I · Latin
America
Lecture Notes
By
Dr. Fernando A. Rodriguez
2 · Latin
America
· “Latin” America consists of two parts:
· Middle America
that includes Mexico, Central America and all of the
islands of the Caribbean Sea.
· South America that includes twelve
independent countries and one colony.
3 · Defining
the Realm
· Although
Middle America is part of Latin America, this section of the world belongs to
the North American continent.
· Physiographically,
North America terminates at the river basin in Columbia. South America.
4 · Population
of Middle America for 1997
· Mexico — 96
million.
· Central
America — 32 million.
· Caribbean
America — 36 million.
· Thus, the total population for this realm
is approximately 164 million.
5 · Urbanization and Natural Increase
· Over 70% of the population is already
urbanized.
· In the mid-I 990s, the
rate of natural increase for Mexico and Central America was 2.3% with a
potential of doubling every 30 years.
· For the Caribbean islands, the rate was 1.4%
every 51 years.
6 · Racial/Ethnic
Composition
· Indians — they live
in the highlands of Mexico and Central America.
· Mestizos — individuals with Indian and Spanish ancestry. They
live in the highlands of Mexico and Central America.
· Europeans — they are
individuals of Spanish, French, or English ancestry. The Spaniards live in the
highlands where they found the Indians and where the climate is temperate as in
Europe. The English and French live in the Caribbean islands while the English
also live in Belize.
7 · Racial/Ethnic
Composition
· Blacks — they live
in the Caribbean islands and coastal fringe of Central America or from Belize
to Panama.
· Mulattos — these are individuals of black and white ancestry.
They live in the Caribbean Islands.
· Zambos — they are individuals who live mainly in the Caribbean
Islands and are a result of a union of Indians who lived in the mountains of
Jamaica and Hispanola and black slaves who escaped the island plantations.
8 · The Physiography of Middle America
· The physiography of Middle America is highly divided and fragmented. Its funnel-shaped mainland consist of a 3800 mile connection between the north and south American realms, and it narrows to a 40-mile ribbon of land in panama.
· Middle America is therefore an
isthmian link or a land bridge.
9 · Physiography of Middle America
· Baja California consists of an 800-mile peninsula that dominated by igneous intrusive rocks with lava caps.
· The San Bernardino
Mountains extend into Baja but, here, they are known as the Juarez Mountains.
10 · Physiography of Middle America
· Draw Diagram of Baja California.
· This diagram shows
the Colorado Delta that is 150 miles long, but it has “mud volcanoes”, swamps,
and areas prone to flooding.
· Except for the
international border, the peninsula is sparsely settled.
· The people live from tourism, fishing, and
local mining of iron, lead, and zinc.
11 · Physiography of Middle America
· Coastal Fringe
of Western Mexico
· This area is
effectively cut off from the interior of central Mexico by the Sierra Madre
Occidental.
· The area is relatively
narrow, and it has finger-like extensions of the mountains to form valleys
where rivers lay.
· This area is
utilized for agriculture and farmers grow rice, sugar cane, wheat, oats,
tobacco, cotton, and they raise cattle and pigs for market.
12 · Physiography
of Middle America
· Sierra
Madre Occidental
· This mountain
range extends from the U.S. border to approximately the 19th Parallel.
· It is
approximately 8-10,000 feet in elevation.
· This mountain
range contains deep valleys or canyons called barrancas.
· One of these
barrancas is known as La Barranca de Cobre. It rivals the Grand Canyon in
grandeur and splendor.
· Mining is
important along this range. Gold is mined in the City of Las Coloradas while
silver is mined in the City of Batopilas.
13 · Physiography
of Middle America
· Altiplano of Mexico
· The plateau of Mexico is divided into two
parts:
· Mesa del Norte, and
· Mesa del Sur.
· (Draw Diagram of this region.)
· Both sections contain a series of inter-mountain
basins called bolsones.
· These bolsones vary in elevation from 3,000
to 7, 500 feet.
14 · Physiography of Middle America
· Sierra Madre Oriental
· These mountains are
considered to be a continuation of the Rocky Mountains.
· The elevation is
approximately 8-10000 feet.
· These mountains do not contain barrancas
but they do have deep valleys, with spurs that lead into the eastern coastal
plain.
15 · Physiography of Middle America
·The Gulf
Coastal Plain of Eastern Mexico
· This region begins
north of Laredo and extends to a narrow point north of Vera Cruz and, then,
widens into the coastal plain of the Yucatan Peninsula.
· South from Texas,
the coastal plain increases in precipitation and vegetation, leading to the
rain forest of southern Mexico.
· The area south of
Matamores contains a Cfa climate, and in the Tampico area it gives
way to an Aw climate.
· Here, large
ranches for fattening cattle proliferate.
16 · Physiography of Middle America
·The
Volcanic Axis of Mexico
· This is an area of
great heights and ruggedness.
· The volcanoes are
over 15,000 feet in elevation.
· These volcanoes
may an important role in the religion, art, and culture of the Indian cultures
that inhabit Central Mexico.
· Draw Diagram of this region.
17 · Physiography of Middle America
·The Balsas
Depression
· This depression is found south
of the Volcanic Axis of Mexico.
· It is 180 miles
long and 30 miles wide. It is deep enough so that when one reaches its bottom,
one reaches tropical conditions.
· This trough is
deep enough for a lake to have existed prior to capture of the lake by the
river.
· This area has been
mined for gold since pre-Columbus time. It is the source of gold that was
utilized by the Indians for ornamental purposes and the Spaniards for legal
tender.
18 · Physiography
of Middle America
·Sierra
Madre del Sur
· This mountain
range begins in the State of Jalisco and extends southward along the coast of
southwestern Mexico.
· This range is high
and rugged, as high as the Sierra Madre Occidental.
· This range
consists of pre-Cambrian and metamorphic rocks.
· This range
contains spurs that extend to the sea, and these spurs at times result in
coastal indentations such as Acapulco.
19 · Physiography of Middle America
· The Oaxacan Highlands
· On the eastern
side of the Sierra Madre del Sur, we find the Sierra de Oaxaca. The area
between the two ranges we find an old Eros ional surface that has reached
maturity.
· The area is known as
the Highlands because the slopes of both mountains are steep, and it is due to
this slope that the mountains are referred to as ‘The Highlands.”
20 · Physiography of Middle America
· The Chiapas
Highlands
· On the south side
of the Oaxaca Highlands, we find a steep escarpment, and it is this escarpment
that cuts the Highlands from the lowlands at the Isthmus of Tehuantepec.
