South America
GEA1000
Josslen Leonard

South America
GEA1000
Josslen Leonard




Introduction South America is such an exotic country located in the Southwestern hemisphere (Society, 2014). Surrounded by the Pacific and Atlantic oceans it includes 12 states (Society, 2014) . Its large population of about 30 million lies across 6 million square miles of exotic land (Society, 2014). Ranked as fourth an area and fifth in population, majority of the population lives near the western and eastern borders (Society, 2014). This diverse continent is filled with beautiful mountains and elongated rivers and valleys. Described as the tropics, the land is filled with highlands, river regions and large river basins. Besides the geography, South America has so much to offer. The culture, history, peoples, politics, and economy all play a major role in making the country what it is. In this paper, I plan to go into detail and describe South Americas geography, history, politics, ethnic demographics, their economy, and lastly South Americas culture.
Geography
South America lies in the middle of the southern part of American landmass (Society, 2014). Bordered by the Panama Canal and Central America , majority of the mainland lies on the South American plate (Society, 2014). The South American plate is a tectonic plate that lies underneath the continent of South America (Society, 2014) . It moves westward from the Mid-Atlantic ridge. This collision of plates is responsible for lifting the massive Andes Mountains, which is another land feature of South America. Another feature that South America has to offer is its amazing sights. South America is known for Angel Falls located in Venezuela . The highest waterfall Aleteur falls which is located in Guyana. The Amazon River is the largest river. The continent of South America also has the longest mountain range, the Andes; And the largest rainforest which we are familiar with, the amazon rainforest. As you can see South America’s geography has so much to offer. South America’s land make-up is also known for its mineral resources . These resources are gold , silver ,copper , iron , ore , tin , and petroleum (Society, 2014). These resources have bought in abundance of income for the surrounding states . These resources has resulted in a rapid economic growth. The fluctuation in prices for these resources has interrupted the economies because they have caused such an uproar in political instability . Even though South America production is very productive this has caused them to decide not export , which can be a negative thing. Lastly as I stated earlier , South America is a very diverse and exotic continent . This continent is known to be one of the most bio diverse continents on Earth (Society, 2014). South America is home to unique species ad animals such as the llama , anaconda , piranha , jaguar , and tapir . The Amazon forest is where you can find majority of these animals (Hammen, 1974) . Mainly because of the temperature and moist weather.
History
Unlike North America and other continents such as Asia and Africa , South America’s history is unlike any other country . So many different indigenous people inhabited them. Sometime between 12,000 and 70,000 years ago humans decided to migrate from Asia to Alaska (Mercer, 1976). During this time they settled in South America territory which is now known as Peru (Mercer, 1976) . These settlers then created many different civilizations such as the Inca and Aztec empires. Not long after that the Spanish invaded the territory in the 16th century with Christopher Columbus (Mercer, 1976). When The Spanish invaded the Inca empire, he gained all the power and ruled millions of people. At this time Christopher Columbus was on a mission for Spain to find a new route to Asia Spicle Islands , encountering the Camnean Islands on his way (Mercer, 1976) . Meanwhile , the Portuguese captain Vasco da Gama discovered a new route to Asia . These discoveries caused an uproar and conflict between Spain and Portugal. They would have to make a decision about the New Lands. In 1994 the Spanish and The Portuguese met to create a treaty and divided the land between the two . Portugal received Africa and Asia while Spain received the New World known as South America. After this, the Spaniards conquered and terrorized the Inca Empire by way and infectious diseases. Once the Spaniards conquered the territory there was more to gain. They wanted gold and silver. The Spaniards worked the Native Americans like slaves; causing them to die from labor and illnesses. In order to make up for the lack of population the Spaniards brought in African slaves. Next was the Independence movement beginning around the 18th century resulting in Venezuela and Argentina gaining independence from Spain and Brazil following right after that in 1822 (Mercer, 1976). After the independence, the continent became a battlefield for the cold war in the 20th century. Revolutionary movements and common dictatorship became common after the WWII.
Culture
