South America is the southern
continent of the
Americas, situated entirely in the
Western Hemisphere and mostly in the
Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the
Northern Hemisphere. It is bordered on the west by the
Pacific Ocean and on the north and east by the
Atlantic Ocean;
North America and the
Caribbean Sea lie to the northwest.
America was named in 1507 by cartographers
Martin Waldseemüller and
Matthias Ringmann after
Amerigo Vespucci, who was the first European to suggest that the newly discovered lands were not the
East Indies, but a
New World unknown to Europeans.
South America has an
area of 17,840,000
square kilometers (6,890,000 sq mi), or almost 3.5% of the
Earth's surface. As of 2005, its
population was estimated at more than 371,090,000. South America
ranks fourth in area (after
Asia,
Africa, and
North America) and fifth in population (after
Asia,
Africa,
Europe, and
North America).
History
Agriculture and animal domestication
thumb|The prehistoric Cueva de las Manos, or
Cave of Hands, in Argentina
South America is thought to have been first inhabited by people crossing the
Bering Land Bridge from Asia, which is now the
Bering Strait. Some archaeological finds do not fit this theory and have led to an alternative theory of
Pre-Siberian American Aborigines. The first evidence for the existence of agricultural practices in South America dates back to circa 6500 BC, when
potatoes,
chillies and
beans began to be cultivated for food in the highlands of the
Amazon Basin. Pottery evidence further suggests that
manioc, which remains a staple food today, was being cultivated as early as 2000 BC.
[O'Brien, Patrick. (General Editor). Oxford Atlas of World History. New York: Oxford University Press, 2005. pp. 25]By 2000 BC many agrarian village communities had been settled throughout the Andes and the surrounding religious regions. Fishing became a widespread practice along the coast which helped to establish fish as a primary source of food. Irrigation systems were also developed at this time, which aided in the rise of an agrarian society.
South American cultures began domesticating
llamas,
vicuñas,
guanacos, and
alpacas in the highlands of the Andes circa 3500 BC. Besides their use as sources of meat and wool, these animals were used for transportation of goods.
Pre-Columbian civilizations
thumb|The Inca ruins of Machu Picchu.
The rise of agriculture and the subsequent appearance of permanent human settlements allowed for the multiple and overlapping beginnings of civilizations in South America.
The earliest known settlements, and culture in South America and the Americas altogether, are the
Valdivia on the Southeast coast of Ecuador.
One of the earliest known South American civilization was at
Norte Chico, on the central
Peruvian coast. Though a pre-ceramic culture, the monumental architecture of Norte Chico is contemporaneous with the pyramids of
Ancient Egypt. The
Chavín established a trade network and developed agriculture by 900 BC, according to some estimates and archaeological finds. Artifacts were found at a site called
Chavín de Huantar in modern Peru at an elevation of 3,177 meters. Chavín civilization spanned 900 BC to 300 BC.
The
Muisca were the main indigenous civilization in what is now modern Colombia. They established a confederation of many clans, or cacicazgos, that had a free trade network among themselves. They were goldsmiths and farmers.
Other important Pre-Columbian cultures include:
Moche (100 BC – 700 AD, at the northern coast of Peru); Tiuahuanaco or
Tiwanaku (100 BC – 1200 AD, Bolivia); the
Cañaris (in south central Ecuador),
Paracas and
Nazca (400 BC – 800 AD, Peru); Wari or
Huari Empire (600 – 1200, Central and northern Peru);
Chimu Empire (1300 – 1470, Peruvian northern coast);
Chachapoyas; and the Aymaran kingdoms (1000 – 1450, Bolivia and southern Peru).
Holding their capital at the great
cougar-shaped city of
Cusco, the
Inca civilization dominated the Andes region from 1438 to 1533. Known as
Tawantin suyu, or "the land of the four regions," in
Quechua, the Inca civilization was highly distinct and developed. Inca rule extended to nearly a hundred linguistic or ethnic communities, some 9 to 14 million people connected by a 25,000 kilometer
road system. Cities were built with precise, unmatched stonework, constructed over many levels of mountain terrain.