· On the south side of this lowland area, we
find the Chiapas Highlands. This area consists of two mountain ranges that are
separated by the Valley of Chiapas.
· The mountains, north of the Valley, are
known as the Sierra de San Cristobal while the mountains to the south are known
as the Sierra de Chiapas.
· The former
mountains are made of igneous rock while the latter mountains are made of
sedimentary rock.
21 ·
Physiography of Middle America: Caribbean
· Sierra de
San Cristobal => Sierra de
Cuchumantes =>Sierra de Santa Cruz => Cayman Islands => Maestra Mts of SE Cuba =>Cordillera Central of Hispanola => Cordillera Central of Puerto Rico.
· Sierra de
Chiapas => Sierra de
las Minas => Islas de
Ia Bahia => Swan
Islands => Blue Mts
of Jamaica => Peninsula
of Hispanola
22 · Physiography
of Middle America: The Central American Volcanic Axis
· The volcanic axis of
Central America is a result of the Caribbean Plate overriding the Cosco Plate.
· The volcanoes are
found on the western coast of Central America.
· These
volcanoes eventually closed the Nicaraguan Trough that is a flora and fauna
barrier.
23 ·
Legacy of Mesoamerica
· Middle America
was the scene of the emergence of a major, ancient civilization.
· Here, lay one of the
world’s true culture hearths, a source area from which new ideas radiate and
whose population contributed to material and intellectual progress.
· This culture hearth is
called Mesoamerica and extends from Mexico City to Nicaragua.
24· Lowland Maya
· The Maya civilization in the only one on the world culture map that arose in the lowland tropics.
· It experienced
successive periods of glory and decline, and it reached its zenith
between the third and tenth centuries A.D.
· Religious leaders ruled this civilization, and it produced skilled artists, writers, mathematicians, and astronomers.
25 ·
The Highland Aztecs
· This civilization
began in the fourteenth century with the founding of a settlement on an island
in the many lakes within the valley of Mexico. This city was known as
Tenochtitlan that became the greatest city in the Americas, namely, Mexico
City.
26 ·
The Highland Aztecs
· Aztec cities
became centers of commerce and trade but it was the Aztec farmers, including
other Mesoamerican farmers, who produced the greatest accomplishments of the
Aztecs, namely, plant and animal domestication.
27 · Domestication
of Plants and Animals in Middle America
· According
to Carl Sauer, plant and animal domestication in the new world
occurred in two
distinct areas:
· The northwest
corner of Columbia in South America, and
· Central Mexico and
Central America, otherwise known as Mesoamerica.
28 · Domestication
of Plants and Animals in Middle America
·The Arawak and the Carib Indians developed a root
agriculture that is called the cunuco
farming system, a farming system that is still utilized extensively in the Hispanic
West Indies.
29· Domestication of Plants and Animals in Middle
America
· In this farming system, the Indians would heap soil into a round mound that was knee-high and several feet in diameter. The basic planting in the mound was starchy root crops, chief of which were manioc or cassava, sweet potatoes, arrowroot, and peanuts. All of these plants were placed together in the same mound and they, jointly, provided protection from erosion.
30 · Domestication
of Plants and Animals in Middle America
·Other plants that were domesticated in northwest Columbia were:
· Strawberries
· Yams
· Cocoa*
· Pineapple*, and
· Tomatoes.
· *These plants came
from Brazil.
31 ·
Plant and Animal Domestication in Middle America
· The rapid and catastrophic
collapse of the Indian population in the West Indies and northwest Columbia
brought about by the conquest resulted in the loss of numerous plant/vegetable
varieties.
32 · Plant and
Animal Domestication in Middle America
·The only
domesticated animals in NW Columbia were the duck (patos caseros or household
duck) that were domesticated by the Muica Amerindians and the guinea pig that
was raised for food. Other animals included the llama, alpaca, and vicuna,
including a small dog that was raised for food.
33 · Plant and
Animal Domestication in Middle America
· In Mesoamerica, the
domestication of plants focused on seed agriculture rather than root
agriculture. Women selected the seeds by size, color, and nutritional value;
and, therefore, women selectively chose the plant offsprings that they wanted
to have in their farm plots.
34 · Plant and Animal Domestication In Middle America
·The dominant plants of Middle America were:
· Maize,
· Beans, and
· Squash.
· These three plants,
jointly, comprise the farming system known as the milpa farming system.
35 · Plant arid
Animal Domestication in Middle America
· These three
crops are known as the Trilogy of Crops. In this farming system, the farm plots
are square or rectangular. Moreover, all three seeds are planted in one hole so
that the first plant to sprout is the maize, then, the bean ivy which climbs
the maize plant, followed by the squash plant which spreads its leaves
throughout the plot, protecting the soil from the harsh sun rays and powerful
rain drops.
36 · Plant and
Animal Domestication in Middle America
· In this farming
system, other crops that were domesticated were:
· Pumpkins,
· Kidney beans,
· Chile peppers,
· Bell peppers, and.
· Navy beans.
37 · Plant and
Animal Domestication in Middle America
· Another
farming system that developed in Mesoamerica was the chinampa farming system.
This farming system consists of the milpa farming system and the “floating
islands.”
38 · Plant and
Animal Domestication in Middle America
· Chinampa
cultivation refers to the use of artificial islands constructed of alternate
layers of vegetation and mud in shallow freshwater lakes. Special features
include the use of seedbeds to shorten the growing season (permitting a
continuous succession of crops in a single year); frequent fertilization by
using mud from the lake bottom and lake vegetation; and constant irrigation.
39 · Plant and
Animal Domestication in Middle America
· Because this
farming system resulted in two or three harvests per year, the Amerindian
population of Mesoamerica grew rapidly so that by 1519 the Amerindian
population of Mesoamerica consisted of 25 million inhabitants. In
addition, the chinampas were constructed in the form of
narrow rectangles to facilitate bucket irrigation and natural seepage.
40 · Consequences of the Conquest
· In Middle America the confrontation between Hispanic and native cultures lead to disastrous results:
· A drastic decline in native population.
· 1532—16 million.
· 1548 -6.3 million.
· 1568—2.3 million.
· 1580 — 1.8
million.
· 1608 —1.1 million.
· Rapid
deforestation by the Spaniards who used wood and charcoal for cooking, heating,
and smelting.
41 · Consequences
of the Conquest
· Excess pressure
on native vegetation from livestock that competed for the available food.
· Substitution
of wheat for maize and the eventual replacement of cropland that was once used
by the natives for food production.
