Chapter 5 – South America

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Chapter 5 South America

• A Defining the Realm
• B The Pillars of Latin America
• C Regional Divisions
• D Brazil The South American Giant

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Defining the Realm
A

• Physiography
• Dominated by the Andes mountains and the Amazon
  basin.
• Population
• Concentrated along the eastern coast.
• Cultural pluralism
• Exists in most countries and is expressed
  regionally.
• A mix of pre-Columbian, African and European
  cultures.
• Regional economic interaction
• Been minimal in the past.
• Attributed to colonialism.

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Amazonian Basin
Brazilian Highlands
Andes
Pampas
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Defining the Realm

• Inca Civilization
• Culture hearth
• Intermontane basin around Cuzco (1200-1535 AD.)
• Most of the population in the Andes mountains
  (west).
• Altiplanos were key to settlement patterns.
• 20 million subjects at its zenith
• A highly centralized state.
• Transportation networks and integration efforts.
• Collapsed in the early 16th century.

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• Iberian invasion
• Pizzarro overthrew the Inca empire in 1533.
• Process of land alienation and forced labor.
• Lima
• Coastal city.
• Capital of the Viceroyalty of Peru.
• Became one of the richest cities in the world.
• Viceroyalties of La Plana and New Grenada.
• Urbanization along the coast.
• Portugal took the eastern part of the Tordesillas
  line (Brazil).

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Defining the Realm

• Plantations and imported labor
• Portuguese applied a similar plantation system
  than in Middle America.
• Notably sugar cane.
• Forcefully imported labor from Africa.
• Mainly along the tropical coast of Brazil
• Climate and proximity to Africa.
• Brazil has the largest Black population in South
  America.
• 78 million out of 178 million (44).

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Defining the Realm

• Independence
• Restrictive colonial trading pattern
• Limiting the ability to trade with nations other
  than Spain.
• Spain had been economically eclipsed by the
  development of Britain, France, and the
  Netherlands.
• Deprived the elite of the opportunity to have
  lucrative trading relationships with other
  European powers.
• Gaining independence
• Major independence movements
• South American War of Independence in the early
  1800s.
• Led by Simon Bolivar (Bolivia).
• Did not produce unity
• Formation of nine different countries.
• Geographical factors of division (e.g. Andes).

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Tropical plantation Resembles Middle Americas
Rimland. Locations, soils, tropical climates
favor plantation crops, especially
sugar. Initially relied on African slave labor.
European commercial The most Latin part of
South America. Population of European
descent. Includes the Pampas - temperate
grasslands. Economically most advanced. Good
transportation networks and quality of life.
Amerind subsistence Correlates with the former
Inca Empire. Feudal socioeconomic structure
persists. Includes some of South Americas
poorest areas. Subsistence agriculture must
contend with difficult environmental challenges
(high altitude).
Mestizo-transitional Surrounds the
Amerindian-subsistence region. A zone of mixture,
culturally agriculturally. Transitional
economic connotations.
Undifferentiated Sparsely populated. Isolation
and lack of change. Development of Amazonia may
prompt significant changes.
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Banana Production, 2003
10
Banana Trade, 2003 (M of tons)
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Pillars of Latin American Society

• Transplanted elites and their descendents
• Main beneficiaries of the poor distribution of
  wealth and resources within Latin American
  societies.
• Reactionary to any challenges to its authority
  and power.
• Not very innovative economically
• Particularly in the agricultural sector.
• Thwarting Latin America's development potential.

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Pillars of Latin American Society

• Military
• Plays a vastly different role than in most
  democratic societies
• Used to ensure internal control.
• Serves to support the elites and is frequently
  led by them.
• Serves as a social mobility vehicle.
• Military dictatorships
• Characterized regional politics since shortly
  after independence.
• Authoritarian means of governance that has
  focused on social control.
• Demise of military dictators in Chile (1990),
  Panama (1989), and Paraguay (1989).
• The region has at least nominally democratic
  regimes in place throughout, Cuba representing an
  exceptional case.

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Pillars of Latin American Society

• Church
• Arrived with the conquistadores.
• Spent the majority of the centuries since firmly
  supporting the status quo.
• One of the largest landholders and wealthiest
  entities.
• Leadership
• Historically been conservative.
• Derived its membership from the upper strata of
  society.
• Contributed to the social control of the masses.
• Accepting their poverty and powerlessness.
• Rise of Liberation Theology
• Grassroots movement involving parish priests at
  the local level.
• Work most closely with the impoverished masses.
• Worked its way upward through the Church
  hierarchy.