Terrace farming was a useful form of agriculture.
European colonization
thumb|A representation of a Mestizo, in a "Pintura de Castas" in the Colonial era. "From Spaniard and Amerindian woman, begets Mestizo".
In 1494,
Portugal and
Spain, the two great maritime powers of that time, on the expectation of new lands being discovered in the west, signed the
Treaty of Tordesillas, by which they agreed that all the land outside Europe should be an exclusive
duopoly between the two countries.
The Treaty established an imaginary line along a north-south
meridian 370
leagues west of
Cape Verde Islands, roughly 46° 37' W. In terms of the treaty, all land to the west of the line (known to comprehend most of the South American soil) would belong to Spain, and all land to the east, to Portugal. As accurate measurements of
longitude were impossible at that time, the line was not strictly enforced, resulting in a
Portuguese expansion of Brazil across the meridian.
Beginning in the 1530s, the people and natural resources of South America were repeatedly exploited by foreign
conquistadors, first from Spain and later from Portugal. These competing colonial nations claimed the land and resources as their own and divided it into colonies.
European infectious diseases (
smallpox,
influenza,
measles, and
typhus)—to which the
native populations had no immune resistance—and systems of forced labor, such as the
haciendas and mining industry's
mita, decimated the native population under Spanish control.
African
slaves were brought in large quantities for several centuries for a number of reasons, both political and economical; however, it was mainly because they were much better fitted than the American natives for hard labor in tropical climate such as
sugar cane plantations or gold mining.
The Spaniards were committed to convert their native subjects to
Christianity and were quick to purge any native cultural practices that hindered this end; however, most initial attempts at this were only partially successful, as native groups simply blended
Catholicism with traditional idolatry and their
polytheistic beliefs. Furthermore, the Spaniards did impose their language to the degree they did their religion, although the
Roman Catholic Church's evangelization in
Quechua,
Aymara, and
Guaraní actually contributed to the continuous use of these native languages albeit only in the oral form.
Eventually, the
natives and the Spaniards interbred, forming a
mestizo class. Essentially all of the mestizos of the Andean region were offspring of Amerindian mothers and Spanish fathers. Mestizos and the Indian natives were often forced to pay extraordinary taxes to the Spanish crown and were punished more harshly for disobeying the law.
Many native artworks were considered pagan idols and destroyed by Spanish explorers; this included many gold and silver sculptures and other artifacts found in South America, which were melted down before their transport to Spain or Portugal.
Guyana was a Portuguese, Dutch, and eventually a British colony. The country was once partitioned into three, each being controlled by one of the colonial powers until the country was finally taken over fully by the British.
Independence
thumb|[[Guayaquil conference, between
José de San Martín and
Simón Bolívar.]]
The South American possessions of the Spanish Crown won their independence between 1804 and 1826 in the
South American Wars of Independence.
Simón Bolívar of
Venezuela and
José de San Martín of Argentina were the most important leaders of the independence struggles. Bolívar led a great uprising in northern South America, then led his army southward towards
Lima, the capital of the
Viceroyalty of Peru.
Meanwhile, San Martín led an army from the
Viceroyalty of Rio de la Plata across the Andes Mountains, meeting up with General
Bernardo O'Higgins in Chile, and then marched northward to gain the military support of various rebels from the Viceroyalty of Peru. The two armies finally met in Guayaquil,
Ecuador, where they cornered the Royal Army of the Spanish Crown and forced its surrender.
In the Portuguese colony of Brazil,
Dom Pedro I (also Pedro IV of Portugal), son of the Portuguese King
Dom João VI, proclaimed the country's independence in 1822 and became Brazil's first
Emperor. This was peacefully accepted by the crown in Portugal.
Although Bolivar attempted to unify politically the Spanish-speaking parts of the continent into the "
Gran Colombia", they rapidly became independent states without political connections between them, despite some later attempts such as the
Peruvian-Bolivian Confederation.
A few countries did not gain independence until the 20th century:
French Guiana remains part of
France.