42 · Consequences
of the Conquest
· The removal of the
Amerindian from the rural communities to nucleated villages and towns where the
Spaniards could exercise more control over the
Amerindians.
· The use of slave labor in mining activities of
gold, silver, and copper.
43 · Mainland and Rimlarid
· After centuries of
European colonial rivalry in the Caribbean basin, the United States (along with
England, France, and the Netherlands) made its influence felt by introducing
large-scale banana plantation agriculture in the coastal areas of Central
America.
44 · Mainland
arid Rimland
· Because
European diseases decimated the Amerindian population in the islands and
mainland, an active African-slave trade that transformed the Caribbean’s
demography supplemented the labor shortage that resulted in the plantations.
· When labor was
needed in the mainland, thousands of black laborers were brought to the
mainland from Jamaica and other islands.
45 · Mainland
and Rimland
· John Augelli
conceptualized these contrasts between the Middle American highlands and the
coastal areas/Caribbean islands into the Mainland/Rimland framework.
46 · Mainland
and Rimland
· Augelli
recognized:
· Euro-Amerindian
Mainland consists of continental Middle America from Mexico to Panama, with the
exception of the Caribbean coast from mid-Yucatan southeastward.
· Here, European
(Spanish) and Amerindian influences are highest and include mestizo influences.
· The mainland economy
is focused on the Hacienda where Amerindian lived on the land which may have been
their own and had plots where they could grow their subsistence crops.
· On the other hand, the
Haciendas are still owned by people of European ancestry who live lives of
social prestige and comfortable lifestyles.
47 · Mainland and Rimland
· A Euro-African Rimland
includes the coastal strip of Middle America (from the Yucatan to Panama) and
the islands of the Caribbean.
· In the Rimland area, a
black population predominates while the economy still focuses on commercial
agriculture. Sugar cane is still grown in the islands while banana plantations
cover most of the coastal areas of the Central American countries.
48 · Mainland
and Rimland
· Robert West and John Augelli list five characteristics of the Rimland area:
· Plantations are
located in the humid tropical coastal lowlands of the realm.
· Plantations
produce for export — usually — a single crop.
· Capital and skills
are imported often so that foreign ownership and outflow of profits occur.
· Labor is seasonal
and it has been imported due to the scarcity of Amerindian workers.
· With its
“factory-in-the-field, operation, the plantation is more efficient in its use
of land and labor than the hacienda.
49 · Political
Differentiation
· Middle America
is divided into 8 countries; all but one (Belize) has Hispanic origins. Today,
Belize is being transformed as thousands of Spanish-speaking immigrants arrive
from war-tom countries.
· Mexico is the
largest country in this realm. It contains 70% of the realm’s entire land area.
It now has 102 million inhabitants.
50 · Political
Differentiation
· In the Caribbean area,
Cuba is the largest island and the largest population (11.3 million).
· Although Cuba
has Spanish heritage, Jamaica has British influence; Haiti has strong African
and French influences; Puerto Rico, although has Spanish influence, it is a
commonwealth of the U.S.
· The A-B-C islands (Aruba, Bonaire, and Curacao)
have Dutch influence.
51 · Problems of Widespread Poverty
· All of the crops grown
in the Caribbean area are constantly under severe, global competition; and they
are not important enough to alleviate great hunger and poverty in the region.
· Food supplies are
inadequate because the best land is used to grow cash crops
instead of staples for local consumption.
52 · Problems of Widespread Poverty
· Minifundia
(the ownership of small plots of land) is prevalent throughout the Caribbean
basin.
· Soil erosion and deforestation plague many of
the nations in the Caribbean basin.
53 · African Heritage
· The human geography of
the Caribbean islands resemble the cultural landscape
of west and equatorial Africa. The similarities are found
in:
· The construction
of village dwellings.
· The operation of
rural markets.
· The role of women
in rural life.
· Preparation of the
food.
· Methods of
cultivation.
· Artistic expression and family
life.
54 · African Heritage
· Despite the
general dominance of African heritage in Caribbean basin, the white population,
followed by mulattos, actually holds a disproportionate share of economic and
political power.
· The islands also have
large number of Chinese and eastern Indians. Cuba has a very large number of
Chinese while Jamaica, Guadeloupe, Martinique, and Trinidad, jointly, received 250,000
East Indians.
55 · Tourism:
The Irritant Industry
· Although
tourism is big business in the Caribbean basin, it has serious drawbacks:
· The invasion of
poor communities by affluent tourists result in a rising sense of local anger
and resentment by the locals.
· The intervention
of local governments and multinational corporation removes opportunities from
local entrepreneurs in favor of large operations and major resorts, e.g., Club
Med.
56 · Regional
Cooperation
· Due to regional
interests, 25 nations created the association of Caribbean states (ACS) in
order to achieve closer trading ties among the 25 nations and to protect their
trading ties to the U.S. In light of Mexico’s competitive edge in the U.S.
Market
57 · Mexico
· Mexico is the
largest country in land area and population in Middle America.
· It now has a
population of 102 million and 74 percent of this population is urbanized.
58 · Mexico
· Today, its
population is 60 percent mestizo, 20 percent predominantly Amerindian and 10
percent full-bloodied Amerindian; And only 9 percent European.
· Mexico city is
largest city in Latin America, with 26 million inhabitants and with 25 percent
of its national population.
59 · Revolution
and Its Aftermath
· Mexico’s revolution
of 1910 led to the redistribution of approximately 8,000 haciendas into parcels
of public land that are handed over to villages and, in turn, handed over to
individuals for cultivation.
60 · Revolution
and Its Aftermath
· In spite of the reforms
that have occurred, tensions are still volatile, as it has been seen in the
1994 revolt in the State of Chiapas. This revolt was led by Amerindians who
still remain disenfranchised from the main land reforms that have occurred in
other parts of Mexico.
61 · Revolution and Its Aftermath
· The reform movement is
led by a radical group of Amerindians who have organized their activities
within the Zapatista National Liberation Army (ZNLA), and their demands for
“autonomy” and land reform may lead to the decentralization of powers from the
federal to the state government that allows the latter more local control.
62 · Revolution
and Its Aftermath
· The ZNLA’s crusade
has not been resolved and may eventually lead to further armed confrontations
and eventually spark a nationwide civil rights movement for all Amerindians.
63 · The
Changing Geography of Economic Activity
·
Energy resources-
· As we have seen
Mexico’s ranks quite high in its allotment in crude oil reserves.
· These reserves are
found in the Gulf of Mexico:
· Around the Tampico
area and offshore.
