The Andes form the backbone of Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, and Chile. It is the longest unbroken mountain chain in the world, soaring higher than any range except the Himalayas in South Asia. Some of the Andes’ snowcapped peaks tower more than 20,000 feet (6,000 m) above sea level.
The Andes have shaped not only the physical geography of the Andean nations, but also the economies and lifestyles of the people who make their homes in this region.

The Andes stretch some 5,500 miles (8,850 km) all the way from the Caribbean Sea to the southernmost tip of South America. At places in Peru and Bolivia the mountain range is nearly 500 miles (800 km) wide. Its rocky walls divide the Andean nations into three distinct environments: coastal plain, highlands, and forest.

Coastal Plain
Between the mountains and the sea, a narrow plain stretches along the entire Pacific coast from Colombia to the southern end of Chile. At some points it is no more than a sandy beach at the foot of the mountains; in other places it reaches inland for 100 miles (160 km).
The Atacama Desert, the driest and one of the most lifeless places on earth, occupies the coastal plain in northern Chile. Because ocean winds lose their moisture blowing across the cold waters of the Peru Current, only dry air ever reaches the land, creating a desolate wasteland. The Atacama is so dry that archaeologists have found perfectly preserved relics from ancient times. These include colored textiles woven hundreds of years ago, ancient mud-brick dwellings, and even human mummies. The desert is rich in minerals, however. Coastal plains north and south of the Atacama get more rainfall. To the north, along the coast of Ecuador, lie oppressively hot and humid rain forests. To the south lies an area with a Mediterranean climate of hot, dry summers and mild, rainy winters.

Highlands
Inland from the coastal plain, the peaks of the Andes rise skyward to incredible heights. Between the cordilleras lie highland valleys and plateaus. The high plateaus range from 6,500 to 16,000 feet (1,980 to 4,900 m) above sea level. Plateau regions are known by different names in different countries: the altiplano, or “high plain,” in Peru and Bolivia, and the páramos in Ecuador. The climate in the Andes varies with elevation. At very high elevations, the vegetation is known as alpine tundra. Alpine tundra usually grows above the timber line, the boundary above which continuous forest vegetation cannot grow. Only plants that can survive cold temperatures, gusting winds, spotty precipitation, and short growing seasons grow in the alpine tundra.
The highest altitudes of the Andes are in the midsection of the mountain chain. Mountaintop areas here are snow-covered and cold all year long. Further north, however, the picture changes. Mountain temperatures there are warmer, rains more frequent, and rain forest growth thick and lush.

Tropical Forests
Inland, the eastern slopes of the Andes descend to forested tropical lowlands. A dramatic contrast exists between the cold, dry mountains and the steamy lowlands. In Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia, these forested regions are called the selva. The rain forests of the Amazon River basin begin in the selva. Jaguars, hummingbirds, monkeys, and toucans inhabit this ecosystem, but not many people do.

People have always been drawn to the Andes because of the area’s natural resources. The soil is mostly rich and suited for growing a variety of crops, depending on the elevation. The mountains contain a wealth of gold, silver, tin, copper, and other minerals. At the same time, the mountains often have served as barriers to trade among the Andean countries and with the outside world.

Economic Activities
One way in which the people of the Andes have adapted to mountain living is by “vertical trade.” In a typical Andean market town, people from villages at different elevations meet to trade their crops. Because people grow crops suited to their own climate zone, here they trade “up” and “down.” Tropical foods such as bananas and sugar cane, grown in the tierra caliente, may be traded for the potatoes and cabbages that grow in the tierra fría. Village farmers, highland cheesemakers, coastal fishermen, and peddlers all meet in the Andean market town.
Physical Effects
The original inhabitants of the highlands, before the Spanish arrived in the 1500s, were groups of Native Americans. Indians still make up between 25 and 55 percent of the populations of Bolivia, Ecuador, and Peru. Andean Indians, who have lived for centuries at altitudes up to 17,000 feet (5,200 m) have developed unusual physical characteristics, such as larger hearts and lungs, that let them live and work in the thin, oxygen-poor air.

Ecuador takes its name from the Equator, which cuts across the country. About one fourth of the 12.9 million Ecuadorians are of Indian descent. They speak Quechua (KECH wah), the language of the Incas. They follow a traditional lifestyle in the highlands, practicing subsistence agriculture. People of European background make up only about 10 percent of Ecuador’s population. But, because they own the largest farms and factories, they have the most political influence.

Roughly half of Ecuador’s population are mestizos, who speak Spanish and live mainly in highland cities and towns. Some mestizos work in urban factories, while others have moved to the coastal plain and work there as tenant farmers on plantations that grow bananas, cacao, and coffee for export. Only a few decades ago, Ecuador’s population was concentrated in the mountainous central highland. Today, due to internal migration, the population is about evenly divided between the highlands and the coastal lowlands. East of the mountains, the tropical forest region remains sparsely populated. In the 1960s, Ecuadorians discovered oil in the selva lowlands. In spite of the challenges of transporting oil by pipeline from the selva to the coast, petroleum became one of Ecuador’s most important exports. During the 1990s, however, fluctuating oil prices and government mismanagement hampered Ecuador’s economic growth.

Peru was the heart of the vast Inca Empire, which fell to the Spaniards in the early 1500s. The conquistadors destroyed the empire but the Incas remain. About 45 percent of Peru’s population are Indians who speak Quechua or Aymara (EYE muh RAH).
Most live by subsistence farming or herding llamas and alpacas in the highlands. Magnificent ruins, such as the fortress of Machu Picchu and the buildings of the Incan capital city of Cuzco, are fine examples of Incan architecture. Most other Peruvians are mestizos who live in urban areas in or near the coastal plain. For the most part, they work for low wages in factories that produce fish meal for animal feed or on plantations that export cotton, sugar cane, and rice. Poverty and unemployment are part of the character of this place.

