1. Columbia’s Culture and Challenges9
Colombia’s Landscape
Colombia borders the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean. 
It is almost three times larger than Montana. 
The Andes sweep through the western part of Colombia. 
Here they become a cordillera, or a group of mountain ranges that run side by side. 
Colombia’s capital and largest city is Bogotá.
(pages 254–255)
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2. Colombia’s Landscape (cont.)
Columbia’s Culture and Challenges 9
Colombia’s Landscape (cont.)
Nearly 80 percent of Colombia’s people live in the valleys and highland plateaus of the Andes. 
In northeast Colombia, one finds ranchers living on the hot grasslands called the llanos. 
Temperatures are very hot with heavy rains along the coast and interior plains. 
Temperatures are cooler in the Andes.
(pages 254–255)
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3. Colombia’s Economic Resources
Columbia’s Culture and Challenges 9
Colombia’s Economic Resources
Colombia has more coal than any other country in South America, and it has vast hydroelectric power and petroleum reserves. 
It is the world’s number one source of emeralds. 
Factories produce items such as clothing, leather goods, food products, and iron and steel products.
(pages 255–256)
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4. Colombia’s Economic Resources (cont.)
Columbia’s Culture and Challenges 9
Colombia’s Economic Resources (cont.)
Coffee is the country’s major cash crop, or a product sold for export. 
Other agricultural products include bananas, cacao, sugarcane, rice, and cotton. 
Colombia’s problem crop is coca leaves, which are used to make the drug cocaine.
(pages 255–256)
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5. Colombia’s Economic Resources (cont.)
Columbia’s Culture and Challenges 9
Colombia’s Economic Resources (cont.)
Drug dealers have used their immense profits to build private armies, and they persuade farmers to grow the crop as opposed to coffee. 
The Colombian government, with U.S. support, is fighting the drug dealers.
(pages 255–256)
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6. Colombia’s History and People
Columbia’s Culture and Challenges 9
Colombia’s History and People
Nearly all Colombians are mestizos, meaning they have mixed European and Native American backgrounds. 
Most speak Spanish and follow the Roman Catholic faith. 
In 1810 Colombia declared independence from Spain. 
The struggle for independence was lead by Simón Bolívar.
(pages 256–257)
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7. Colombia’s History and People (cont.)
Columbia’s Culture and Challenges 9
Colombia’s History and People (cont.)
In 1819, Colombia became a part of New Granada along with Venezuela, Ecuador, and Panama. 
Later, Colombia became a separate country. 
Colombia’s government is a republic with an elected president. 
Political violence has scarred the country’s history, though, and the current civil war started in the 1960s.
(pages 256–257)
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8. Colombia’s History and People (cont.)
Columbia’s Culture and Challenges 9
Colombia’s History and People (cont.)
Colombia has a rapidly growing urban population. 
Colombian farmers, or campesinos, and their families have journeyed to cities to look for work or to flee the fighting in the countryside.
(pages 256–257)
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10. Land and People of Peru and Ecuador9
Peru
Most of Peru’s farms and cities lie on a narrow coastal strip along the Pacific Ocean. 
The Andes run through the center of the country. 
Peru has many climates, including dry deserts, frigid mountains, and hot, humid rain forests. 
The cold Peru Current keeps temperatures mild along the coast.
(pages 266–268)
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11. Land and People of Peru and Ecuador9
Peru (cont.)
On Peru’s border with Bolivia, you can see Lake Titicaca, the highest navigable lake in the world. 
Navigable means that a body of water is wide and deep enough to allow ships to travel in it. 
East of the Andes you descend to the foothills and flat plains of the Amazon Basin.
(pages 266–268)
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12. Land and People of Peru and Ecuador9
Peru (cont.)
Foothills are the low hills at the base of a mountain range. 
Thick forests cover almost all of the plains area. 
Peru has many natural resources. 
Peru’s biggest export is copper; its second-largest export is fish. 
Most people work on subsistence farms, where they grow rice, plantains, corn, and potatoes.
(pages 266–268)
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13. Land and People of Peru and Ecuador9
Peru (cont.)
Native Americans of the Andes were the first to grow potatoes. 
