1. Countries of South America
Chapter 13
Countries of South America

2. Section 1 - The Northern Tropics
Countries in the Northern Tropics - The Guianas, Venezuela, Colombia,

3. Guianas Guyana - formerly British. 43% African and 50% Asian
Guyana, Fr. Guiana, and Suriname share the following:
Tropical wet climate, rainforest, and narrow coast line
Fishing, rice, wheat and sugarcane are the main economic activities.
Guyana - formerly British. 43% African and 50% Asian
90% live on the coast
Disputes with Venezuela over land
Poorest country in S.A.
Jim Jones People Temple Mass suicide

4. Suriname Fr. Guiana Formerly Dutch 10% African,50% Asian, 30% Mulatto
Grows rice, and bananas
Mines bauxite and exports lumber
Fr. Guiana
Largest ethnic group is mulatto. Home to Devils Island - prison
European space agencies rocket port.
Forests, shrimp and gold

5. Venezuela Formerly Spanish Catholic
Live in the valleys in the N and NW
Capital Caracas, poor areas Ranchos
SE - highlands and rainforest
Angel Falls is located here - world’s highest waterfall

6. Venezuela - cont.
Orinoco River - central Venezuela surrounded by the llanos - savanna region (grassland) - used for grazing
Elevation is a big factor for climate
Oil is a major resource (top 5 in the world) Lake Maracaibo. Oil deposits are being depleted so they have been trying to invest in business. Member of OPEC
Other resources - iron ore, sugar, coffee , rice, corn, and bananas

7. Colombia Gained independence from Spain in the 1800s
It has lowlands, Mts. and grassy plains (llanos)
Main crop is coffee but also produces rice, bananas
sugar, and tobacco
Campesinos -- small coffee farms
Natural resources - oil, natural gas, gold, emeralds
Also money being made on Marijuana and cocaine

8. Colombia ://www.colombiajournal.org/cocainephotos.htm
Famous for drug trafficking of cocaine
Medellin (Pablo Escabar) vs. Cali drug wars ended with both drug lords taken down in the mid 1990’s.
Today still over 300 smaller groups left smuggling drugs out of Colombia
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9. Chapter 13 -- section 2 The Andean Countries
The Andes Mt. are the longest chain of Mts. in the world (5000 miles long) and second highest
Follow the Pacific to form a narrow plain
Atacama desert - Peru
Paramos -- high plateaus in Ecuador
Altiplanos -- high plateaus in Peru and Bolivia
Selvas -- tropical forests on the eastern slope of the Andes
Incas -- indigenous people of the Andes, these people have physical adaptations to live in high elevations (larger lungs)

10. Ecuador
Ethnically: 25% Indian who speak Quechua (language of the Incans) -- live in the highlands and are subsistent farmers
50% Mestizo who speak Spanish and live in large cities
10% European - control the wealth and live on large plantations, run the Gov. and factories
Oil was discovered but an earthquake wrecked the pipeline. Leading producer of balsa wood
Bananas, coffee, and cocao
Galapagos islands are owned by Ecuador

11. Peru Incas are 45% of the pop.
Machu Picchu was the capital city of the Incans
Live in the highlands as llama herders
Economic - coca plant (cocaine), anchovies
Many Asians have began to immigrate to Peru
Alberto Fujimori - Japanese ancestry, former President of Peru
Resigned amid allegations of corruption

12. Bolivia CHILE Landlocked Resources - tin, oil, copper and zinc
Indigenous and subsistence farmers
Part of Incan empire
LaPaz (adm. ) Sucre (Jud)
CHILE
Long and narrow (2700 x 100)
Atacama desert in the north, most people live in the central valley - fruits and veg.
Mines nitrates for explosives or fertilizer
Copper (one of the worlds largest), oil and coal
Very poor - 3 million below poverty line

13. Section 3- southern S.A.
Has the greatest physical diversity bound together by the Rio De La Plata and is the wealthiest part of S.A.
Regions:
1. Andean Region (far west) Mt. Aconcagua
2. Tropical grasslands of the Gran Chaco
(great swamp)
3. Grasslands of the pampas
4. Cold desert of Patagonia -
sheep are raised, oil found

14. Paraguay Uruguay Argentina
Landlocked but linked to the sea by the Plata river system
Agriculture - cotton, grain and livestock
Hydroelectric and more democratic (1993) first Pres. Elect
Uruguay
Meat and meat processing industries
Argentina
Famous leader Peron
Lost war over the Falkland islands with the British
2nd largest country in S.A.