· In the Bay of Campeche
where very large of oil pools are found in very deep layers of sedimentary
bedrock.
64 · The Changing Geography of Economic Activity
· Industrialization
· Mexico’s iron and
steel industry if centered in the northeastern state of Nuevo Leon.
· The city of
Monterrey is the leading industrial city of Mexico. It obtains iron ore from
local sources and coal from the Sabinas Basin.
· Another iron and
steel city is Monclova, which also receives iron locally, and coal from the
Sabinas Basin.
65 · The
Changing Geography of Economic Activity
· The most significant
development in Mexico’s manufacturing geography is the growth of Malquiladora
plants in the northern border zone. Malquiladoras are factories (half of these
are U.S. owned) that assemble imported duty-free components and raw materials
into finished industrial products. Approximately 80 percent of these goods are
eventually re-exported to the U.S. whose import tariffs are limited to the
value added to products during fabrication stage.
66 · The Changing Geography of Economic Activity
· There are
approximately I 1,800 assembly
plants which employ half a million employees.
67 · The Changing
Geography of Economic Activity
· Among the
things that are being assembled include:
· Electronic
equipment.
· Electrical appliances.
· Auto parts.
· Clothing.
· Plastics.
· Furniture.
68 · Altitudinal Zonation
· In
19321, Dr. Karl Sapper1, a German climatologist,
published his now famous textbook The
Climate of Middle America.
· In this
textbook, he described the concept of
altitudinal zonation and climate change as one climbs up the mountains in the tropic of Middle and South America.
· Refer to the altitudinal zonation diagram on
page 228 in your textbook.
69 · Altitudinal
Zonation
· The temperature
in the tropical environment (Tierra Caliente) is approximately
30 degrees Celsius at sea level which is
the normal temperature in the tropics.
· For every 11,000 meters (or 3,000 feet) in altitude, there is a
—6-degree drop in temperature.
· For example,
if the average temperature at sea level is 30 degrees, this temperature
converts to 86 degrees Fahrenheit.
70 · Altitudinal
Zonation
· F = 9/5 C + 32, when
C=30, then, F=86.
· F = 9/5 C + 32, when
C=24, then, F=75.
· For temperature
decline in Fahrenheit, we get a —11 degrees per 3,000 feet or 3.67-degree change per 1,000 feet.
· Let us consider
the two following situations:
· T=30—6H
· 0=30—6H
71 · The Central American Republics
· Guatemala:
A Phantom Peace?
· Guatemala’s
population is approximately 12.3 million inhabitants, with mestizos (or
ladinos) comprising the majority (58 percent) and Amerindians the minority (42
percent)
· This country has
experienced civil war since 1960 and it has claimed more than 200,000 lives.
· Unfortunately, the
end of armed conflicts is not in sight1, and this situation will
hamper any economic gains that may
arise from the country’s natural resources.
72 · The
Central American Republics
· Belize:
Changing Identity.
· Until 1981, this
country was a colony of Britain and it was known as British Honduras.
· Slightly larger
than Massachusetts, this country of 240,000 inhabitants (many of African
descent) has similarities to the Caribbean islands than to other Central
American states.
· The population
dynamics of this country has changed as thousands of Creoles have left for the
U.S. and they have been replaced by thousands of Spanish-speaking immigrants
who are mostly escapees from Guatemala, San Salvador, and Honduras.
Consequently, their proportion of the Belizean population has risen from 33 to
50 percent between 1980 and 2000.
73 · The
Central American Republics
· Honduras:
Deluged by Disaster
· This country was
devastated by very destructive hurricanes, Mitch, in 1998.
· It proved to be one
of the costliest disasters in modern history of the Western Hemisphere.
· The hurricane killed
approximately 15,000 inhabitants and destroyed the infrastructure of the
country.
· This country is
well known for it sweat shops that produce clothes for global markets.
74 · The Central American Republics
·San Salvador Postwar Reconstruction
· This is the
smallest country in Central
America, but the most densely populated country of this area. Ninety-four percent of the
population is mestizo.
· Between 1980
and 1992, this country was devastated by civil war in which 75,000 people were killed.
· This country
produces coffee in plantations that utilized peasant labor for their profits.
· Besides
coffee exports, this country also has a growing clothing industry
that is becoming more important as we enter a new millennium.
75 · The Central
American Republics
· Nicaragua:
Mired in Misfortune
· This is the first
country to have been ruled by a Communist or Sandinista regime in Central
America.
· As a result of the
civil conflict, this country now ranks as the poorest country in Middle America.
· Its economy is
based on coffee plantations in its highlands.
·Presently, economic recover after hurricane Mitch and the
Sandinista revolution remains a difficult outcome.
76 ·
The Central American Republic
· Costa
Rica: Durable Democracy
· Costa Rica is very unlike its neighbors in
that it is the oldest democratic country in the area.
· Most of the population lives in the Tierra
templada zone where coffee plantation predominate the landscape.
· This country contains the region’s highest
standard of living, literacy rate, and life expectancy.
· Agriculture continues to dominate, with
coffee, bananas, cut flowers, sugar, and beef the leading exports.
· This
country is known as the “Switzerland of Central America”.
77 · The Central American Republics
· Panama: Strategic Canal, Reorganizing
Corridor
· The
Panama Canal was opened in 1914, and it was operated by the United
States until approximately 1977.
But, officially, final withdrawal will occur on December31, 1999.
· This country has
a population of 2.9 million and is about 2/3’s mestizo, with substantial black,
white, and Amerindian minorities.
· This country
produces bananas, coffee, sugarcane,
and rice.
78 · Chapter 5: South America
· South
America is the fourth largest landmass
in the world, with 7,000,000 square miles
of land surface.
79 · Chapter 5:
South America
· Of the
7,000,000 square miles,
2,000,000 are not populated so that the
population concentration of 46 persons
per square mile is unevenly distributed.
80 ·
Chapter 5: South America
· The continent
extends from 13-north latitude to 55 degrees south latitude (or 4,700 square miles long in a north-south direction) and 35-80 degrees west longitude (3,100
miles long in an east-west
direction.)
· There approximately
324,000,000 inhabitants in South
America; and if we include the population of Middle America, the total
population of Latin America is 488
million,
with a growth rate of 1.8 percent.
81 ·
South America
· Total population
centers are along the mountains in the eastern coastline and, principally, in
the Andes Mountains on the western
coastline.
· In some areas
of the Andes, population concentrations
have become so high that extreme soil erosion has occurred.