Recent history
thumb|[[Jorge Videla (left) and
Augusto Pinochet in
Mendoza, Argentina in 1978]]
The continent became a battlefield of the
Cold War in the late 20th century. Some governments of Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Uruguay and Paraguay were overthrown or displaced by
United States-aligned military dictatorships in the 1960s and 1970s. To curtail opposition, their governments detained tens of thousands of
political prisoners, many of whom were tortured and/or killed on
inter-state collaboration. Economically, they began a transition to
neoliberal economic policies. They placed their own actions within the U.S. Cold War doctrine of "National Security" against internal subversion. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, Peru suffered from
an internal conflict.
Colombia currently faces an internal conflict, which started in 1964 with the creation of
Marxist guerrillas (FARC-EP) and now involves several illegal armed groups of leftist leaning ideology as well as the private armies of powerful drug lords.
Revolutionary movements and right-wing military dictatorships became common after
World War II, but since the 1980s a wave of democratization came through the continent, and democratic rule is widespread now.
Nonetheless, allegations of corruption are still very common, and several countries have developed crises which have forced the resignation of their governments, although, in most occasions, regular civilian succession has continued this far.
International indebtedness turned into a severe problem in late 1980s, and some countries, despite having strong democracies, have not yet developed political institutions capable of handling such crises without recurring to unorthodox economical policies, as most recently illustrated by
Argentina's
default in the early 21st century.
Politics
thumb|[[United Nations geoscheme|Scheme for geographic regions and subregions used by the
United Nations Statistics Division.]]
During the first decade of the 21st century, South American governments have drifted to the political left, with
socialist leaders being elected in Chile, Uruguay, Brazil, Argentina, Ecuador, Bolivia, Paraguay and Venezuela. Despite the move to the left, South America for the most part still embraces
free market policies, and it is taking an active path toward greater continental integration.
Recently, an intergovernmental entity has been formed which aims to merge the two existing customs unions:
Mercosur and the
Andean Community, thus forming the third-largest trade bloc in the world.
This new political organization known as
Union of South American Nations seeks to establish free movement of people, economic development, a common defense policy and the elimination of
tariffs.
Geography
thumb|A composite relief image of South America.thumb|The Andes.
South America occupies the southern portion of the
landmass sometimes referred to as the
New World. The continent is generally delimited on the northwest by the
Darién watershed along the
Colombia–
Panama border, or (according to some sources) by the
Panama Canal which transects the
Isthmus of Panama.
Geopolitically and geographically all of Panama – including the segment east of the Panama Canal in the isthmus – is typically included in North America alone and among the
countries of Central America. Almost all of mainland South America sits on the
South American Plate.
Many of the islands of the
Caribbean (or West Indies) – e.g., the Leeward and
Lesser Antilles – sit atop the
Caribbean Plate, a tectonic plate with a diffuse topography. The islands of
Aruba,
Barbados,
Trinidad, and
Tobago sit on the northerly South American
continental shelf. The
Netherlands Antilles and the
federal dependencies of Venezuela lie along the northerly South American shelf. Geopolitically, the island states and overseas territories of the Caribbean are generally grouped as a part or subregion of North America. The South American nations that border the Caribbean Sea—including Colombia,
Venezuela,
Guyana,
Suriname, and
French Guiana—are also known as
Caribbean South America. Other islands are the
Galápagos islands that belong to
Ecuador and
Easter Island (in
Oceania but belongs to
Chile),
Robinson Crusoe Island,
Chiloé, and the
Tierra del Fuego.
South America is home to the world's highest
waterfall,
Angel Falls in Venezuela; the largest river (by volume), the
Amazon River; the longest mountain range, the
Andes (whose highest mountain is
Aconcagua at 6,962 m (22,841 ft)); the driest place on earth, the
Atacama Desert; the largest rainforest, the
Amazon Rainforest; the highest capital city,
La Paz, Bolivia; the highest commercially navigable lake in the world,
Lake Titicaca; and, excluding research stations in
Antarctica, the world's southernmost permanently inhabited community,
Puerto Toro, Chile.
