I | INTRODUCTION |
South
America, fourth largest of the Earth's seven continents (after Asia,
Africa, and North America), occupying 17,820,900 sq km (6,880,700 sq mi), or 12
percent of the Earth's land surface. It lies astride the equator and tropic of
Capricorn and is joined by the Isthmus of Panama, on the north, to Central and
North America. The continent extends 7,400 km (4,600 mi) from the Caribbean Sea
on the north to Cape Horn on the south, and its maximum width, between Ponta do
Seixas, on Brazil's Atlantic coast, and Punta Pariñas, on Peru's Pacific coast,
is 5,160 km (3,210 mi).
South America has a 2008 estimated population
of 384 million, or 6 percent of the world's people. The continent comprises 12
nations. Ten of the countries are Latin: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile,
Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay, and Venezuela. Two of the nations
are former dependencies: Guyana, of the United Kingdom, and Suriname, of The
Netherlands. South America also includes French Guiana, an overseas department
of France. Located at great distances from the continent in the Pacific Ocean
are several territories of South American republics: the Juan Fernández Islands
and Easter Island (Chile) and the Galápagos Islands (Ecuador). Nearer the coast,
in the Atlantic Ocean, is the Fernando de Noronha Archipelago, which is a
Brazilian territory, and, farther south, the British dependency of the Falkland
Islands, which is claimed by Argentina as the Islas Malvinas. The coastline of
South America is relatively regular except in the extreme south and southwest,
where it is indented by numerous fjords.
II | THE NATURAL ENVIRONMENT |
South America consists of four upland
provinces, extending inland from the coasts, and, between them, three lowland
provinces. The northern and western fringes are dominated by the Andes
Mountains, the second highest mountain range in the world. Most of the eastern
coast is fringed by the broader—and generally less elevated—highland areas of
the Guiana and Brazilian massifs and the Patagonian Plateau. The main lowland is
the vast Amazon Basin in the equatorial part of the continent; it is drained by
the Amazon River, the world's second longest river. The Orinoco River drains a
lowland in the north; to the south lies the Paraguay-Paraná basin. The lowest
point in South America (40 m/ 131 ft below sea level) is on Península Valdés in
eastern Argentina, and the greatest elevation (6,960 m/22,834 ft) is atop
Aconcagua in western Argentina, the highest peak in the Western Hemisphere.
A | Geological History |
The oldest and most stable structural
element of the continent is the shield area of the Brazilian and Guiana
highlands of the east and northeast. It comprises a Precambrian (before 570
million years ago) complex of igneous and metamorphic rocks. In most places the
shield is overlaid by sedimentary rocks, mostly of Paleozoic age (570 million to
225 million years ago), although some areas of younger basalts occur, notably in
southern Brazil. Fossils found in the Brazilian Highlands offer evidence of
continental drift, indicating that in the Permian period the continent was
linked to Gondwanaland, a great landmass incorporating Africa and Asia.
The complex that underlies the Patagonian
Plateau is largely mantled by sediments deposited in the Mesozoic Era (225
million to 65 million years ago) and Tertiary Period (65 million to 1.6 million
years ago) and by basalts of recent formation.
Material eroded from the old shield areas
contributed to the thick deposits of sediments in the surrounding seas. These
sedimentary formations were uplifted repeatedly in the Mesozoic Era to form the
coast ranges of Chile and southern Peru and the higher and more extensive Andes.
This mountain-building process, which continued through the Tertiary Period, was
accompanied by intrusions of magma (molten rock) and by the formation of
volcanoes. Volcanic and seismic activity continues all up and down the
continent's western rim. The glaciers of the southernmost Andes are remnants of
the great ages of glaciation of the Quaternary Period (beginning 2.5 million
years ago). The erosion of the highlands continues to contribute sediments to
surrounding lowlands.
B | Natural Regions |
Rising abruptly from the northwestern and
western coasts of the continent are the Andes. They consist of a single chain in
Venezuela, in the north, and through much of Chile and Argentina, in the south,
but the central part of the mountain system consists of two or three parallel
axes of mountains, known as cordilleras, or ranges. In southwestern
Bolivia and southern Peru, a region of large intermontane plateaus called the
Altiplano separates the ranges. In Peru and Argentina the ranges are separated
by relatively narrow but deep valleys. Among the two dozen peaks that exceed an
elevation of 17,000 ft (equivalent to 5,182 m) are a number of active volcanoes
located in south central Chile, southern Peru and Bolivia, and Ecuador.
The vast uplands of Guiana, in the
northeast, and of Brazil, in the east, have rolling to hilly surfaces, with
broad plateaus and high mesas. The plateaus are higher and less broad in the
highlands of Guiana. In the Brazilian Highlands, the greatest relief occurs in
mountains that lie along the eastern coast, in many places rising abruptly from
the sea. In general, the rocks of these uplands have weathered into infertile,
reddish soils. Fertile soils derived from basaltic rocks are found in many
valleys, however. To the south is the less elevated and relatively flat
Patagonian Plateau (see Patagonia). Although soils here are generally
fertile, climatic constraints limit their agricultural usefulness.
The northernmost of the continent's
principal lowland areas is the Orinoco Basin, which includes the Llanos—a region
of alluvial plains and low mesas—and a vast system of valleys that converge
toward the Amazon between the Caquetá and Madeira rivers. The Amazon Basin
itself is a region of slightly rolling terrain. Farther south are the shallow
valleys and flat plains of the Gran Chaco and the Pampas, both of which merge
with the swampy floodplains of the Paraguay and Paraná rivers.
C | Drainage and Water Resources |
The greater part of South America is
drained to the Atlantic Ocean by three river systems: the Amazon, Orinoco, and
Paraguay-Paraná. Each of these large rivers also provides access to the
interior. The smaller São Francisco River drains northeastern Brazil. Numerous
lesser rivers drain the Caribbean and Pacific flanks of the Andes. The most
important of these is the Magdalena River and its tributary, the Cauca River.