· Draw
diagram of the Andes Mountains.
82 · Population Characteristics
· Urbanization and Ethnic Composition: As
I mentioned above, South America is
settled on the fringe. The
patterns are based on culture, attitude, and accidents of history.
· Spaniards
always have had a predilection for communal life. To a Spaniard, a city
represents culture, politics, and “where the action is.”
83 · Population Characteristics
· The population of all
countries is highly nucleated. Cities such Buenos Aires, Sao Paulo, and Rio de
Janeiro have populations over 8 million, and the growth of these cities has
resulted in the encirclement of slums around the cities which go by different
names.
· For example, in
Lima approximately 1/4 of the population live in
barridas; in Brazil slums are known as favelas; in Columbia as ranchos; and in
Argentina as barrios.
84 · The Human Sequence
· Ancient people
who migrated to South America via Middle America more than 5,000 years ago
inhabited the South American continent.
· Thus, for
thousands of years indigenous Amerindian communities and societies have been developing in
South America.
85 · The Human Sequence
· The Inca Empire
· This empire was
forged from a series of elongated basins called altiplanos. From their home base —Cuzco—
the Incas (or Quechua) extended there
authority over peoples of coastal Peru and
other altiplanos.
· At their zenith, the Inca Empire contained more than 20 million subjects, and they strictly controlled
the life of the empire’s subjects so
that there was little personal freedom. The empire was controlled so tightly that a takeover
at the top was enough to gain power over the empire — as the
Spaniards soon found out.
86 · The Human Sequence
· A word about
the Amerindians:
· The number and
distribution of the Amerindians during the period of exploration played a significant element
in the settlement of South America. (In some areas, they form the dominant racial group as in the Amazon basin, Peru and Bolivia.).
· Being an Indian in many of these countries (as in Mexico) results in a bad
situation because they are socially discriminated.
87 · The Human Sequence
· They usually lead a life of misery, only elevated by an occasional religious ceremony and market shopping.
· To relief
their troublesome lives, they use quinine and chicha that is made from decayed
potatoes that are spat out
of the mouth into a bowl. This ritual is
a family affair, and YES, the
incidence of tuberculosis is very high throughout the Andes.
88 · The Human Sequence
· The Iberians:
· The Spaniards,
under the leadership of Francisco Pizzeria, rode victorious into the city of
Cuzco. Soon after their conquest, they placed the Amerindians into serfdom and
formed haciendas by land alienation or by disenfranchising the Amerindians off
their land.
· As the wealth of Peru was siphoned to Spain, the city of Lima
became a
Viceroyalty. And, from this city they extended their
conquest to the north
—Columbia
and Venezuela— and to the south —Argentina and Uruguay.
89 · The
Human Sequence
· The Portuguese took possession of eastern South America because the Treaty
of Tordesillas (1494)
gave Portugal possession of all lands to the east of 50 degrees West longitude.
· Eventually, they extended their control beyond
this longitude to include the Amazon Basin and a good part of the Panama-Paraguay Basin.
90 · The
Human Sequence
· The Africans
· When the
Portuguese began
to develop their New World territory, they turned to the cultivation of
sugar and the use of black slave labor. Consequently, million of Africans were
brought to the New World. For this reason, Brazil has the largest black
population of South America.
91 · The Human
Sequence
· Mestizos
· Racial mix of Spanish
and Indian cultures, this group forms 85 to 90 percent of all of the people of
South America. The mestizo is fundamentally the “Matrix of South America.”
92 · Cultural Fragmentation
· South
America is a continent of plural societies
where Amerindians of different cultures, Europeans from Iberia, blacks from Africa, and Asians from
India, Japan, and Indonesia
cultures form a mosaic of cultural and economic spheres.
93 · Cultural Fragmentation
· These spheres, as defined by John Augelli,
are discussed below:
· Tropical-Plantation
Region: This area is found along the humid Brazilian coastline, including
four more areas in the Atlantic-Caribbean areas of the continent. The region
resembles the Rimland’s culture and economic characteristics.
94 · Cultural Fragmentation
· European-Commercial
Region: The area includes the southern
countries, including southern Brazil; and it consists of an area that
is economically more advance that the rest of the country.
95 · Cultural Fragmentation
· Amerindian-Subsistence
Region: The region focuses on the high Andes where most of the inhabitants are Amerindian who live in
minifundias.
96 · Cultural Fragmentation
· Mestizo-Transitional
Region: This area is a mix of the
three major culture groups, namely, the Europeans, Amerindians, and mestizos. This area surrounds the Amerindian
Subsistence Region, and it is less commercial than the European sphere
but less subsistent in orientation than the dominantly Amerindian areas.
97 · Cultural
Fragmentation
· Undifferentiated
Region: This region consists of the Amazon Basin. It is an area that is hard to
classify because it is remote and exhibits limited economic
development.
98 · Economic
Integration
· Most of South America’s
republics have replaced old policies that protected domestic economies with new
ones that embrace market-oriented reform and the expansion of trading partners.
99 · Economic
Integration
· The following list
shows the new economic organizations that have developed in order to forge new
trading zones.
· Mercosur — This trading area consists
of the Southern Cone Common Market that includes Argentina, Brazil,
Paraguay, and Uruguay.
· Andean Community — The members of this trading group include Bolivia,
Columbia, Ecuador, and Peru.
· Group of Three
(G-3) — This free-trade agreement involves Mexico, Venezuela, and
Columbia.
100 · Economic Integration
· North American
Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) — This free-trade agreement includes Canada, Mexico, and the
United States. This group hopes to include Chile in the organization very soon.
· These organizations
represent only an intermediate step toward a much grander goal: the creation of
the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA).
101 · Urbanization
· Today, seventy-six
percent of the South American population now resides in urban areas, and this
trend will continue for the foreseeable future. Moreover, the urban population
is growing at a faster rate than rural populations, that is, the urban
population has grown annually by 5% since 1950 while the increase in rural
areas has been 2%.
102 · Brazil
· Brazil
is the largest country in South America (3.3 million square miles), and it ranks fifth in size. It is smaller
than Russia, Canada, China, and the United States. Its population size is
larger than another state in South America, with 167 million inhabitants as of
2000 (estimate).
103 · Brazil
· Its population is very
diverse. Brazil has approximately 8.5 million blacks, 67 million of
mixed-race, with African-European-Amerindian ancestry, and 91 million of European ancestry.
· Japanese immigrants recently have joined the ranks, and
they live in farming
communities throughout southern Brazil.