Economic Activities
Traditional economic activities, such as the herding of llamas and alpacas, sustain the local economy of Peru. In Peru, as in Ecuador, people of European descent are a minority of the population, but they controlled most of the country’s wealth and dominated leadership of the government and military.
Growing migration from Asia in recent decades helped elect Alberto Fujimori, a Peruvian of Japanese ancestry, as president in 1990. Fujimori improved the economy and suppressed a guerilla rebellion, but many viewed him as too authoritarian. He was forced to resign in 2000 because of allegations of corruption and international pressure. His successors have struggled to boost the economy and provide for social needs.

Bolivia’s climate varies from humid and tropical to cold and semiarid, depending on each region’s altitude. The cold, thin air of the high plateau makes physical activity difficult for nonnatives. Lake Titicaca, the world’s highest navigable lake, straddles the border between Bolivia and Peru.
Most of Bolivia’s people are Indian subsistence farmers who live in the highlands. In 2005, Evo Morales became the first Indian to be elected president. His biggest challenge is determining how to exploit Bolivia’s plentiful natural gas reserves. Many want to allow private firms to extract the gas, but Morales has placed most energy resources under government control. Bolivia is one of the poorest nations in South America.

Economic Activities
Bolivians make use of natural resources by mining silver and zinc ore at this site in Potosí, Bolivia.
Chile, meaning “end of the land,” was appropriately named by the Indians who once lived on this strip of land. Chile edges the west coast of South America like a long, narrow ribbon. The country is about 2,700 miles (4,300 km) long but only averages 100 miles (160 km) wide.
About two thirds of the approximately 15 million people in Chile are mestizos. Another quarter of the population is of European descent—mostly Spanish, British, and German. Unlike the other Andean nations, Chile has relatively few Indians.

Government and Citizenship
Long, narrow countries, called elongated states, often suffer from poor internal communication. A region at one end of the country can be isolated from the capital, which is often centrally located. Chile, Italy, and Gambia are all elongated states.

Global Trade Patterns
The 7 million tons (6.5 million metric tons) of fish caught off the coast of Chile each year makes Chile a world leader in the fishing industry. Most of this catch is processed into fish meal and fish oil and sold to other countries. The barren Atacama Desert in the north is uninhabited. In contrast, about three fourths of the Chilean people live in the thickly populated Central Valley. It is a region of fertile river basins between the Andes and the coastal ranges. Fruit, vegetables, and wine grapes grow there in abundance. Because Chile’s productive summer season comes during the Northern Hemisphere’s winter, its products find good markets in the United States and Europe.
Most of Chile’s cities and factories are also in the Central Valley. Santiago, the capital, is home to about one third of the country’s population. Many people are newcomers from the countryside, unskilled and illiterate. As a result, Santiago has high unemployment and many poor, crowded communities. Although Chile’s economy has grown rapidly, about 3 million of its people still live below the poverty line.

The Andes form the backbone of South America, shaping the economies and lifestyles of the people in Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, and Chile. It is the longest unbroken mountain chain in the world.
The Andes stretch from the Caribbean Sea to the southern tip of South America. A long narrow coastal plain lies between the Andes and the Pacific Ocean. In northern Chile, the coastal plain is occupied by the Atacama Desert, the driest place on earth. Between the peaks of the Andes are highland valleys and plateaus.
The climate in the Andes varies with elevation. At high elevations, only cold weather plants grow. At the bottom of the eastern slopes are forested tropical lowlands called the selva. People are drawn to the Andes because of its rich soil and wealth of minerals. The original inhabitants of the highlands were groups of Native Americans, who still make up between 25and 55 percent of the populations of Bolivia, Ecuador, and Peru. These Indians follow a traditional lifestyle in the highlands, practicing subsistence agriculture.
The next largest group of inhabitants is mestizos, who speak Spanish and live in cities and towns. People of European background make up a small percentage of the population, but because they control most of the wealth, they have the most political power.
Chile is a long, narrow country and unlike other Andean nations, it has relatively few Indians. About two thirds of its people are mestizos. Another quarter is of European descent. Most Chileans live in the fertile Central Valley.

Questions

How do physical characteristics divide the Andean nations into three environments?
The Andes mountains divide the region into the coastal plain, the highlands, and the tropical rain forest. These areas differ greatly due to differences in climate and elevation.

What has limited the trade of the Andean countries with each other and with other nations?
The sizes of the mountains make trade difficult

How does vertical trade help Andean people adapt to moutain living? People from different elevations trade crops that are grown at their location

What ethnicity represents roughly half of Ecuador’s population? mestizos A mestizo is a person of mixed European and Native American heritage. Mestizos in Ecuador speak Spanish and live mainly in highland cities and towns.

How are the economies of Ecuador and Peru similar? Most people in Ecuador and Peru are subsistence farmers or low-paid factory workers. In both countries, a minority of people of European descent control most of the wealth.

Which statement about the people of Ecuador is not true?
Ecuadorian who speak Quechua have the most political influence

What segment of Peru population controls most of the countrys wealth?
People of the European desent

Why does Chile find good markets for its agricultural products in the United States and Europe? Chile’s productive summer season comes during the Northern Hemisphere’s winter.

What is the main economic activity in Bolivia? Subsistence farming

What has created the poverty-stricken communities in Chiles capital, Santiago?
Internal migration from rural areas

What part of South America has a Mediterranean climate?
The costal plains south of the Atacama Desert

What is the main difference between the economies of Ecuador and Peru?
Ecuador exports petroleum, and Peru does not.

Why do products grown in Chile sell well in the united states and Europe?
It is winter in the united states and europe during chilies most productive season