Farmers grow hundreds of varieties of potatoes today, making the potato Peru’s main food crop. 
During the 1400s, a Native American people called the Inca had a powerful civilization in the area that is now Peru. 
Their empire, or group of lands under one ruler, stretched more than 2,500 miles along the Andes.
(pages 266–268)
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14. Land and People of Peru and Ecuador9
Peru (cont.)
In the 1500s, the Spaniards arrived and conquered the Inca, turning Peru into a Spanish colony. 
Peru gained independence in the 1820s. Peru is now a republic. 
Lima is the capital and largest city. 
In recent years, many people have moved to Lima looking for work.
(pages 266–268)
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15. 9 Peru (cont.) About half of Peru’s people are Native American. 
Land and People of Peru and Ecuador 9
Peru (cont.)
About half of Peru’s people are Native American. 
In fact, Peru has one of the largest Native American populations in the Western Hemisphere.
(pages 266–268)
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16. 9 Ecuador Ecuador is one of the smallest countries in South America. 
Land and People of Peru and Ecuador 9
Ecuador
Ecuador is one of the smallest countries in South America. 
Its climate is similar to that of Peru. 
Ecuador is the Spanish word for “Equator,” which runs right through Ecuador. 
Ecuador owns the Galápagos Islands, known for their rich plant and animal life.
(pages 268–269)
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17. Land and People of Peru and Ecuador9
Ecuador (cont.)
Agriculture is the most important economic activity. 
The eastern lowlands yield petroleum, Ecuador’s major mineral export. 
About half of Ecuador’s people live along the coast. 
The port city of Guayaquil is the most populous city. 
The other half of the population lives in the valleys and plateaus of the Andes.
(pages 268–269)
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18. 9 Ecuador (cont.) Quito is Ecuador’s capital. 
Land and People of Peru and Ecuador 9
Ecuador (cont.)
Quito is Ecuador’s capital. 
Its historic center has Spanish colonial buildings and has been declared a protected world cultural heritage site by UNESCO.
(pages 268–269)
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20. The Bolivians and Chileans9
Bolivia
Bolivia is a landlocked country, having no land that touches a sea or an ocean. 
Bolivia also is the highest and most isolated country in Latin America. 
The Andes dominate Bolivia’s landscape. 
In western Bolivia, the Andes surround a high plateau called the altiplano. 
Most Bolivians live on the altiplano.
(pages 271–273)
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21. The Bolivians and Chileans9
Bolivia (cont.)
In 1993 Peru gave Bolivia a free trade zone in the port city of Ilo. 
Although Bolivia is rich in minerals, about two-thirds of the Bolivian people live in poverty. 
Many villagers practice subsistence farming. 
The administrative capital and largest city in Bolivia is La Paz.
(pages 271–273)
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22. The Bolivians and Chileans9
Bolivia (cont.)
La Paz—at 12,000 feet—is the highest capital city in the world. 
The official capital is Sucre. 
About half of Bolivia’s people are Native Americans. 
Another 30 percent are mestizos.
(pages 271–273)
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23. 9 Chile Chile averages 110 miles in width, but is 2,652 miles long. 
The Bolivians and Chileans 9
Chile
Chile averages 110 miles in width, but is 2,652 miles long. 
About 80 percent of Chile’s land is made up of mountains. 
The high Andes run along Chile’s border with Bolivia and Argentina. 
Except in the altiplano area of Chile’s north, very few Chileans live in the Andes.
(pages 273–274)
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24. The Bolivians and Chileans9
Chile (cont.)
Because of the rain shadow of the Andes, the Atacama Desert in Chile is one of the driest places on the earth. 
Santiago is Chile’s capital. 
Chile ranks as the world’s leading copper producer. 
The country also mines and exports gold, silver, iron ore, and sodium nitrate—a mineral used in fertilizer and explosives.
(pages 273–274)
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25. 9 Chile (cont.) Agriculture is also a major economic activity. 
The Bolivians and Chileans 9
Chile (cont.)
Agriculture is also a major economic activity. 
Most Chileans are mestizos. 
Nearly all the people speak Spanish and most are Roman Catholic. 
Some 80 percent of Chile’s population lives in urban areas.
(pages 273–274)
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