104 · Brazil-Regional
Areas
· Brazil can be
divided into six regions:
· The Northeast
· The Southeast
· The South
· The Interior and
· The Amazonian
North.
105 · Brazil-The Northeast
· The NORTHEAST is the
cultural heart of Brazil, and it is an area that is highly populated.
· The economy is
essentially commercial agriculture, with an emphasis on sugar cane along the
wetter coastal areas. But, unfortunately, this economy is depressed and the
area experiences widespread poverty.
· Here, the Portuguese quickly
imported African slaves to work the sugar fields.
106 · Brazil-The Northeast
· The area inland is
known as the sertao, and it is often impacted by serious droughts.
· This is why it is
referred to as the Polygon of Drought. Precipitation patterns are quite erratic
here. The vegetation is called the Caatinga that is comparable to our semi-arid
vegetation of cactus and small thorny bushes.
107 · Brazil-The Northeast
· The major cities
are Recife, which is the oldest city in the region, and San Salvador, which is
the areas most economically, diversified city, with a major petrochemical
complex in its vicinity.
108 · Brazil-The Southeast
· The SOUTHEAST consists
of the States of Bahia, Espirito Santo, and Minas Gerais. This area is richly
endowed with gold, bauxite, manganese, nickel, and many precious and
semi-precious stones. The State of Minas Gerais means General Mines, and it derives its name from the more than 100
different mines that are found throughout the state.
109 · Brazil-The Southeast
· In fact,
it was the lure of gold what brought people to this area. But, it is
iron ore (around Lafaiete) that now makes this area, one of the most productive
areas in Brazil.
· Brazil
now ranks second, next to Russia, in the total production of iron and steel,
and Belo Horizonte, the Capitol, is the leading metallurgical center of Brazil.
Volta Redonda, close to Rio de Janeiro, contains the second largest steel mill
in Brazil.
110 · Sao Paulo
· The
State of Sao Paulo is the leading industrial producer and a very
important agricultural region that specializes in coffee (grown in coffee
plantation known as fazendas), soybeans, and citrus fruits (for orange
concentrate). The area is well known for its fertile Terra Roxa or “Red Soils.”
· The City of
Sao Paulo is the leading manufacturing city in all of South America, and it has
a very active automobile industry.
111 · The South
· THE SOUTH
consists of the southern states of Parana, Santa Catarina, and Rio Grande do
Sul. Numerous farming communities that were settled by European immigrants,
especially Germans, Italians, and Portuguese farmers, characterize this area. (The
staple crops are corn, potatoes, dairying, and vineyards. Recently, tobacco has
been come an important cash crop for American tobacco companies.).
112 · The South
· This area,
unfortunately, has been experiencing a separatist movement that is
fueled by people who want to keep European cultural
lifestyles intact and who do not want to mix with the non-European citizens
from the North.
113 · The South
· Main industrial activity focuses on Tubarao where South America’s
single largest steel-making
plant opened in 1983. It obtains its coal from the states of Santa Catarina and Rio
Grande do Sul.
· During the 1990’s
an internationally significant center of the computer software industry was
established in Florianopolis, the island city and State Capital, of Santa Catarina.
114 · The Interior
·THE INTERIOR focuses on the region that surrounds the
capital city of Brasilia that was deliberately located in the savanna region of
the Centro-Oeste of the interior of Brazil.
· The City of Brasilia,
the forward capital, of Brazil is located in this region; and this region has been
integrated into the nation’s economy through the exploitation of the cerrado—
the fertile plains that blanket the Central-West. This area is one of the
world’s most promising agricultural frontiers.
115 · The
Amazonian North
· THE AMAZONIAN NORTH
was the scene of the great rubber boom at the turn of the century, but with the
discovery of synthetic rubber, the industry ended rapidly in 1910.
116 · The
Amazonian North
· This
area contains the world’s largest rain forest reservoir, and it is now
receiving a massive infusion of immigrants
from the coast, that is, immigrants who seek gold and cheap land, just for the clearing. Unfortunately, the
clearing of the land has lead to a great environmental catastrophic in which
the rain forest is being destroyed at alarming rates that may lead to global
warming and desertification of vast areas of the world.
117 · The
Amazonian North
· Today, it has a
major industrial project. It is the Grande Carajas Project in eastern portion
of the State of Para. This is a huge industrial scheme that focuses on one of
the world’s largest deposits of iron ore in the Serra dos Carajas hills.
118 · The
Amazonian North
· This project is referred to as a growth-pole concept. A
growth-pole is a location where a set of industries, given a start, will expand
and generate widening ripples of development in the surrounding area.
· Another
important project includes the Polonoroeste Plan that is an attempt to settle
the western Amazonias via the Trans-Amazon Highway.
119 · Venezuela
· The name “Venezuela”
comes from the Spanish word for “Little Venice.” The name was derived when
early Spanish explorers saw Indian huts on stilts on the shallow “Lake
Maracaibo.”
· Petroleum was
found in this “lake” during the 1920s, and it has flowed since then.
· Two-thirds of the
national output comes from oil pools found under Lake
Maracaibo.
120 · Venezuela
· The capital of
Venezuela is Caracas, and it is located approximately 3,000 feet above sea
level. Caracas fills a narrow valley 15 miles wide by 30 miles long and it has
a population of approximately 3.2 million.
· The elevation of
Caracas gives the city a temperate climate. Comparatively, the city’s port of La Guaira
sits six miles away on a desert coastline, and its is extremely hot, dry, and unpleasant.
121 · Venezuela
· The Guiana Highlands
lie north of the Amazon Basin, and it remains the least explored area of South
America. The highlands consist of high tabular mesas, the biggest is Mt.
Roraima, with an elevation of 9,212 feet.
122 · Venezuela
· In the 1 1920s, an
American flyer, Jimmy Angel, accidentally discovered the world’s highest waterfall -— Angel’s fall. It drops 3,212 feet.
· The Guiana Highlands
is very important economically because they contain large deposits of iron ore,
bauxite, and gold.
· Iron ore has been
found south of Ciudad Bolivar, in Cerro de Bolivar. Huge deposits of bauxite
had also been found near the City of Guayana that refines bauxite ore into
alumina, raw aluminum.
123 · Venezuela
· Gold is the
most recent element discovered in the Guiana Highlands near the Brazilian border. Unfortunately, would-be gold prospectors are now
indiscriminately ravishing the countryside to mine for gold.
· The
Orinoco Lowlands extends for about 400-mile long plain along the Orinoco River.
This area is devoted to ranching activities that satisfy the needs of numerous
large cities in the mountains.