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Pillars of Latin American Society

• United States
• Since the late 1800s, upholding the unequal
  status quo in the region.
• US commercial interests in the region
• Involvement of many US-based corporations.
• The US government has seen fit to ensure that a
  good business climate exists in the countries
  where these corporations operate.
• Allied the USA with the other three pillars
  against popular movements among the Latin
  American masses.

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Regional Divisions

• Economic integration
• Mercosur
• Launched in 1995.
• A southern cone common market.
• Includes brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, and
  Paraguay.
• Andean community
• Initially formed in 1969 (Andean pact).
• Restarted in 1995.
• Members are Venezuela, Colombia, Peru, Ecuador,
  and Bolivia.
• Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA)
• Attempt to create a free trade zone by 2005.

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Regional Divisions

• Urbanization
• The movement to and clustering of people in towns
  and cities.
• The percentage of a countrys population living
  in cities.
• 79 - continent-wide in South America.
• South America's increase based on rate of
  natural increase and internal migration.
• Fast urbanization
• Resulted in the creation of vast shantytowns
  (barrios or favelas).
• Placed stress on South American cities.

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of Urban Population, 1950-2030
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Why People Move to Urban Areas?
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Why People Move to Urban Areas?

• Urbanization and economic survival
• Decision to move to an urban area
• Part of a complex survival strategy.
• Families minimize risk by placing members in
  different labor markets.
• Largest labor market maximizing the chances of
  employment and survival.
• Cities are the largest labor markets.
• Favelas (squatter settlements) of Rio de Janeiro
• Cannot be understood without reference to the
  latifundia land system in rural Brazil.
• Characterized by large landholdings owned by a
  limited elite.
• Peasants as contract labor with no ownership.

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Shantytowns

• Definition
• Dwellings are built by the current or original
  occupant
• Rudimentary construction materials.
• Did not receive a construction permit.
• Do not follow norms in terms of housing and
  sanitation.
• Inhabitants have no legal title to the land
• Most are located in areas being declared
  inhabitable.
• Own by the municipality.
• Abandoned private land.
• Exploiting a legal vacuum of land ownership.
• Lack of urban services
• Generally not serviced by public utilities such
  as tap water, electricity, roads, public
  transportation and sewage.

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Shantytowns

• Setting
• Shantytowns are constructed over the least
  desirable land.
• Put the population at risk.
• Caracas, Venezuela, 1999
• Mudslides killed 50,000 inhabitants.
• Created 400,000 homeless.
• 500,000 of the 6 million inhabitants were
  considered at high risk.

Disamenity
Disamenity
CBD
Commercial/Industrial
Elite Residential Sector
Zone of Maturity
Zone in Situ Accretion
Zone of peripheral squatter settlements
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Regional Divisions

• Guyanas
• Guyana, Surinam, and French Guyana.
• Borders the Caribbean Sea.
• Limited population (less than one million each)
  and development.
• Poor agricultural land.
• French Guyana is controlled by France and serves
  as a launching pad for the Ariane rockets
  (Aerospatiale).

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Regional Divisions

• Andean group
• Including Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru,
  Chile and Bolivia.
• Derive their name from their shared primary
  physical feature - the Andes Mountains.
• Highest mountain range in the Western Hemisphere
• Many peaks reaching over 20,000 feet in
  elevation.
• Mainly native population with some European and
  Asian influence.
• Vast array of mineral resources.
• Large oil reserves
• Venezuela (worlds 7th largest), Columbia and
  Ecuador.
• Income used to fund socialist policies.

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Regional Divisions

• Semi-arid coastal plain
• Cities located next to rivers.
• Fisheries very important due to maritime
  currents.
• Altiplano region
• Long corridor linking Peru and Bolivia.
• Plateaus bordered by mountain chains.
• Average 4,000 meters of altitude.
• Highest inhabited region of the world.
• Several minerals.
• Front of the Amazon
• Names yungas in Bolivia and montana in Peru.
• Covered by forests.

Ecuador
Peru
Brazil
Bolivia
Chile
Argentina
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Regional Divisions

• Southern Cone countries
• Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay.
• Important cattle producers and agricultural
  exports.
• Pampa zone for grazing.
• Region of rich soils and produces vast amounts of
  wheat and other grains, corn, alfalfa, beef,
  wool, and hides.
• One of the major areas of surplus agriculture in
  the world.
• Opposite seasons are a significant advantage to
  export food to the northern hemisphere.
• 95 of the population of white background.
• The most European part of Latin America (Buenos
  Aires and Montevideo).

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Brazil The South American Giant

• Context
• Sub-continent, the fifth largest territorial
  state on Earth.
• 50 of the South American territory.
• Large agricultural producer.
• The sixth most populous country (175 million).
• With such size, both physical and cultural
  diversity abound.

