Download South America --Chapter #12--

South America
--Chapter #12--
I. Physical Geography

Landforms:
– Mt. Aconcagua
– Altiplano
– Guiana Highlands
 Tepuis (Angel Falls)
–
–
–
–
–
–
Amazon Basin
Llanos
Gran Chaco
Pampas
Patagonia
Tierra del Fuego

Major Rivers:
– Amazon?
– Orinoco?
– Parana?
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Natural Resources:
– Hydroelectricity?
 Itaipu Dam
– Rubber
– Timber
– Medicine
– Mineral wealth?
 Copper
 Emeralds
BLACK GOLD IN SOUTH
AMERICA
Oil in the Rainforests of Peru & Ecuador
 Tar Sands of Venezuela

– Lake Maracaibo
Colombia?
 Brazil?
 Argentina?
 Chile?

II. Historical & Cultural Geography
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Early History:
– Inca
 Cuzco
 Francisco Pizarro (1530s)
Spanish Settlement:
Treaty of Tordesillas (1494)
 Columbian Exchange?

– American Indian pops?
– Latifundia
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Portuguese Settlement:
– Brazil (1530s)
– Sugarcane
– African slave trade
– Cattle ranching
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Liberation of South America:
– Between 1810 – 1830
– Colonial borders?
– Buffer state?
– Coup?
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Languages:
– Brazil?
– Andes = Quechua (Inca)
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Settlement Patterns:
III. South America Today
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The Economy:
– Minifundia
– Chile’s central valley &
S. Brazil & N. Argentina
– Coffee?
The Destruction of the
Amazon Rainforest
Some stats on the Amazon R.F.

Makes up 20% of S. Amer.
– 2.7 mill. sq. mi. (10x Texas!)
– 54% of total rainforests (LARGEST IN WORLD!)

Greatest biodiversity
– About ½ of Earth’s est. 10 mill. species
Ocelot
Amazon Basin

Amazon River:
– World’s LARGEST river!
 3,915 mi. long (Nile=4,160)
– Contains 20-25% of world’s freshwater (excludes ice)
– 1,100 tributaries (17 = >1,000 mi. long)
– “The River Sea”?
Arapaima
9.8’ long
440 lbs.
Amazon River Dolphin
“boto”
Bull shark
Importance of Amazon R.F.

A. Biodiversity
– Contains ½ of approx. 10 mill. world species
 <1% have been studied
– 137 species lost/day b/c of deforestation
– 2,000 fish species
– 20% of ALL birds

B. Medicine
– “the World’s largest pharmacy”
– Why should WE be concerned w/destruction
of rainforests?
– Complex chemical storehouses
– Provide 25% of today’s medicine
 (70% of plants have anti-cancer props.)
– Vincristine

C. Climate
– “Lungs of our Planet”?
– Absorbs CO2 & produces >20% of world’s O2
– What happens if rainforests are destroyed?
1950: R.F. covered about 15% of Earth
 Today: R.F. covers about 6% of Earth
 Avg. of 12 acres lost/min.

– 1 yr. = 10,000 sq. mi. (Vermont)

Who is to blame for this?

R.F. will be consumed in <40 yrs.

Why are rainforests being cut down?
– 1. exploitation of iron ore & other minerals
– 2. resettlement of “excess” pops. from the
crowded S.E.
– 3. farming & ranching
– 4. timber exploitation
– 5. hydroelectric development
The Trans-Amazon Highway (BR-364 &
BR-163) (Soy Highway) …IMPACT????
 Regional Initiative for Infrastructure
Integration of South America

Recap…

Why do we care? Importance of
rainforest?
– Biodiversity
– Medicines
– Climate
Colombian Civil War
Civil War (1964 – present) –longest in S. Amer.
 Betw:

– Colombian Govt. (democracy)
– Communist Guerilla groups
1964: FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia)
 1966: ELN (National Liberation Army)

– GOAL: fighting for social & economic reform or to
overthrow the govt. to est. a communist state?
– Labeled as “terrorists” by the West

FARC:
– 11,000 members (2009)
– Prevalent in S. Colombia
– Raise about $600 mill./yr. by protecting drug lords
& thru kidnappings
– Collects “war taxes” from those in regions they
control

ELN:
– Similar to FARC but smaller (1,500 members)
– Also collect “war taxes” and kidnap

REASON FOR CRIME & GUERRILLA
ACTIVITY = POVERTY!
– Per capita GDP = $9,200
– 22% of pop. = works in ag.
– 49% of pop. = below poverty line
A MAP THAT SUMS IT UP
FARC = yellow
 ELN = green hatch
 AUC = orange

Colombian Oil

Colombia = U.S.’ 9th
largest importer!
*How does this influence
our involvement?
Cano Limon Pipeline destroyed
by the ELN
The Colombian Drug Trade

Colombia:
– Supplies 80% of world’s cocaine & 70% that
enters the US

Cocaine = produced from the coca plant
– Grown on farms under control of FARC
– Peasants grow coca b/c it is worth more $$$$
than growing coffee
Medillen Cartel
Formed in 1970s by Pablo Escobar
 Responsible for producing & trafficking cocaine
 At its height = $60 mill./day
 U.S.’ DEA (Drug Enforcement Administration)

– Created by Nixon administration to combat drugs

Used violence/intimidation (narco-terrorism)
– Assassinations of those who stood against Escobar
1993: Escobar was hunted down
 Medellin Cartel disappeared

Cali Cartel

Involved in heroin & cocaine trafficking
– Controlled 90% of cocaine market
– Early 1990s = $7 bill./yr. from US alone

Did not use narco-terrorism like Medellin
– We don’t kill judges, we buy them.

1991: Operation Cornerstone by DEA
– Arranged extradition from Colombia to US
– Intercepted major shipments from Cali
– 1995: indicted 61 top members of Cali
– Cali was no more
Plan Colombia
Modern trafficking orgs = decentralized
 2000 – present
 Aimed at eliminating trafficking &
combating FARC & ELN
 US = $6 bill. since 2000

– Train & equip Colombian army
– Supply airplanes & herbicide to kill coca plants
– Colombia’s Drug War video 1
– Colombia’s Drug War video 2
Former Colombian President:
Alvaro Uribe Velez
Mercosur (Southern Common Market)
1991
 Brazil, Uruguay,
Arg., Para.
 Promotes free trade
 3rd largest economic
alliance (EU & NAFTA)