This system, which drains north through Andean valleys in western Colombia to
empty into the Caribbean Sea, has also provided a traditional access route to
the interior. Scores of short Andean streams have sustained agriculture for
centuries in Ecuador, Peru, Chile, and northwestern Argentina. Considerable
hydroelectric power potential exists in the streams of the Andes and in those of
the Guiana and Brazilian Highlands. The Mantaro Valley hydroelectric scheme in
the Andes of Peru provides most of Lima's electricity.
South America has few large lakes. Many of
the large permanent lakes are situated at relatively high elevations in the
Andes. Among the largest are Lake Titicaca and Lake Poopó in Bolivia; Buenos
Aires, Argentino, and Nahuel Huapí lakes in Argentina; and Lake Valencia in
Venezuela.
D | Climate |
South America is dominated by relatively
warm climatic regimes. Spanning nearly the entire continent along the equator is
a belt of humid tropical climate that grades to the north and south into broad
zones where the length of the rainy season and the amount of rainfall diminish.
These zones have wet summers and dry winters and are subject to prolonged
droughts. Droughts are a particularly serious problem in northeastern Brazil and
along the northern coast of Venezuela and Colombia. The areas of rainy tropical
and tropical wet-dry climate extend along the Pacific coast of Colombia and
Ecuador but are marked by a sharp southern transition into the arid climate of
coastal Peru and northern Chile. In the northern half of South America only the
Andes region has a cool climate. Temperatures decrease with increasing
elevation, so that the tropical climate of the lowlands and lower slopes changes
to subtropical and temperate climates at intermediate elevations, and finally to
cold alpine climate at the mountain crests.
South of the tropic of Capricorn, South
America has cool to cold winters and cool to warm summers. Southern Chile
receives heavy precipitation, because of the cyclonic storms that move off the
Pacific Ocean from the west. The storm frequency, greatest in winter, diminishes
northward through Chile, resulting in a zone of Mediterranean-like climate, with
mild, wet winters and warm, dry summers. This zone is bordered by desert, which
extends along the coast as far north as Ecuador. Included in this region is the
Atacama Desert, one of the driest places in the world. Subhumid and arid
conditions prevail to the east of the southern Andes. In the Pampas and southern
Brazilian Highlands, however, summers tend to be humid, and in the winter
cyclonic storms may penetrate, bringing rain and chilly weather. Snow
occasionally falls over the highlands, and frosts may spread north toward the
tropic of Capricorn, causing extensive damage to crops.
E | Vegetation |
The vegetation zones of South America
correspond closely with the climatic zones. The areas of wet tropical climate
have a dense cover of rain forest, or selva. The largest forest area in
the world, this rain forest covers much of equatorial South America, including
the Brazilian coast and the lower slopes of the Andes, and contains tropical
hardwoods, palms, tree ferns, bamboos, and lianas. Open forests and brushlands
are found in the areas of winter drought chiefly on the Venezuelan coast, in
northeastern Brazil, and on the Gran Chaco. Between these drier areas and the
rain forest are zones of tall grass (savannas, or campos) and of scrub
and grass (campos cerrados). Mixed (containing both deciduous and
evergreen trees) and deciduous forests occur in southern Brazil and along the
slopes of the Andes. In Brazil the forest grades, to the south, into areas of
rolling prairie interrupted by wooded hills. The Gran Chaco is characterized by
grassy plains and open thorn scrub forest. The flat Pampas of east central
Argentina is the largest midlatitude grassland of South America. To the south a
zone of scrub steppe (monte) marks the transition to the low brush and
bunch grass that cover the drier and cooler Patagonia region. Along the Pacific
coast, the vegetation grades northward from forest to open woodland, to shrubs
and grass in central Chile, and eventually to the scrub and desert vegetation
that prevails into northern Peru and up to the mountain flanks.
F | Animals |
South America, Central America, the
lowlands of Mexico, and the West Indies may be classified as a single
zoogeographic region usually called the Neotropical Region. Fauna is
characterized by variety and a singular lack of affinity with the fauna of other
continents, including North America north of the Mexican Plateau. Found
throughout are families of mammals absolutely confined to the region, including
two unique species of monkey, bloodsucking bats, and many unusual rodents. The
region has only one kind of bear, the spectacled bear; no horses or related
animals, aside from one species of tapir; and no ruminants, except
lamoids (members of the camel family), which include alpacas, llamas, and
vicuñas. Also characteristic of the continent are jaguar, peccary, giant
anteater, and coati. Birds display still greater isolation and singularity.
About 23 families and about 600 genera of exclusively Neotropical birds occur,
as well as the greater part of other important families, such as those of the
hummingbirds (500 species), tanagers, and macaws, together with a great variety
of sea fowl. The largest birds include the rhea, condor, and flamingo. Reptiles
include boas and anacondas; iguanas, caimans, and crocodiles are found in many
areas. Freshwater fish are varied and abundant. Regional exclusiveness also
characterizes insects and other invertebrates. On the whole, South American
fauna is more local and distinct than that of any continent other than
Australia; probably more than four-fifths of its species are restricted to its
zoogeographic boundaries. The Galápagos Islands are the habitat of reptiles and
birds that are unknown elsewhere, including the Galápagos giant tortoise,
Darwin's finches, and the Galápagos penguin.
