1. Chapter 10 – Pacific South America
Section Notes
Video
Physical Geography
History and Culture
Pacific South America Today
Impact of the Andes Mountains
Maps
Pacific South America: Political
Pacific South America: Physical
Bolivia: Resources
Languages in Pacific South America
Pacific South America
Close-up
Climate Zones in the Andes
World Almanac
Images
Languages in Pacific South America
Physical Geography
An Inca City
Andean Culture
Harvesting Grapes
Chile’s Exports to the United States, 2004
Quick Facts
Chapter 10 Visual Summary

2. 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.

3. 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.

4. Physical Features Mountains – The Andes Water and Islands
Run through Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, and Chile
Rise more than 20,000 feet (6,800 m) above sea level
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.
Water and Islands
Andean glaciers are source of tributaries for the Amazon River.
Few other major rivers
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.

5. 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.

6. 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.

7. 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

8. 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

9. 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.

10. 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.

11. 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

12. 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.

13. 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

14. 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.

15. 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.

16. Main Idea 1: Ecuador struggles with poverty and political instability.
Government
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
he fired the country’s supreme court to gain power
economic reforms had failed to improve housing, medical care, or education in the country
Economic Regions
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.

17. Main Idea 2: Bolivia’s government is trying to gain stability and improve the economy.
After years of military rule, Bolivia is a democracy.
Poverty has been a cause of political unrest in recent years.
Two capital cities:
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.
Economy
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.

18. 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.

19. 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.
Government
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.
Resources

20. Main Idea 4: Chile has a stable government and a strong economy.
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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