South America's major mineral resources are
gold,
silver,
copper,
iron ore,
tin, and
petroleum. The many resources of South America have brought high income to its countries especially in times of war or of rapid economic growth by industrialized countries elsewhere. However, the concentration in producing one major export
commodity often has hindered the development of diversified economies. The fluctuation in the price of commodities in the international markets has led historically to major highs and lows in the economies of South American states, often causing extreme political instability. This is leading to efforts to diversify production to drive away from staying as economies dedicated to one major export.
South America is one of the most biodiverse continents on earth. South America is home to many interesting and unique species of animals including the
llama,
anaconda,
piranha,
jaguar,
vicuña, and
tapir. The Amazon rainforests possess high
biodiversity, containing a major proportion of the Earth's
species. Regions in South America include the
Andean States,
the Guianas, the
Southern Cone, and
Brazil which is the largest country by far, in both area and population.
Demographics
Descendants of
Indigenous peoples, such as the
Quechua and
Aymara, or the
Urarina of Amazonia make up the majority of the population in
Bolivia and
Peru. Also are a significant element in most other former Spanish colonies.
People of Venezuela and Colombia show a population of about 25% white and European descendants. While the
people of
European descent are more of a majority in
Argentina,
Uruguay and
Chile.
South America is also home to one of the biggest population of
Africans.
This group is also significantly present in
Guyana, Brazil, Colombia, Venezuela, Suriname, French Guiana, and Ecuador.
Mestizos (mixed white and Amerindian) are the largest ethnic group in
Paraguay,
Venezuela,
Colombia and
Ecuador. East Indians form the largest ethnic groups in Guyana and
Suriname. Brazil followed by Peru also have the biggest Japanese and
Chinese communities in South America.
Brazil is the most diverse country in South America, with large population of
Whites,
Blacks and
Mulattos, also having a sizeable community of
Middle Easterns and
Asians.
thumb|Girls of European descent in UruguayIndigenous peoplesEconomy
thumb|[[Rafael Correa,
Evo Morales,
Néstor Kirchner,
Cristina Fernández,
Luiz Inacio Lula Da Silva,
Nicanor Duarte, and
Hugo Chávez at the signing of the founding charter of the
Bank of the South.]]
Because of histories of high
inflation in nearly all South American countries,
interest rates remain high and investment remains low. Interest rates are usually twice that of the United States. For example, interest-rates are about 22% in Venezuela and 23% in Suriname. The exception is Chile, which has been implementing free market economic policies since establishing military dictatorship in 1973 and has been increasing its social spending since the return of democratic rule in the early 1990s. This has led to economic stability and interest rates in the low single digits.
South America relies heavily on the exporting of goods and natural resources. On an
exchange rate basis Brazil (the seventh largest economy in the world and the second largest in America) leads the way in total amount of exports at $137.8 billion dollars followed by Chile at 58.12 billion and Argentina with 46.46 billion.
The
economic gap between the rich and poor in most South American nations is considered to be larger than in most other continents. In Venezuela, Paraguay, Bolivia and many other South American countries, the richest 20% may own over 60% of the nation's wealth, while the poorest 20% may own less than 5%. This wide gap can be seen in many large South American cities where makeshift shacks and slums lie adjacent to skyscrapers and upper-class luxury apartments.
At the beginning of August 2008, Venezuelan President
Hugo Chavez and his colleagues from Argentina and Brazil spoke about Latin American integration. At that time, Chavez put forth an ambitious idea; he proposed the construction of a
railway that would connect
Caracas with
Buenos Aires.
Tourism
Tourism has increasingly become a significant source of income for many South American countries. Historical relics, architectural and natural wonders, a diverse range of foods and culture, vibrant and colorful cities, and stunning landscapes attract millions of tourists every year to South America. Some of the most visited places in the region are
Machu Picchu, the
Amazon Rainforest,
Rio de Janeiro,
Salvador,
Isla Margarita,
Natal,
Buenos Aires,
São Paulo,
Angel Falls,
Cuzco,
Lake Titicaca,
Patagonia,
Cartagena and the
Galápagos islands.
Culture
thumb|Fiesta in Palenque. [[Afro-Colombian tradition from
San Basilio de Palenque, a
Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity since 2005.]]