G | Mineral Resources |
South America has diverse mineral
resources, many of which have not been extensively exploited. Mineral deposits
are widely distributed, but certain areas of the continent are particularly
renowned for their wealth. In the Andes placer gold has been worked in various
areas since before the colonial era. The mountains between central Peru and
southern Bolivia produced silver and mercury in the colonial era, and industrial
minerals such as copper, tin, lead, and zinc today. Copper is worked at large
deposits in northern and central Chile and in central and southern Peru. A
highly mineralized area containing bauxite, iron ore, and gold lies between
Ciudad Bolívar and northern Suriname, near the northern margin of the Guiana
Highlands. In east central Brazil rich gold and diamond strikes occurred in the
colonial era, some of these mines are still producing. Although South America is
a major producer of rare metals, the large reserves of high-grade iron ore and
smaller reserves of bauxite are more important to the emerging industrial power
of the continent.
South America is lacking in large coal
reserves. Coal is found in scattered and relatively small deposits in the Andes
and in southern Brazil. Coal has been an important fuel for industry and
transportation primarily in Chile, Colombia, and Brazil. Petroleum, however, is
widely distributed. Most of the continent's reserves of petroleum and natural
gas lie in structural basins located mostly along the eastern margins of and in
the Andes, from Venezuela to Tierra del Fuego. The largest known fields are in
the Lake Maracaibo area of Venezuela. Other deposits occur in northern Colombia,
Ecuador and Peru, south of the Andes in eastern and central Venezuela, and just
east of the mountains in Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Argentina, and
Chile.
III | THE PEOPLE |
South America's overall population has been
increasing rapidly, especially in the developing tropical countries, and urban
populations have increased greatly in all parts of the continent. Immigration to
South America has been minimal since 1930. Internal migration has been of great
significance, however, increasing the concentration of people living on the
continent's periphery, while vast areas of the interior remain sparsely
populated. The overall population density is 22 persons per sq km (57 per sq
mi), but more than half the continent has a population density of fewer than 2
persons per sq km (5 per sq mi).
A | Ethnology |
Although South America's population has a
diverse ethnic heritage, its principal elements are the Native Americans and the
descendants of Spaniards, Portuguese, and African blacks. The racial spectrum
produced by mixing the various groups is broad. Most evident in South America
are the mestizos, people of Iberian and Native American ancestry; people
of mixed Iberian and black ancestry are less numerous, and the number of people
of mixed Native American and black ancestry is smaller yet. The Native Americans
are most numerous in the highlands of the central Andean republics. People of
Spanish descent are relatively more numerous in Argentina and Uruguay than
elsewhere. In Brazil, the Portuguese are the predominant Iberian element, and
the black and mulatto groups are more numerous than in any other South American
country. In the Guianas and coastal Colombia and Ecuador, the number of blacks
is also large.
The steady but relatively modest flow of
Iberians into South America during the colonial era and in the century and a
half since independence was augmented between the late 19th century and 1930 by
the entry of several million Italians, chiefly into Argentina, Brazil, and
Uruguay. Smaller numbers of Germans, Poles, and other European nationals also
arrived. Although many of the new European immigrants were engaged in rural
labor and tenant farming in Argentina and Brazil, many Germans and Italians and
fewer other Europeans established agricultural colonies. German colonists, for
example, settled in south central Chile. Other new immigrants gravitated toward
the cities, where they contributed substantially to the workforce and
entrepreneurial sectors. Several non-European groups, such as Syrians and
Lebanese, settled in large numbers also. The greatest numbers of Asian
immigrants during the late 19th century came from India, Indonesia, and China;
most of these entered British Guiana and Dutch Guiana as indentured laborers
after the abolition of slavery. Particularly since 1900, however, appreciable
numbers of Japanese have settled in southeastern Brazil. Japanese settlements
also exist in Paraguay, Bolivia, and northern and northeastern Brazil.
B | Demography |
South America's population more than
doubled between 1960 and 2000. About one-half of the continent's people live in
Brazil. Six other countries claim nearly 45 percent of the remaining population:
Colombia (11.5 percent), Argentina (10.7 percent), Peru (7.8 percent), Venezuela
(6.8 percent), Chile (4.4 percent), and Ecuador (3.7 percent). Average
population growth rates approached 2.4 percent per year between 1965 and 1990,
although Argentina and Uruguay have grown more slowly, as, to a lesser extent,
have Chile and Bolivia. The growth in population is due largely to natural
increase, the birth rate being 18 per 1,000 people and the death rate 6 per
1,000 in 2005. In many areas death rates have been declining substantially for
decades, whereas high birth rates only recently have shown a downward tendency.
The estimated number of people under the age of 15 in 2006 was 27 percent, while
the median age was 28.1 years in 2008.
Natural increase and migration from
provincial areas have caused urban populations to grow by up to 4 percent a
year. In Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay, the rate of urban growth has slowed, but
in the tropical countries, cities are growing with great rapidity. In the most
urbanized of the larger countries—Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, and Venezuela—at
least 80 percent of the population lives in urban centers; in the least
urbanized—Bolivia, Ecuador, and Paraguay—less than 65 percent of the population
is classified as urban.
C | Languages |
Spanish is the official language of 9 of
the 13 political entities on the continent. Portuguese is the official language
of Brazil; English, of Guyana; Dutch, of Suriname; and French, of French Guiana.
Among the scores of Native American languages, Quechua, Aymara, and Guaraní are
spoken by the largest numbers of people. The speakers of Quechua (7.6 million in
1998) are primarily in the central Andean highlands, and the speakers of Aymara
(2.1 million in 1998) in the highlands of Bolivia, Chile, and Peru. Guaraní is
an official language of Paraguay, along with Spanish.
D | Religion |
South America is unusual among the
continents for its religious homogeneity. About 90 percent of the population is
Roman Catholic. Most of the Protestants are in Brazil and Chile; the remainder
are widely distributed, primarily in urban centers. The Jews of South America
also tend to be urban dwellers and are widely distributed; about three-fourths
are in Argentina and Brazil, and more than 10 percent are in Uruguay and Chile.