124 · Columbia
· Although this country contains a physical geography so varied that it produces crops ranging from the temperate to the tropical and is richly endowed with energy resources, it has been ravished by civil
unrest and violence, and its future is uncertain.
125 · Columbia
·It recent unrest began in 1970s when groups
opposing the power-sharing monopoly between the political parties began a
campaign of terrorism, damaging the developing infrastructure of the country.
In addition, drug cartels formed in response to the U.S. market for narcotics
increased.
126 · Columbia
·Although its
future is uncertain, the country has some very interesting characteristics:
· It has a population
that is predominately mestizo, it population size is approximately 40 million (2000 est.).
· Most of the
population is concentrated in the western and northern portions of the country.
· The largest city is
Bogota, the capital, which has a population of 5.6 million and an elevation of
8,500 feet.
· The second largest
city is Medellin, with a population of 1.7 million and an elevation of 5,500
feet. This city is also famous for its coffee plantations that produce the most
flavorful coffees.
127 · Columbia
· Coffee is now
Columbia’s main export crop, but it is coca leaves that accounts for Columbia’s
leading unofficial export to the United States.
· The city of Cali,
on the Cauca River, has a population of 1.8 million, and it is the focal point
where tobacco and sugar are produced and cattle raised for the larger cities of
Columbia.
128 · Columbia
· Another major export is oil that was first found in the Casanare
oilfield of northern Columbia, but a larger field was found in the Cusiana
oilfield in 1991. Both oilfields allow Columbia to be a major exporter of oil
in South America.
· A major source of coal
is located in the Guajira Peninsula that is adjacent to the Maracaibo Lowlands.
The mining activities centers in the Cerrejon District.
129 · Columbia
· The coastal Columbian
area along the Pacific coastline of a rain forest climate and vegetation. In
fact, one station in the mountains on the Pacific coast reports 400 inches of rain a year.
· This coastal area is
sparely populated, and it has a large number of blacks that live in
Buenaventura and other small villages.
130 · Columbia
· Commercial
agriculture dominates, with banana and cocoa plantations.
· Finally, the
Caribbean coastline is highly populated with three major cities, Barranquilla
(975,000). Cartagen (525,000), and Santa Marta.
· In fact, Cartagen is
now the Columbian headquarters for illegal, export trade in cocaine and marijuana.
131 · Ecuador
· Ecuador is the second smallest country in South America, that is, after Uruguay.
· It has a
population of
12.7 million, with 40 percent of the population of Amerindian stock.
132 · Ecuador
· The capital is Quito that is located in the Tierra Fria zone.
133 · Ecuador
· This country is
divided into three physiographic parts; 1) the coastal zone, 2) the Andes, and
3) the Oriente.
· The coastal zone
consists of two parts: a) a belt of low-lying hills which are utilized for the
production of coffee, rice, and cotton; b) the lowlands which produce bananas,
making Ecuador the world’s largest producer of bananas, and cacao.
· The Andes form two parallel
north-south ranges. Crest elevations are very high, with some volcanic peaks
reaching heights of 15,000-20,000 feet; it is here where
the majority of the people live. They in turn, cultivate small farm plots,
which is characteristic of minifundia.
134 · Ecuador
· El Oriente, located
east of the Andes, is sparsely populated and has a rain forest canopy, but the
forest is quickly disappearing due to large-scale logging. Here, large oil
fields have been discovered, and it is piped over the Andes to the city of
Emeraldas.
· Presently, Ecuador
is second, next to Venezuela, the largest oil producing country in South
America.
135 · Peru
· Peru is the
third largest country in South America. It has a population of 27 million.
Its territory is divided physiographically into three sub
regions:
· The desert coast,
the European-mestizo region;
· The Andean
highlands or Sierra, the Amerindian region;
· The Oriente, which includes the eastern slopes of Andes, or Montana, the sparsely populated Amerindian-mestizo interior.
136 · Peru
· The capital,
Lima, is situated several miles inland from a good harbor, Callao. The location
of Lima is favorable in light of its productive sea that produces vast amounts
of fish and sardines.
· The city is also close to 40 oases, along the arid coast,
which produce cotton, sugar, rice, vegetables, fruits, and wheat for export.
137 · Peru
· The
Amerindian population lives in clustered, isolated villages or in haciendas
where they practice subsistence agriculture in the Andean mountains.
138 · Peru
· In
either case, they grow corn, barley, and potatoes in Tierra Fria or
Tierra Helada zones.
· The minerals produced for export include
· Copper
· Zinc
· Lead.
· The most important mining area focuses on Cerro de Pasco.
139 · Peru
· In the rain forest of
the Oriente, the focal is the city of Iquitos that looks to the east rather than the west, and oceangoing vessels
from the Atlantic Ocean can reach it.
· Oil was discovered
west of Iquitos in the 1970s, and it is piped to the seaport of Bayovar. This
area also contains natural gas deposits that are now being developed.
140 · Bolivia
·Bolivia is
the second poorest country in South America, and it has a population of
8.4 million inhabitants, half of which are Amerindians while
mestizos comprise approximately
35 percent of the total.
· This country is
landlocked because it lost its corridor to the sea in a war with Chile in 1903. Consequently, this condition
has limited its economic development.
141 · Bolivia
· The Andes form two large, paralleling
ranging which are over 20,000 feet in elevation, and a large altiplano,
or high plain, has been formed between them.
· On the boundary
between Peru and Bolivia, freshwater Lake Titicaca — the highest large lake on Earth — lies at 12,507 feet above
sea level.
142 · Bolivia
· Bolivia’s de
facto capital is La Paz that is situated on the Altiplano at an elevation of 11,700
feet, making it the highest capital in the world. (La Paz contains only the
Legislative and Executive departments.)
· Bolivia’s legal capital, however, is Sucre that still holds
the judicial branch or the Supreme Court.
143 · Bolivia
·Bolivia has tremendous
mineral wealth. The city of Potosi, in the eastern cordillera is the center of
silver mining industry. In 1544, the Spanish conquerors of Peru discovered the
Cerro Rico, a conical mountain that stands above the city of Potosi. The bulk
of this mountain is made up of one of the richest ore bodies known to man — an ore so rich that it not only contains
rich deposits of silver but tin, bismuth, and tungsten.
144 · Bolivia
· However, out of
the mountain, between the its discovery and the beginning of the seventeenth
century, came about one half of all of the silver produced in the world during
the 56 years of discovery. This was the “royal fifth” which poured into the Spanish treasury that played a
vital role in shaping the course of European history.
