Chapter 12

Nations of the Caribbean

  • Creoles—people of Spanish ancestry born in America
  • Simon Bolivar—hero of Latin America, “the Liberator” of Venezuela, Ecuador, and Columbia
  • On the far side of the Andes lies a vast wilderness, one of the largest undeveloped areas in the world. These broad grassy plains are called the Llanos.
  • Near the northwest coast of Venezuela is Lake Maracaibo, the largest lake on the continent of South America.
  • With a height of 3,212 feet, Angel Falls is easily the highest waterfall in the world.

The Towering Andes

  • The Andes form the longest mountain range in the world, stretching about forty-five hundred miles.
  • South of Ecuador is Peru, the largest Andes nation.
  • Cuzco was the sacred Inca capital.
  • When the Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro arrived in 1531, the empire was torn by feuds. Pizarro easily captured the Great Inca and held him for ransom.
  • The Peru Current (also called the Humboldt Current) flows north from the Antarctic. The cold current keeps the air cold and dry.
  • Pizarro established his headquarters in Lima.
  • Since 1978 a Communist guerilla force, called the Shining Path, has been fighting the government from its bases in the jungles and mountains.

The Towering Andes (continued)

  • Bolivia is the only South American country that is landlocked.
  • Most of the Bolivians live on the Altiplano, the largest of several plains that lie between the Andes ranges.
  • Lake Titicaca is the second largest lake in South America. It is the highest navigable lake in the world.
  • Chile is covered by the Atacama Desert, a continuation of Peru’s southern desert. The climate is so dry that some places have never recorded any rainfall.
  • General Augusto Pinochet took power and ruled Chile.
  • Below the southern tip of Chile’s land mass is the perilous Strait of Magellan.

The Rio De La Plata

  • Estuary—ocean inlet
  • The great liberator of Chile, Bolivia, and Argentina was Jose de San Martin.
  • Juan Peron promised to help the poor workers, but he left the country in debt and economic ruin.
  • Argentina’s low plains around the Rio de la Plata are called the Pampas.
  • Argentina has nine of the Western Hemisphere’s ten highest peaks. The father of them all is Aconcagua, at 22,834 feet.
  • The cowboys of Argentina, or gauchos, are national folk heroes. Hordes of them rode the Pampas in the nineteenth century, rounding up wild horses and cattle.
  • Spain and Portugal argued for centuries over the border between their New World empires, as outlined in the Treaty of Tordesillas. They continued to fight over control or Uruguay.
  • The Parana River is the second longest river system in South America.

Brazil, The Portuguese Giant

  • Brazil is the fifth largest nation in the world, and the fifth most populous.
  • In 1822, Dom Pedro declared independence for Brazil and became the emperor.
  • Rio de Janeiro is Brazil’s second largest city and third on the continent.
  • “Rio” is considered the most charming city of the New World, much like Paris in the Old World.
  • Favelas—slums
  • Even though the Brazilian Highlands lie in the Tropics, heavy rains fall only half the year.
  • São Paulo is the largest city in Latin American exceeding even Mexico City in population.
  • The northeast portion of the Brazilian Highlands is know as the sertão. Sertão’s primary crop is cassava (also called manioc.
  • The Amazon River is the greatest river system in the world. Not only does it drain the largest area, but more water flows out of the Amazon than out of the next ten largest rivers combined.
  • The flat basin of the Amazon River is covered by a steam rain forest, called selva.
  • Virtually all Brazilian tribes practice shifting or slash-and-burn agriculture.
  • Increasing numbers of lumberjacks are felling the forests to extract valuable hardwood. Because the trees hold the soil in place, deforestation is depleting the soil.

The Guiana Highlands

  • The Guiana Highlands is the rugged plateau that separates Venezuela’s Caribbean coast from the Amazon Basin.
  • Three European powers (other than Spain and Portugal) founded small colonies on the coast below the Guiana Highlands. These colonies became known as the Guianas.
  • Suriname has the fewest people per square mile of any nation on the continent.
  • French Guiana is the only part of the continent that is still under European control.
Bookmark and Share

Comments are closed.