Hindus, Muslims, and Buddhists are concentrated in Guyana and Suriname. The
Roman Catholic faith was brought to the continent by the Spaniards and
Portuguese during the Spanish conquest. Protestantism is a reflection of later
European immigration and of missionary activity begun in the 19th century. North
American evangelical groups were particularly active in the 20th century.
IV | PATTERNS OF ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT |
Historically a colonial area, economically
dependent on the export of agricultural and mineral commodities, South America
has experienced growth and diversification in most of its economic sectors since
the 1930s. After World War II (1939-1945) national policies of import
substitution (the local manufacture of formerly imported goods) reshaped
industry. The benefits of this rapid economic development have not spread evenly
but have accrued more to the leading cities and their environs.
The development of free trade has also been
of major importance to South America. This effort began in the late 1960s with
the Andean Community and has been evolving ever since. In the early 1990s the
creation of the Southern Cone Common Market (commonly known as Mercosur, from
the Spanish “Mercado Comun del Sur”) greatly improved South America's trade and
economic prospects. In 2004 the Andean Community and Mercosur joined forces to
create the South American Community of Nations, increasing the potential for
economic cooperation among member states.
A | Agriculture |
Most crop and livestock production in
South America is for home consumption and domestic markets. Nevertheless,
revenues from agricultural exports are very important in many South American
countries. The processing, internal marketing, and exporting of agricultural
products account for a substantial part of commercial and manufacturing
activity. Although agriculture, together with hunting, fishing, and forestry,
accounted for about 12 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP) within the
continent in the 1990s, it accounted for more than 30 percent of the labor force
in Bolivia, Paraguay, Peru, and Ecuador, between 20 percent and 30 percent in
Colombia, Brazil, and Guyana, and less than 20 percent in Suriname, Chile,
Uruguay, Venezuela, Argentina, and French Guiana.
The most intensive forms of commercial
agriculture are concentrated near cities. Perishables, such as vegetables,
fruits, and dairy items, are the principal products here. The production of
staples such as root crops, beans, and corn is more dispersed. In many areas
these crops are raised by subsistence farmers under unfavorable climatic or soil
conditions. Wheat and rice tend to be produced wherever conditions are most
suitable. The nonexport beef-cattle industry is dispersed widely; the raising of
beef cattle for export is of particular importance in Argentina, Uruguay,
Paraguay, and Colombia. Export-oriented agriculture is pursued in the tropical
areas and midlatitudes, where arable land and access to ports are optimal. Among
the tropical crops, coffee is the most important. It is produced in the
highlands, chiefly in southeastern Brazil and in west central Colombia. Cacao is
important in eastern Brazil and west central Ecuador. Bananas and sugarcane are
produced throughout the tropics, mostly for domestic markets. Bananas are grown
for export in Colombia and western Ecuador; sugar is produced for export in
coastal Peru, Guyana, and Suriname. Cotton has been produced for export for many
decades in coastal Peru. Cotton and sugarcane are also raised (both for export
and domestic markets) in northeastern and southeastern Brazil. In southeastern
Brazil soybeans have, since the 1970s, become an important export crop. Soybeans
are less important in Argentina, where fertile prairie soils have long supported
grain and livestock industries of worldwide importance. Argentine wheat, corn,
linseed, beef, mutton, hides, and wool are important items of international
trade. Uruguay has a long-standing export trade dominated by wool and
hides.
B | Forestry and Fishing |
Although the continent is 50 percent
forested and is surrounded by seas rich in marine life, the forestry and fishing
industries in most South American nations are small and oriented toward domestic
markets. Some tropical hardwoods and softwoods are exported, however, much of
the wood coming from the Amazon Basin, where large tracts of forest are being
cleared for conversion into range and cropland. Also exported is pine lumber
from southern Brazil and south central Chile, together with some pulpwood.
Significant areas of commercial forest have been planted in Chile and Brazil.
The widespread planting of eucalyptus trees for firewood, for timbering, and for
use in rough construction has historically been important.
South America's most important commercial
fisheries are the Pacific coastal waters. Large amounts of anchovies for fish
meal are caught off the Peruvian and Chilean coasts, although overfishing has
depleted recent harvests. Tuna are taken off the Ecuadorian and Peruvian coasts.
Crustaceans are an important catch in Chilean, Brazilian, and Guianese
waters.
C | Mining |
Most mining for export is on a large
scale. The long history of foreign corporate control of South American mining
operations is waning because of national political pressures. Petroleum, copper,
bauxite, and iron ore are the principal commodities in value and volume, but
mineral exports are greatly diversified. South America is an important world
producer of lead, zinc, manganese, and tin. Although all South American
countries have some mineral production, Venezuela's oil and gas account for more
than half the total value of the continent's output. Mineral production is of
great importance to several national economies. Venezuela's exports are
dominated by crude and refined petroleum, and derivatives, while the dependence
on mineral exports is somewhat less in Suriname, Bolivia, and Chile. Peru and,
in recent years, Ecuador, have relied heavily on the sale of minerals. Such
exports generate government revenue, but mining contributes little to
continental GDP and employment. Nevertheless, mineral commodities are important
to the continent's growing industrial diversification.
D | Manufacturing |
By the late 1970s manufacturing accounted
for at least 25 percent of South America's GDP, up from 20 percent in 1956, when
it first exceeded in importance both agriculture and commerce and finance. In
the late 1990s, the industrial sector accounted for more than 30 percent of the
GDP in Argentina, Venezuela, Brazil, Bolivia, Chile, Peru, and Ecuador.
The processing of agricultural commodities
remains the most widespread and important industry, even in Argentina and
Brazil, the most industrialized countries. The concentration and refining of
minerals is also important but tends to be located near the mineral deposits.
Other industries, however—such as petroleum refining, the making of iron and
steel and cement, and the manufacture of consumer goods such as textiles,
beverages, motor vehicles, electrical and mechanical equipment, and plastics—are
concentrated in and near the largest cities.
