolivia – 9.1 million people Landlocked Main exports: tin and zinc THE SOUTH(MID-LATITUDE SOUTH AMERICA) The southern cone: Argentina, Chile, Paraguay, Uruguay Heart of European-commercial culture sphere Argentina – 38.7 million people 89% urbanized, peripheral Buenos Aires - a classic primate city Exports: cereals, meats, vegetable oils MID-LATITUDE SOUTH AMERICA (CONTINUED) URUGUAY - 3.4 MILLION PEOPLE MONTEVIDEO - CLASSIC PRIMATE CITY MOST EUROPEAN OF SOUTH AMERICAN COUNTRIES EXPORTS: HIDES, MEATS,TEXTILES PARAGUAY – 6.3 MILLION 95% MESTIZO LANDLOCKED LOCATION CHILE – 16.4 MILLION AN “ELONGATED STATE” EXPORTS: COPPER AND NITRATES BRAZIL Contains half the continent’s land and people A federal republic of 26 states Ethnic diversity - mixture of European, African, and Amerindian peoples Portuguese - speaking & roman catholic adherents Substantial mineral resources: iron, aluminum ore, manganese, oil, and gas BRAZIL(CONTINUED) Great cities Rio de Janeiro - cultural focus Sao Paulo - industrial hub Brasilia - a “forward capital” Developing the Amazon “Growth pole” concept Environmental concerns FORWARD CAPITAL Capital city positioned in a contested or potentially contested territory Usually near an international border Confirms the state’s determination to maintain its presence in the territory under contention St Petersburg, Russia Islamabad, Pakistan Brasilia, Brazil GROWTH POLE THEORY Aims to promote growth in the hinterlands Augmented by investment support in an attempt to spread economic activities and benefits Create jobs in depressed areas Reduce uneven concentrations of wealth Decentralize industry Sets off “ripples” of development