145 · Bolivia
· Bolivia
is an important producer of tin. Tin was discovered at the end of the
nineteenth century, and it is centered in the cities of Oruro and Unica. But,
today, declining tin reserves and falling world prices have force much of the industry
to shut down.
· Bolivia
also produces zinc, lead, copper, tungsten, and antimony.
146 · Bolivia
· The Oriente
produces natural gas and oil that are exported to Brazil and Argentina.
· Soybeans are
now becoming an important source of revenue, accounting for Bolivia’s most
important export item.
· Cattle ranching are also an
important activity around the city of Santa Cruz.
147 · Argentina
· Argentina is the
second largest city in southern South America. It contains approximately 37
million inhabitants. A vast majority of these people live in the sub-region that is referred
to as the Pampa, a word meaning “plain.”
148 · Argentina
· This area is the most intensely utilized area of Argentina. This
area is also dominated by large estancias (latifundia) that raise thousands of
cattle, sheep, and pigs for market. They also raise soybeans, alfalfa, wheat,
corn, and other grains for animal and human consumption.
149 · Argentina
· All of these products
are shipped to market via hundred of miles that dot the countryside. Most of
the industry in the Pampa focuses on manufacturing of agricultural products
such as vegetable oils, beef hides, woolen clothes, and fruit products.
150 · Argentina
· Outside of the Pampa, the population is sparse and agricultural activities
focus on pastoralism while sheep ranching and fruit farming are dominant
features in the Patagonia plateau that is quite dreary during the winter
months. For this reason, Patagonia is called “Argentina’s Siberia.”
151 · Argentina
· In the area known as
“Mesopotamia of Argentina” or “Entre Rios” or “Between Rivers”, the area is
primarily utilized for agriculture, mainly com, cotton, and wheat.
· Here,
flax is grown for flaxseed oil and linen while yerba mate, a local
tea, is grown. Another product is
the quebracho-tree extract used for tanning leather.
152 · Argentina
· In the north of the
Mesopotamia region, Paraguay and Argentina are currently building the world’s
largest hydroelectric dam; it is called
the Yacyreta Dam which is located on
the Parana River which is designed to enhance the economic potential of this area. This dam is even larger than the ltaipu Dam that is located upstream on the Parana.
153 · Uruguay
· This country is
a small, compact country that has an agricultural economy and a population of 3.3 million inhabitants of European
ancestry.
154 · Uruguay
· Montevideo
is the capital of this country, and it contains 40 percent of the
country’s population. As in Buenos Aires, railroads and roads radiate outward
into the agricultural interior (This city is the administrative capital for
Mercosur.).
· Around the
capital, market gardening dominates the landscape, but this activity gives way
to cattle and sheep ranching, with beef products, wool, and textile
manufacturing.
155 · Paraguay
· This country has 5.5
million inhabitants, and it has a
mestizo majority of 95 percent.
· As for languages,
Amerindian Guarani is so widely spoken alongside Spanish that the country is
completely bilingual.
· Paraguay’s
landlocked position has had much to do with its modest economic development.
These opportunities have not been realized because of the fact that exports
must be shipped through Buenos Aires via the Paraguay-Parana Rivers.
156 · Paraguay
· Soybeans products, cotton, timber, vegetable oils, and beef hides are important export items for this country.
· In the dry Chaco area, cattle ranching and oil mining are the most important activities, besides a large peanut crop that is grown by a Mennonite colony in this area.
157 · Chile
· Chile extends for
2,500 miles along the western coastline of South America, but it is, on the
average, approximately 90 miles wide and rarely 150 miles wide.
158 · Chile
· It has approximately
15 million inhabitants, and its capital is Santiago, the largest city in
Chile.
· Chile is a mestizo country. Its population has none of the
profound racial divisions found in the lands to the north. Only 5 percent of
the population
is pure Amerindian while Europeans form approximately 30 percent of
the population. The remaining 65 percent consist of mestizos.
159 · Chile
· This country is
divided into three parts:
· The arid
north
· The central Mediterranean area
· The southern Marine West
Coast area.
160 · Chile
· Northern
Chile or the Arid North
· The northern
third of Chile consists of the Atacama Desert that consists of the driest place on
earth. The wealth of the Atacama lies in its bolsones that contain valuable caliches which is composed
of sodium nitrate, and a variety of other
salts that include iodine salts.
161 · Chile
· Sodium
nitrate has been used traditionally as a fertilizer but it was also used
for the production of explosives, but with the discovery of synthetic nitrates,
the industry has declined considerably.
· Another very
important natural resource is copper that is mined near the city of
Chuquicamata. The mine is the largest copper mine in the world, making Chile
the leading exporter of copper in the world bar none.
162 · Chile
· Middle Chile-
This portion of Chile is the most important economic area because this is where
most of the Chileans live.
· In central Chile, especially in the northern portion of this area, haciendas dominate the landscape. Here, wheat, corn, grapes, fruits, and vegetables are the main crops while beef and beef byproducts are the important export items.
163 · Chile
· The most distinctive
feature of middle Chile is its climate that is the Mediterranean climate. Here,
one finds a transitional zone between the desert and the continuously rainy climate of southern Chile.
· Because this
climate has dry-summers, central Chile produces some of finest wines in South America,
and they find markets throughout the world.
164 · Chile
· Southern
Chile- South of the Rio Bio Bio, the Mediterranean gives way to the Marine West
Coast climate. Here, instead of large haciendas we find small or medium-size
farms that have been created on cleared land; and Southern Chile has a rainy
climate and forests dominate the landscape.
165 · Chile
· In spite of the abundance of trees, some of which could be
used for lumber, Chile does not have a large lumber industry. Lumber is still
imported while the forests of the south are burned to make room for pasture or
crops such as fruits, vegetables, and wheat.
166 · Chile
· As the 2lth century opens, Chile is emerging from a
developing boom that has established its reputation as South America’s
greatest success story.
· Since 1990, Chile has embarked on a program of free-market
economic reform that brought stable growth and has attracted massive foreign
investment.
167 · Chile
· Consequently, Chile’s newly international economy has propelled the country to forage a prominent role for itself on the global trading scene.
168 · Chile
· Thus,
Chile was invited to join NAFTA in 1994, but it is still waiting for U.S
Congress to approve its membership.
· But, in the meantime,
it is a member of Mercosur, and this country is
widely touted as the “economic model” for all of Middle and South America to
emulate.
· Consequently, developing
nations of Latin America aspire to follow in Chile’s footsteps in order to
become economically successful.
169 · Finis
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