Industrial development in South American
countries has, in the past, taken place with government protection. Although
many industries still operate as licensees or subsidiaries of foreign
corporations, national governments have, since the 1930s, become directly
involved in heavy industries such as iron and steel, motor-vehicle assembly, and
shipbuilding. In some countries machine tools, aircraft, and military vehicles
are built for export. Industrial development on the continent, however,
continues to face several problems: the small size of the national markets,
inadequate technology, and weak transportation and distribution networks. Since
1992 the governments of several countries, including Venezuela, Argentina,
Chile, and Brazil, have begun selling off nationalized industries for the
immediate financial benefits and in the hope of achieving higher efficiency at a
lower cost. Such privatization, which has included the transportation and
communications industries, has usually resulted in higher unemployment and
significant rises in the prices of goods and services.
E | Energy |
Petroleum and natural gas are the
principal sources of energy in South America. More primitive sources, such as
firewood and charcoal, however, are used widely in industry, sometimes in making
iron and steel or in refining sugar. Dependence on petroleum and natural gas is
of concern because only Colombia and Venezuela are self-sufficient in petroleum.
Distributional needs are met with fairly extensive petroleum and gas pipeline
systems in Argentina, Venezuela, and Colombia and lesser systems elsewhere.
Nevertheless, most pipeline systems in South America transport crude oil and gas
to export terminals, rather than to internal markets. Coal, available in
relatively small reserves, was important to the early development of rail and
water transportation and industry in Chile, Argentina, Brazil, and Colombia, but
has long been superseded in importance as an energy source. Alcohol derived from
sugarcane is an important automotive fuel in Brazil. Hydroelectric power has
become a viable alternative to thermal-electric power only since the 1950s. The
development of hydroelectric power began in Brazil, Chile, and Colombia;
installed hydroelectric capacities now constitute more than 60 percent of
electricity-producing capacity in Paraguay, Brazil, Uruguay, Colombia, and
Bolivia. Hydroelectric power is also important in Peru, Chile, Ecuador,
Suriname, and Argentina, where installed hydroelectricity-generating capacity
accounts for more than 40 percent of all generating capacity. Hydroelectric
development ranges from small installations used by provincial towns to the
enormous facilities built in the middle and upper Paraná Basin and the upper and
lower reaches of the São Francisco River.
F | Transportation |
Although a great variety of forms of
transportation are in common use, the road and railroad networks are of primary
importance because of the bulk and value of their freight and the number of
passengers carried. Motor-vehicle traffic dominates in most parts of the
continent. Railroads and coastal and river ships remain relatively more
important in Argentina, Brazil, and Chile than elsewhere, but even in these
countries the bus, truck, and automobile are the principal modes of transporting
goods and passengers. Air transport has developed rapidly since the end of World
War II, and an important network exists in South America. Railroads suffered
from underdevelopment in the early 20th century, mainly because of the historic
lack of settlement of the continent's interior; for instance, the railroad
systems, which had matured by 1930, were largely used for commodity movement
between immediate hinterlands and the port cities. National rail and highway
networks are dense only in southeastern Brazil and in the Pampas of Argentina
and, to a lesser extent, in the populous areas of Uruguay, Chile, Colombia, and
Ecuador. The construction of roads has been most important since the 1950s.
Venezuela and coastal Peru have a good system of surfaced roads; in Paraguay and
Bolivia the road networks are not as good. The Andean countries have been
extending roads into the interior for decades, and Brazil has spanned parts of
the Amazon Basin with roads. The national road systems, like the airway systems,
have begun to accelerate economic integration of distant interiors with the
long-established industrial and commercial core areas of the various countries.
In the mid-1990s many South American countries looked to private investors to
improve their nations' road networks.
G | Trade |
Most of South America's trade is
intercontinental, with the United States, Western Europe, and Japan the major
trading partners. Petroleum and its derivatives are the principal components of
foreign trade. Brazil and Venezuela dominate the continent's export trade, and
Brazil accounts for much of the imports. Intracontinental trade has been
fostered since the 1960s by regional trade associations, beginning with the
formation of the Latin American Free Trade Association (LAFTA) (now known as the
Latin American Integration Association). Commodities such as wheat, cattle,
wine, and bananas are principal items of intracontinental trade, and
manufactured goods are of growing importance.
Nevertheless, the continent's external
trade in agricultural and mining commodities remains more important than the
internal trade of these commodities. South America contributes significantly to
world trade in petroleum, coffee, copper, bauxite, fish meal, and oilseed; trade
in these and other primary goods is essential to the underwriting of the
continent's economic development.
Since the late 1960s several attempts have
been made to form trading blocks or associations that would protect South
American markets from outside competition while forming larger internal markets
for South American goods. In 1969 the Andean Community (Bolivia, Chile,
Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela) was formed with those goals in mind. By
1977, however, Chile had withdrawn from the union and most of the countries had
reverted to exporting their most successful products, without regard for trade
agreements and in open competition with one another. Since then several new
regional groupings have emerged: the Group of Three (Colombia, Mexico, and
Venezuela); the Southern Cone Common Market (known by its Spanish acronym,
Mercosur); and the Association of Caribbean States (ACS), which includes
Colombia, Suriname, and Venezuela. Trade groups such as these set preferential
tariffs on certain goods to stimulate the flow of goods, services, and
capital.
Following the establishment of the North
American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) between Canada, Mexico, and the United
States in 1994, several South American countries—principally Argentina, Chile,
and Colombia—began pushing for an extended trade grouping. Brazil also advocated
for a free-trade agreement incorporating all of South America. Such an agreement
was finally reached in 2004 when the Andean Community joined with Mercosur to
form the South American Community of Nations. The creation of this trade
group—consisting of Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador,
Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay, and Venezuela—was seen as a major step toward the
forging of a hemisphere-wide free-trade agreement, tentatively known as the Free
Trade Area of the Americas. Negotiating an agreement of such broad scope will be
difficult, however, given that membership often demands strict fiscal controls
over inflation and other sensitive political and economic issues.
