SOUTH AMERICA

COUNTRIES

• Venezuela• Guyana• Suriname• French Guiana• Brazil• Paraguay Uruguay• Argentina Columbia• Chile Bolivia• Peru Ecuador

MAJOR CITIES (a few, not all)

• Buenos Aires• Santiago• La Paz• Sucre• Lima• Asuncion• Montevideo• Brasilia• Recife

• Salvador• Georgetown• Paramaribo• Caracas• Bogota• Quito• Cayenne• Rio de Janeiro

BODIES OF WATER

• Amazon River• Orinoco River• Uruguay River• Pacific Ocean• Atlantic Ocean• Rio de la Plata• Lake Maricaibo

FAMOUS PHYSICAL FEATURES• Strait of Magellan

– Links the Atlantic and Pacific Ocean

• Falkland Islands– Fought over by Argentina and United Kingdom

• Angel Falls– World tallest waterfall

• Aconcagua (22831ft) – Second tallest peak in the world

• Atacama Desert, Chile – Imperceptible rainfall on a yearly basis

• Cape Horn– Southernmost tip of South America

• Andes Mountains– South America’s longest mountain chain.

ANGEL FALLS

ATACAMA DESERT

POPULATION• Ethnically diverse population • 379,500,000 approx. in 12 countries (5th out of 7)

• Buenos Aires, Argentina -11.92 million (#3 in the world)

• Sao Paulo, Brazil -10.26 million (#8 in the world)

• Lima, Peru - 8.38 million (#14 in the world)

• Most indigenous groups live in the Andes region of Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia

• Spanish and Portuguese were first, then enslaved Africans (to work)

DENSITY AND DISTRIBUTION

• High rate of population growth

• People live on the continent’s edge

• ”Populated Rim” because of physical geography (Rainforests, deserts, and mountains dominate the interior)

• To draw people away from the coast, Brazilian Government moved capital from coastal Rio de Janeiro to Brasilia (located in interior)

BRAIN DRAIN

• People are looking for better wages and living conditions…so many people leave South America

• Countries such as Guyana, Ecuador, and Columbia, are experiencing a large brain drain

• Brain Drain loss of their more highly educated and skilled workers to other countries

EARLY CULTURES

• Early societies based primarily on agriculture

• Inca developed a highly developed civilization in the Andes (stretched from present-day Ecuador to central Chile)

• Ruled through a central government headed by an emperor.

• Hierarchical society emperor, high priest, and army commander had complete authority over everyone else

INCA’S

• Skilled Engineers built temples and fortresses. Network of roads that crossed mountain passes

• No written language knowledge was passed on to each generation through storytelling

• To keep financial and historical records, they used a Quipu series of knotted cords of various colors and lengths