Chapter 16
Exploring South America
Section 1
Brazil: Resources of the rain
forest
Geography

Rain forest


Canopy - dense mass of leaves forming
the top of the forest
Brazil is almost as large as the United
States

Most people live along the coast
People




Natives that still live in the rain forest
Most Brazilians are a mix of native
American, African, and European
heritages.
Agriculture - played big part of economy
from the beginning
Factories - play big part of economy


Iron, steel, cars, electrical equipment
Since 1960’s over 30 million people
have left the farms and moved to cities
to work in factories and other industries.
Brazilian Cities

Rio de Janeiro - City of Diversity




Hotels, tourist shops
Old downtown area
“favelas” poor, no electricity or running water
Most live in well built houses with water and
electricity
New Capital

Brasilia - the capital of Brazil




Closer to the rain forest
Built on a savanna called the Cerrado
Gov’t thought moving the capital would bring
more people to the interior of the country and
away from the coastal regions
The gov’t wanted to start developing
industry’s related to the rain forest
Rain Forest




Very important to the world
Produces over 1/3 of the world’s oxygen
Photosynthesis - a process by which
green plants and trees produce their
own food using water, carbon dioxide,
and sunlight, as a result oxygen is
released.
The rain forest also holds 1/5 of the
world’s fresh water
Protecting the rain forest


Brazil's gov’t monitors the rain forest
and the resources.
Dangers

Cutting down too may trees


Smugglers


Photosynthesis, earth heating up
Animals are trapped and sold for profit
Development

Causes pollution, mining for gold
Land




Most of Brazil’s land is owned by a few
people who may chose not to farm the
land
1/3 of Brazil’s farm and ranch land is
unused
Gov’t is starting to give free land to poor
people who want to farm and try to
make a living
This process is slow but life for some
people is improving
Section 2
Peru: Life in the Altiplano
Geography - 3 Regions

Sierra - the mountain region
– Altiplano - a high plateau region in the
Andes, around Lake Titicaca in southern
Peru

Coastal Plain - dry region, warmed by
the sun, cooled by sea breezes
– Many large cities dot this region

Montana - large stretches of forests on
the lower slopes of mountains in the
Northeast
– Weather is warm and humid all year round
People and Cities

Cities
– Many cities contain old and new
– Most have electricity and telephones
– New architecture right beside old
architecture

Mix of Native American cultures and
Spanish culture.
Rural Villages

Life in the villages is very different that
life in the city
– No electricity or telephone or running water
Many things are changing for the
Quechua and the Aymara.
 Many natives are leaving the rural
villages for jobs in the cities.
 Read about the “straw people” on p.
419

Section 3
Chile: A growing economy based
on agriculture
Life in Chile
• Based on agriculture
• Country is protected from many diseases
from insects and animals because of the
natural barrier (Andes Mountains)
• Very strict about new seeds and plants
that come into the country
Geography
• On average Chile is only 100 miles wide, but
very mountainous
• Very long, 2650 miles long
 Mountains the entire length
• Atacama desert in the north
 One of the driest regions in the world
• Central Valley
 Near the coast, rolling hills, high grasses and dense
forests
 Region where most of the people live
People and cities
• Early Spanish settlers married Native Americans
 Today 95% of the population is Mestizo
• Lifestyles vary with the region
 From sheepherders to miners, to business people
• Santiago
 Diverse - old Spanish style buildings next to
skyscrapers
 Pollution problem, smog
Industry
• Pollution problems - Andes on three sides
of Santiago (Mexico City)
• More than 80% of the population live in
cities - to work in industry
• Early on depended completely on copper
mining
• Gov’t putting new regulations into place to
help ease pollution in the cities
Agriculture
• A drop in the copper prices in the 1980’s
prompted Chile to start selling more crops
• Farming - very few plant pests, better
quality of fruit and vegetables
• Ship out wheat, potatoes, sugar beets,
corn, grapes, melons, apples, peaches
apricots, cherries. (variety)
Agriculture
• The U.S., Japan, and Europe are very
good markets for Chilean exports
 Especially October thru May
 Winter in Northern Hemisphere, Summer in
Southern Hemisphere
• Despite the Andes mountains Chilean
farmers still have to control some insects
with pesticides.
Section 4
Venezuela: Oil powers the
economy
$$ Oil Money $$
Caracas - very wealthy city where majority
of people live.
 Government makes much of its money by
selling oil.
 Oil was discovered here about 75 years
ago

 Except
the Persian gulf, Venezuela has some
of the biggest oil reserves in the world
$$ Oil Money $$

During the 1970’s there was an oil boom
 A period
of increased prosperity during which
more of a product is produced and sold
 Standard of living went up for many people
 Gov’t starting spending more money as well

During the 1980’s oil prices dropped
 Many
people lost their jobs and the gov’t lost
a lot of money
Culture
During the oil boom Venezuela changed
from the traditional culture based on
agriculture to more of a modern urban
country
 80% of the population lives in the cities

After the oil boom

Privatization - a policy by a gov’t to sell its
industries to individuals or private
companies.
 Gov’t
did this so that people would have jobs
and could make money

Gov’t also pushed other industries to take
pressure off of dependency of oil
production
 Steel,
gold, cocoa, coffee, fruit
1. Atlantic Ocean
2. Pacific Ocean
3. Hudson Bay
4. Gulf of Mexico
5. Cuba
6. Jamaica
7. Haiti
8. Dominican Republic
9. Puerto Rico
10.
Bahamas
11.
Paraguay
12.
Uruguay
13.
Chile
14.
Guyana
15.
Suriname
16.
French Guiana
17.
Greenland
18.
Iceland
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
United States
Guatemala
El Salvador
Belize
Honduras
Nicaragua
Brazil
Canada
Mexico
Argentina
Peru
Venezuela
Costa Rica
Panama
Colombia
Ecuador
Bolivia