V | HISTORY |
After 1453, when the Turks completed the
conquest of the Byzantine Empire and won control of the eastern Mediterranean,
the western nations, chiefly Portugal and Spain, were forced to seek a new route
to Asia. The Portuguese, who had made a number of pioneering voyages southward
in the Atlantic Ocean, sought the new route by probing the coast of Africa,
reaching the Cape of Good Hope in 1486. In 1492 Christopher Columbus attempted
to reach India by sailing due west across the Atlantic Ocean; but he landed in
the present-day West Indies, opening up a new world to European commerce and
civilization. For information concerning the pre-Columbian cultures of South
America, see Native Americans of Middle and South America:
History; Araucanian; Arawak; Carib; Chibcha; Guaraní; Inca; Pre-Columbian
Art and Architecture; Quechua;Tiwanaku; Tupí-Guaraní.
After Columbus returned to Europe, Spain and
Portugal became involved in controversy concerning land rights in the New World.
The dispute was settled in 1493 by Pope Alexander VI, who allotted to Portugal
all new territory east of a line in the Atlantic Ocean running due north and
south 100 leagues west of the Azores and to Spain, all territory to the west of
the line (see Demarcation, Line of). The demarcation line was later
modified, with the result that Portugal obtained suzerainty over the eastern
bulge of South America. This region subsequently became Brazil.
On August 1, 1498, during his third voyage,
Columbus sailed to a point off the mouth of the Orinoco River and sighted the
South American mainland. After cruising along the coast for several days he
began to comprehend the continental character of the region.
A | Post-Columbian Explorers |
The next European to reach the continent
was Portuguese navigator Pedro Álvares Cabral. In April 1500 a fleet under his
command anchored off the coast of present-day Brazil, which he claimed for
Portugal. The Portuguese, who had meanwhile found their way to India by sailing
around Africa, paid little attention for three decades to the territory found by
Cabral. During this period the Spanish steadily intensified explorational and
colonizing activities in the New World, devoting most of their effort during the
first 20 years to the West Indies and Central America. Various explorers,
chiefly navigators in the service of Spain, visited the northeastern coast of
the continent in the early years of the 16th century. Noteworthy among these men
were Spanish mariners Vicente Yáñez Pinzón, Alonso de Ojeda, and Pedro Alonso
Niño; Spanish navigator and geographer Juan de la Cosa; and Italian-born
navigator Amerigo Vespucci. Late in 1519 Portuguese mariner Ferdinand Magellan,
then seeking a westward route to the East for the Spanish monarchy, explored the
estuary of the Río de la Plata. He resumed his search in the next year, cruising
southward. On November 28, 1520, having completed the passage of the strait that
now bears his name, he simultaneously accomplished his mission and realized the
dream of countless navigators.
B | Exploration of the Interior |
The systematic exploration and conquest of
the South American interior were begun, paradoxically, by Germans. In 1529
Bartholomäus Welser received a huge grant of territory in South America from
Charles V, Holy Roman emperor and king of Spain, who was in debt to him. Welser
immediately dispatched an expedition to the territory, which included
present-day Venezuela. About 17 years later Welser's grant was revoked, partly
because of extreme brutality inflicted by the German colonists on the Native
Americans.
The first European to penetrate the
continental interior successfully was Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro.
Pushing southward from Panama, he invaded the gold-rich empire of the Inca in
1531. Within five years, by skillful use of arms and treachery, Pizarro acquired
control of the Inca Empire, which included all of present-day Peru, Chile, and
Bolivia. One of Pizarro's chief associates was Diego de Almagro, who conquered
what is now northern Chile. The conquest and colonization of the region
bordering the Río de la Plata were begun in 1535 by Spanish soldier Pedro de
Mendoza. He founded a settlement at Buenos Aires in 1536. Between 1536 and 1538
Spanish soldier Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada subjugated the Chibcha and founded
the Audiencia of New Granada (present-day Colombia). In 1539 Gonzalo Pizarro,
brother of Francisco, crossed the Andes and arrived at the upper reaches of the
Amazon River. One of his companions, Francisco de Orellana, followed the river
down to its mouth, reaching the Atlantic Ocean in 1542. In the previous year
conquistador Pedro de Valdivia began the systematic subjugation of the
Araucanian, the native people of Chile. Valdivia founded Santiago in 1541.
Meanwhile (about 1530) the Portuguese had begun to establish settlements along
the coast of the eastern bulge of South America.
Sugar estates were soon established on the
eastern coast of Brazil, leading to the importation of millions of African
slaves. Exploration westwards extended to the Amazon, and in the 17th century
exploring parties (bandeiras) extended Portuguese control west and
southward from São Paulo. An important gold strike in 1693 rapidly intensified
settlement in what is now Minas Gerais State in Brazil, attracting major
immigration from Portugal and promoting the rapid growth of the new port of Rio
de Janeiro.
C | 16th to 18th Centuries |
By 1600 numerous Spanish settlements had
been firmly established in South America. The Viceroyalty of Peru (created in
1542) and the various audiencias, or territorial divisions, into which the
remainder of Spanish South America was then divided had every prospect of
developing into powerful and wealthy colonies. Besides immensely productive
mineral deposits, especially the silver mines of Peru, other natural resources,
including timber and cultivable lands, were abundant in the Spanish-held areas.