South Americans are culturally influenced by the historic connection with Europe, especially
Spain and
Portugal, and the impact of
mass culture from the
United States of America.
South American nations have a rich variety of
music. Some of the most famous genres include
cumbia from Colombia,
samba and
bossa nova from Brazil, and
tango from Argentina and Uruguay. Also well known is the non-commercial folk genre
Nueva Canción movement which was founded in Argentina and Chile and quickly spread to the rest of the Latin America. People on the Peruvian coast created the fine
guitar and
cajon duos or trios in the most
mestizo (mixed) of South American rhythms such as the Marinera (from Lima), the
Tondero (from Piura), the 19th century popular Creole Valse or Peruvian Valse, the soulful Arequipan Yaravi, and the early 20th century Paraguayan
Guarania. In the late 20th century,
Spanish rock emerged by young hipsters influenced by British pop and American rock.
Brazil has a Portuguese-language pop rock industry as well a great variety of other music genres.
The
literature of South America has attracted considerable critical and popular acclaim, especially with the
Latin American Boom of the 1960s and 1970s, and the rise of authors such as
Mario Vargas Llosa,
Gabriel García Márquez in novels, and
Pablo Neruda and
Jorge Luis Borges in other genres.
Because of South America's broad ethnic mix,
South American cuisine takes on African, American Indian, Asian, and European influences.
Bahia, Brazil, is especially well-known for its West African-influenced cuisine. Argentines, Chileans, Uruguayans, Brazilians and Venezuelans regularly consume wine, while Argentina along with Paraguay, Uruguay, and people in southern Chile and Brazil enjoy
mate, a regional brewed herb cultivated for its drink, the Paraguayan version,
terere, differing from the others in that it's served cold.
Pisco is a liquor distilled from grapevine produced in Peru and Chile; however, there is a recurring dispute between those countries regarding its origins. Peruvian cuisine mixes elements from Chinese, Japanese, Spanish, African, Andean, and Amazonic food.
Language
thumb|Romance languages in Latin America: Portuguese, is the most spoken language in South America, a geographic region which is part of the bigger cultural region of
Latin America. Portuguese is the official language of Brazil, which holds over 50% of the South American population. Spanish is the official language of most countries of the continent.
Dutch is the official language of
Suriname;
English is the official language of
Guyana, although there are at least twelve other languages spoken in the country such as
Hindi and
Arabic. English is also spoken in the
Falkland Islands.
French is the official language of
French Guiana.
Indigenous languages of South America include
Quechua in Ecuador, Peru, Chile Argentina and Bolivia;
Guaraní in Paraguay and, to a much less extent, in Bolivia;
Aymara in Bolivia, Peru, and less often in Chile; and
Mapudungun is spoken in certain pockets of southern Chile and, more rarely, Argentina. At least three South American indigenous languages (Quechua, Aymara, and Guarani) are recognized along with Spanish as national languages.
Other languages found in South America include, Hindi and
Indonesian in Suriname;
Italian in Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, Venezuela, and Chile; and
German in certain pockets of Argentina, Chile, Venezuela and Paraguay. German is also spoken in many regions of the southern states of Brazil,
Riograndenser Hunsrückisch being the most widely spoken German dialect in the country; among other Germanic dialects, a Brazilian form of
Pomeranian is also well represented and is experiencing a revival.
Welsh remains spoken and written in the historic towns of
Trelew and
Rawson in the Argentine
Patagonia. There are also small clusters of
Japanese-speakers in Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia, Paraguay, Peru, and Ecuador.
Arabic speakers, often of
Lebanese,
Syrian, or
Palestinian descent, can be found in Arab communities in Brazil, Ecuador, Peru, Chile, Argentina, and less frequently in Colombia and Paraguay.
In most of the continent's countries, the upper classes and well-educated people regularly study English, French, German, or Italian, and are typically well-traveled. In those areas where tourism is a significant industry, English and some other European languages are often spoken. There are small Portuguese speaking areas in northernmost Uruguay because of the proximity of Brazil.
Sport
See also