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Brazil The South American Giant

• An Agricultural Giant
• World's largest exporter of beef, chickens,
  orange juice, sugar, coffee and tobacco.
• Large amounts of cheap land.
• Development of a tropical agricultural
  technology.
• Well-drained tropical savanna (cerrado)
• Traditionally considered as low fertility.
• Application of small quantities of fertilizers
  increase significantly productivity.
• Economies of scale unparalleled in the world.
• Intense diversification of agricultural
  production.
• Growing exports to China.

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Major Coffee Exporters (Green Beans), 1990-2002
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World Coffee Production and Trade, 2003
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Brazil The South American Giant

• People
• Considered by some to be the most diverse
  population on Earth.
• Relative harmony, though with vast inequalities.
• Indigenous groups
• Many of whom are still unassimilated.
• Primarily in Amazonia, many who earlier were
  incorporated into various mixed races through
  intermarriage with other groups.
• Blacks
• Slaves in the mid-16th century to work on the
  sugar plantations in the Northeast.
• Slavery was not abolished in Brazil until the
  1880s.
• Many aspects of African culture have been
  preserved much more in Brazil.
• African influences can be found in Brazilian
  music, food, and religion.

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Brazil The South American Giant

• Europeans
• Mostly from Portugal during the colonial period.
• Following independence in 1822, more diverse
  European origins were represented.
• Between 1822 and World War II, Italy (34),
  Portugal (30), Spain (12), and Germany (3)
  were the primary sources.
• Japanese
• Brazil also counts more than 750,000 Japanese,
  most of whom are Brazilian born.

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Northeast
Amazonia
Mato Grosso
Southeast
South
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Brazil The South American Giant

• Northeast
• Historic core and colonial hearth of the country.
• Early destination of most immigrants, including
  the majority of the slaves.
• Contains a third of the population.
• Plantation economy.
• Greatest poverty, excess rural population, and
  emigration.
• Subject to frequent droughts, that devastates the
  economy.
• Intense migration to coastal cities of the
  southeast.

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Brazil The South American Giant

• Southeast
• Contains Rio de Janeiro, the historic capital,
  and Sâo Paulo, its manufacturing and business
  center.
• Two of the world's largest cities and both are
  growing rapidly.
• Provided the major source of domestic capital for
  investment in Brazilian industry.
• Most of this capital was invested in the
  Southeast, resulting in agglomeration to the
  detriment of most of the rest of Brazil.
• Focus of the country's transport system, due to
  its higher level of development.
• Major coffee and citrus plantations world
  leading producer.

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Brazil The South American Giant

• South
• Most temperate region, climate-wise.
• Recipient of a large share of the European
  immigrants, following the Southeast.
• Soybeans
• Become an important export crop in the south.
• Brazil is challenging the USA as a major world
  source of that crop.

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Brazil The South American Giant

• Mato-Grosso or West-Central region
• Includes much of the near interior of the
  country.
• Brazil's fastest growing region, the recipient of
  much of the recent infrastructure development.
• Brasilia
• Capital of Brazil population close to 2 million.
• Constructed between 1956 and 1960.
• A symbol of Brazils development.
• Located in the interior.
• Moving development away from the coast.
• Part of a national plan to stimulate the
  development of the interior.
• Viewed as Brazil's future, and to re-orient its
  historic focus away from the coast.

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Brazil The South American Giant

• Amazonia
• Least populated region but highly urbanized.
• Remote and inaccessible region.
• Brazil's frontier, the source of much development
  activity
• 200,000 new settlers per year.
• Construction of roads
• Followed by a flow of people from other parts of
  the country, especially the nearby Northeast.
• Highly correlated with deforestation, which is
  proceeding at rapid rates.
• Much of the clearing of forests has been to open
  up land for farming or animal grazing.

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Brazil The South American Giant

• Tropical soils latosols
• Most of the forest are poorly suited for
  agricultural development.
• Heavy rains leach the soils of its nutrients
  downward beyond the reach of most plant root
  systems.
• Soils loose their nutrition quickly, resulting in
  the need for farmers to move on after a few
  years, clearing ever more of the forest away.
• Minerals are being exploited as part of
  Amazonia's development, as is the region's
  hydrologic potential.

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Brazil The South American Giant

• Inequalities
• Brazil is the least equal society on Earth.
• The poorest distribution of wealth.
• Yields a society of extreme contrasts fabulous
  wealth, grinding poverty.
• Contains the potential for instability.
• GNP per capita-7,300 Largest income gap in the
  realm
• Wealthiest 10 of the population
• Own 2/3 of the land.
• Control over 50 of the countrys wealth.
• Poverty has increased by 50 since 1980