Farming and livestock raising had become flourishing industries, and an
increasing number of black and Native American slaves were available to
well-to-do settlers. In search of riches, land, or adventure, or impelled by
Christian zeal to spread the gospel among the heathen natives, tens of thousands
of immigrants had poured into both the Spanish and Portuguese dominions on the
continent during the first half of the 16th century. The Spanish and Portuguese
governments received extensive help from the church in their efforts to
consolidate their respective colonial empires. Roman Catholicism was the sole
recognized religion in the colonies, but ecclesiastical policy was determined
and controlled by the monarchy. In return for the service of Christianizing,
educating, and pacifying the Native Americans, the church and the various
Catholic religious orders active here were granted many privileges and enormous
tracts of territory.
At the close of the 17th century Spain and
Portugal dominated all South America except Guiana, which had been seized by and
divided among Great Britain, France, and The Netherlands. Disastrous wars in the
course of the century had seriously weakened the naval strength of the Iberian
powers, however, and their coastal settlements in the New World, as well as
their merchant shipping, were subjected to frequent attacks by English, Dutch,
and French raiders. One result of the consequent drain on the royal Spanish and
Portuguese treasuries was the imposition of oppressive taxation on the colonies.
The royal governments, which had monopolized the trade of the colonies from the
beginning, also imposed increasingly stringent restraints on the colonial
economies, aggravating the difficulties and discontent of the colonists. During
the 18th century, popular unrest in the Spanish colonies flared into revolt on a
number of occasions, notably in Paraguay from 1721 to 1735, in Peru from 1780 to
1782, and in New Granada in 1781.
Social inequalities constituted another
cause for discontent among both the Spanish and Portuguese colonists. The
so-called Peninsulars were born in the mother country and sent to the colonies
to hold high offices. They usually were of noble birth, disdainful of other
social groups, and desirous only of amassing wealth in the colonies and then
returning to Europe. The social group immediately below the Peninsulars was
composed of Creoles, native-born persons of European parentage. Although the
Creoles were entitled by law to the same political prerogatives as the
Peninsulars, in practice these rights were withheld from them, and for the most
part the Creoles were excluded from high civil and ecclesiastical positions.
Because of their hatred of the Peninsulars, the Creoles generally aligned
themselves with the mestizos and mulattoes.
D | Wars of Independence |
After almost three centuries of economic
exploitation and political injustice, the South American colonies were swept by
a powerful revolutionary movement. The movement, which was led by the Creoles
and which was basically liberal in character, was stimulated by the successful
revolt of the British colonies in North America (1775-1783) and by the French
Revolution (1789-1799).
In general the struggle for political
freedom in Spanish South America may be divided into two phases. During the
first phase, extending from 1810 to 1816, independence was achieved only in part
of the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata (in what are now Argentina, Paraguay,
and Uruguay); during the second phase, from 1816 to 1825, the colonials won
complete freedom from Spain. Among the outstanding leaders of the fight for
independence were Venezuelans Simón Bolívar and Francisco de Miranda and
Argentinian José de San Martín.
On May 25, 1810, the Creoles of Buenos
Aires deposed the Spanish viceroy and established a provisional governing body
for the provinces of La Plata. Although this body was established in the name of
Ferdinand, direct Spanish authority was not again restored. On August 14, 1811,
the Paraguayans, who had rejected the help of Buenos Aires, proclaimed their
independence from Spain and, in 1813, from the provisional government as well.
San Martín began to organize in 1814 a patriot army in western Argentina, with
the intention of liberating Chile and then moving by sea against Peru, the chief
Spanish stronghold on the continent. In his successful campaign of 1817 to 1818
to liberate Chile, San Martín was greatly aided by Chilean revolutionary leader
Bernardo O'Higgins. On February 12, 1817, San Martín defeated a Spanish army at
Chacabuco. One year later, on the same date, revolutionary leader Bernardo
O'Higgins declared the independence of Chile. San Martín was offered the
leadership of the new Chilean government but refused in favor of O'Higgins. With
the defeat of a Spanish army at Maipú on April 5, 1818, Chilean independence was
assured. San Martín then began to prepare for the attack on Peru.
The next great victory of the Wars of
Independence was won in Colombia. At the head of an army of patriots and of
soldiers of fortune recruited in England, Bolívar defeated the Royalists on
August 7, 1819, at the Battle of Boyacá. While the fighting still continued, a
congress meeting at Angostura (now Ciudad Bolívar, Venezuela) was organizing the
State of Greater Colombia, to comprise the former Audiencia of New Granada,
present-day Panama, and, on their liberation, Venezuela and Quito (Ecuador).
Bolívar later became president and military dictator. Although Venezuelan
independence had been proclaimed on July 7, 1811, the colony had been taken by
the Royalists. Bolívar defeated the Royalists at Carabobo on June 24, 1821,
ensuring the independence of Venezuela. Under Antonio José de Sucre, one of
Bolívar's lieutenants, a patriot army triumphed over the Royalist forces at
Pichincha on May 24, 1822, and liberated Ecuador.
Meanwhile, on September 7, 1820, San Martín
had landed an army of 6,000 men on the Peruvian coast. He entered Lima, the
capital, on July 9, 1821. The independence of Peru was proclaimed on the
following July 28, but Royalist forces remained in possession of the greater
part of the country. Accordingly, following the Battle of Pichincha, Bolívar and
Sucre began to prepare a military expedition in support of the beleaguered
patriots in Peru. A spearhead contingent of this expedition was defeated in
1823, but Bolívar and Sucre were victorious on August 6, 1824, at Junín, and on
December 9 Sucre won the decisive Battle of Ayacucho. Although the last Royalist
forces were not expelled from Peru until January 1826, the Battle of Ayacucho
was the final major engagement in the winning of freedom from Spain. Upper Peru
was proclaimed independent on January 5, 1825, and on August 25 of that year was
named Bolivia in honor of its liberator.
Brazil had achieved independence from
Portugal on October 12, 1822, but retained a monarchical form of government
until 1889, when a republic was established.