If you thought South America’s history was rich, their culture is rich as well because the continent consists of so many indigenous people. South America is mostly known for their music. They have famous genres includuing vallenation , cumbia , pasillo , sambia , bossa nowan and the tango (Society, 2014) . The musical instrument the guitar and Cajon were originated in South America (Society, 2014) . The food is also a thing to note. South America’s cuisine is a mix of African American, Indian, Asian, and European influences. They take pride in their food and drinks. Spanish and Portuguese are the main languages in South America (Society, 2014). There are also indigenous languages which include Quenchu , Wayuunaiki, Guararu , Aymara , and Mapaddungun (Society, 2014). Sport games are also a big part of the culture. Football and baseball are the most popular. South Americans are also expecting to host the Olympics in 2016. Lastly Brazil is home to many mixes of people. It has one if the largest populations of Africans. The population also consist of indigenous people such as Quecha , Aymara , and Urarina .
Economy
Unlike most countries, South America relies very little on the export of both manufactured goods and natural resources. South America’s country Brazil is known as the second largest economy in the world and the largest in South America (Society, 2014). They are dominant in merchandise exports bringing in around $251 billions, followed by Venezuela at $93 billion, Cuba at $86 billion and Argentina at $84 billion (Society, 2014). So South America is doing pretty good for themselves to rely very little on the exportation of goods and services. Then there are the people of South America. The economic gap between the rich and poor is very broad compared to most continents. The richest countries include Bolivia , Chile , Brazil , Columbia , and Paraguay (Society, 2014). About 10% of the continent is wealthy and they receive over 40% of the nations income (Society, 2014). While 20% of the nation is poor and receive 3% of the continents income (Society, 2014) . This large economic gap is very notable in large South American cultures. These cities consist of makeshift shacks and slums, while the rich are in the vicinity of the sky scrapers and living in upper class luxury apartments . According to studies, nearly one in nine people in South America live on less than $2 per day (Society, 2014) . Finallly tourism is a large source of income for many South American countries. They have a variety of historical sites, architectural and natural wonders. A large range of different features and cultures, vibrant and colorful cities, and beautiful landscapes. These scenic attractions attract millions everyday. If you ever have a chance check out The Amazon Rainforest, Rio de Janeiro, Angel Falls , The Galapagos Islands and many more states.
Politics
The final section that I want to discuss is South America’s political system. In the 1960s military dictatorship ruled most of South Americas countries. Military had dominant power. It wasn’t until the late 1980s when the revolutionary movement brought about a change . During this time, governments had returned to power in few countries. By the 1990s all countries were governed by elected rulers (Linz, 1996 ). South America’s government is their to protect human rights , make and enforce laws , and protect the people . Three countries consist of an executive , legislative, and judicial branch . They are Argentina , Brazil, and Columbia . Like the United States , South America’s government relies on taxes for a revenue source (Linz, 1996 ). The continent consist of seven different political parties. Today all the countries have republics with written constitutions (Linz, 1996 ). Argentina , Venezuela, and Brazil have federal systems . Other countries such as Ecuador , Guyanna , French Guiana, Suriname , Paraguay , Uruguay , Bolivia , Chile , Peru , the Falkland Islands all have centralized systems. Many of these countries are facing suffrage because the South American people are dealing with the right to vote . This is because many are illiterate or the distance between cities are to far, and most areas of South America are remote. The other issue they face is that the people are all illiterate making it impossible to vote because cities and rural areas are usually poor and have little education. With saying that democratization has been implemented and has encouraged people to vote .
Conclusion
As you can see after doing all of my research South America is such a diverse community and continent . With the migration of indigenous people in the 19th and 20th century it makes their history so rich and their culture so broad. South Americas amazing landscape and scenery attract many tourist from across the world, bringing in a large amount of revenue for the surrounding countries. The reliability on exportation and flexible government has made this continent very unique.

Works Cited
Hammen, T. v. (1974). The Pleistocene Changes of Vegetation and Climate in Tropical South America . Journal of Biogeography , 1 (1), 3-26.
Linz, J. J. (1996 ). Problems of Democratic Transition and Consolidation: Southern Europe, South America . Baltimore , Maryland : John Hopkins University Press.
Mercer, J. (1976). Glacial history of southernmost South America . Quaternary Research , 6 (2), 125-166.
Orton, J. (1875). The Andes and the Amazon: Or, Across the Continent of South America. Washington : Harper And Brothers .
Society, N. G. (2014, July 19). National Geographic. Retrieved from South America : http://travel.nationalgeographic.com/travel/continents/south-america/