E | Problems in the 19th Century |
At the end of the Wars of Independence the
sovereign Spanish states in South America were Great Colombia, Peru, Chile, the
United Provinces of the Río de la Plata (later Argentina), Paraguay, and
Bolivia. Between 1830 and 1832 Great Colombia evolved into the sovereign states
of Venezuela, Ecuador, and New Granada. Until 1903 New Granada, which later
became Colombia, included Panama. Uruguay, after periods of Portuguese and
Brazilian control, became a sovereign state in 1828.
In spite of close cooperation during the
revolutionary period, the Spanish colonies did not follow Bolívar's ideal of
confederating in a Spanish South American union because of regional jealousies,
geographic vastness, inadequate communications, personal ambition and political
inexperience of various leaders, and want of democratic traditions. The two
last-named conditions also contributed greatly to political instability in the
newly formed republics. Wealth and political power were still concentrated in
the hands of the church and relatively few families. Conservative and liberal
political groups opposed each other as bitterly as had the Creoles and
Peninsulars of the colonial period. Revolutions were frequent, and some of the
countries were under military dictatorships for long periods. As a consequence,
social and economic development in South America was retarded during the 19th
century. After 1900 advancement was more rapid, notably in Argentina, Brazil,
and Chile, the so-called ABC Powers.
Boundary problems often caused bitter
disputes among the separate nations, sometimes leading to war. The war between
Paraguay and the combined forces of Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay, between 1864
and 1870, was one of the fiercest ever waged in the Western Hemisphere. The War
of the Pacific, another important South American war, was fought from 1879 to
1883 between Chile and the combined forces of Bolivia and Peru (see
Tacna-Arica Dispute). The Chaco War between Paraguay and Bolivia from 1932
to 1935 climaxed a long-standing dispute between the two countries.
The Monroe Doctrine, promulgated by the
United States in 1823, played an important role during the 19th century in
preventing European intervention in northern South America.
F | 20th Century and U.S. Policy |
On occasion, during the second half of the
19th century and the early years of the 20th century, the U.S. government itself
actively intervened in Latin American affairs. Based on the theory that the
United States, as the most powerful nation of the Western Hemisphere, possessed
a “manifest right” to regulate the destinies of the turbulent southern
republics, U.S. policy during this period aroused considerable antagonism in
South and Central America. Various opprobrious epithets, including “dollar
diplomacy” and “big-stick policy,” were applied to that phase of U.S. diplomacy.
In 1933, after President Franklin D. Roosevelt announced that the United States
wished to be a “good neighbor” of the other American countries, the U.S. policy
of friendship and cooperation became known as the “good-neighbor policy.” In
both world wars most South American nations cooperated fully with the United
States. During World War II (1939-1945), military as well as economic
cooperation developed.
In 1960 six South American nations and
Mexico signed a treaty setting up the Latin American Free Trade Association
(LAFTA, later renamed the Latin American Integration Association). The following
year President John F. Kennedy introduced a new approach to U.S. economic aid
for Latin America. His Alliance for Progress program was aimed at encouraging
economic and social reforms in the American republics. In April 1967 member
nations of the alliance met in Punta del Este, Uruguay, to measure progress and
reaffirm their commitment to the alliance. The most significant item agreed on
was the goal of establishing a Latin American Common Market, which would
supersede LAFTA.
By the 1970s it was clear that these
efforts were being stymied by problems ranging from unanticipated population
growth, to increased unemployment, to continued inequitable distribution of
income and land. In the early 1980s these problems were complicated for most
South American nations by a general, international economic recession. A
mounting burden of foreign debt continued to sap the economic vitality of the
region for the remainder of the 1980s.
Several internal economic measures
characterized South America during the 1980s. The privatization of major
nationalized industries proceeded rapidly in Venezuela, Brazil, Chile, and
Argentina, resulting in a rise in unemployment. Another key problem was the
rapid rise of external debt during the decade. Many countries were forced to
spend up to 30 percent of their net income to pay the interest of their foreign
debt. Some, such as Peru, refused to pay, or demanded rescheduling of payments.
Others, such as Brazil, were able to pay off their debt by “swapping” natural
resources. Another problem that resulted from poor economic management and the
international recession of the 1980s was the rampant inflation that has plagued
several countries. The solution included harsh fiscal austerity measures imposed
by international donor agencies such as the World Bank (the International Bank
for Reconstruction and Development). Although they eased the inflationary
crisis, these measures also generated unemployment and a higher cost of living,
resulting in increased numbers of poor people.
The 1990s brought new and more positive
trends to the continent. Military, dictatorial regimes were replaced by
democratically elected governments, although there remained concern over human
rights violations. With external debt crisis behind them, some countries'
privatization programs have helped to improve industrial efficiency and other
countries have initiated major infrastructural expansions in their
underdeveloped interiors.
Improving trade among South American
nations remains an important regional issue. The trade group Mercosur was formed
in 1991 to increase such economic cooperation. Mercosur consists of four member
countries (Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay) and four associate members
(Bolivia, Chile, Peru, and Venezuela). After years of negotiations an even
larger trade alliance, the South American Community of Nations, was created in
2004. This organization added Ecuador and Colombia to the eight countries
already affiliated with Mercosur.
G | Future Challenges |
One persistent South American problem that
may increase in significance in the 21st century is the marginalized poor, often
Native American, citizens who believe they have not benefited from the nation
state and who have no faith in the so-called democracy of political parties.
Urban-based neighborhood groups are also emerging as a new force on the
political scene. Continued urban growth still produces megalopolitan problems,
most notably air pollution, water shortages, and infrastructural decline.
For accounts of the political histories of
the various South American nations, see the articles on the individual
countries. See also Organization of American States; Pan-American
Conferences; Pan-American Union.
No comments:
Post a Comment