South America By: Arthur Aguilar & Dylan Ibarra

& Chelsa Nichols

History & Culture Chapter 12 Section 2

The History

Early History

•Most people came from the North more than 12,000 years ago.

•1st settlers were hunter and gathers

•Farming began in the region more than 5,00 years ago

•Several thousand years ago before Europeans arrived, Kingdoms rose and fell in Western South America

Early History Contd.

• In Columbian Andes: The Chibcha ruled & developed gold - working skills

• Inca empire stretches to Ecoador to Central Chile

• Inca built paved roads and suspension bridges to connect their empire from Pacific Coast to Amazon Lowlands.

• Inca Stone construction can be found in Cuzoo, Peru, The Inca Capital.

Spanish Settlement

• A 1494 treaty divided South America Between Spain & Portugal

• The Spanish focused on the West because the Inca, rich & gold lived there.

• In Spanish Society owning land was a source of prestige & Spanish Colonist soon took over South American Indian Islands.

• Colonist brought cattle, horses, sheep, sugarcane & wheat.

Spanish Settlement Contd.• Colonist took American Products: beans,

chilies, corn, potatoes & squash to Europe, Africa & Asia.

• Europeans brought diseases to South America & killed millions of South American Indians.

• Portuguese Settlement began in 1530 along the Eastern Coast Of Brazil.

• The Spanish established in Peru, their influence spread across the Atliplano into what is now Bolivia.

Spanish Settlement Contd.• There they expanded the Inca silver and

gold mines.

• The Spanish Colonized central Chile in the 1540’s.

• Later, the Spanish herded cattle in to what became Paraguay and Argentina.

• A South American Indian People known as the Guarani already lived in the fertile lands of Eastern Paraguay. The Spanish used the labor and food production skills of the Guarani to expand their settlement in the region.

Portuguese Settlement • Portuguese settlement began in the

1530s along the Eastern Coast of what is now Brazil.

• Portuguese Nobles received grants to set up large plantations.

• Their first important crop was Brazilwood, which was used to produce red & purple dye.

• Sugarcane became the key crop.

• After the decline of the South American Indian population, colonists brought in enslaved Africans to work their estates.

Portuguese Settlement

Contd.• Cities in the northeastern Brazil, like

Natal & Salvador, remained from sugar & the slavery era.

• The Portuguese spread cattle inland.

• Their expansion southward & inland in the 1600s led to major mineral discoveries.

• This movement lead to the growth of the cities like Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro.

Colonial Era & Independence

• Spanish colonies of South America gained Independence between 1810 and 1830.

• Wars in Europe weakened Spain.

• The Independence of the United States had inspired colonial leaders.

• Ideals of political freedom & cooperation between the colonies had led to the formation of a large country.

• Several different countries formed after the Spanish left.

Colonial Era & Independence

Contd. •Countries isolated from each other.

•Borders of the countries were created during the colonial period.

•The new state Uruguay was able to be formed.

•Uruguay is a buffer state - A small country between two larger, more powerful countries.

Colonial Era & Independence

Contd.•Brazil followed a different path to independence.

•European Wars forced the Portuguese royal families to Rio de Janeiro, where they arrived in 1808. Though the kings returned to Portugal and Brazil declared its independence in 1822.

Colonial Era & Independence

Contd.• The Independence Movements in South America did little to improve people’s lives.

• Revolutionaries often changed the government.

• Sometimes a group would take power by force.

• Coup- a such change in government. Coups have been common throughout South American History.

• Ex: Bolivia has experienced military coups 200 times since becoming independent in 1825.

Culture

South American Indians, Europeans, Africans and Asians have played a major part in the peopling of South America.

Each culture has left a mark in the continent’s countries.

People & Languages

•South America varies widely in ethnic makeup.

•97% of Argentines are of European Ancestry compared to only 7% of Ecuadorians.

•Bolivia has the largest % of South American Indians - 55%

•Other countries are in majority of mestizos.

People & Languages Contd.

•95% of Paraguayans are Mestizos.

•In Guyana workers from India make up half of the population.

•Japanese have immigrated to Brazil & Peru.

People & Languages Contd.•Most people speak Spanish.

•Most Brazilians speak Portuguese.

•English, Dutch, & French are official languages in Guyana, Suriname & French Guiana.

•In the Andes Region 10 to 13 Million speak Quechua (Inca Language).

People & Languages Contd.

•Paraguayans speak Spanish & Guarani.

•Uruguay’s border with Brazil speaks Portunal (Portuguese & Spanish).

Settlement Patterns

• Many major cities are seaports (Lima, Buenos Aires, Rio de Janiero).

• Densely populated areas of South America hugs the coast.

• South America Interior is thinly populated.

• Large Areas mainly in the Amazon Basin, The Andes, The Guianas, and Southern Argentina have few people.

Religion & Traditions

•Majority of South America is Roman Catholics.

•South Asians & Indonesians in the Guianas added Hindu Temples and Islamic mosques.

•Indigenous people follow their traditional religions.

Religion & Traditions Contd.

• Rain forest people have little contact with the outside world.

• The rain forest people raise bananas, manoic (tropical plant with starchy roots), yams & other crops.

• They hunt with bow & arrows or blow guns and darts.

• As the Amazon Basin develops, the people are changing.

Ranchers• Ranchers use modern methods.

• They live like the cowboys of the Old American West.

• Some wear the traditional clothing that the Argentine Gauchos(cowboys) in the 1700 & 1800s wore.

• The Gauchos live on in Argentine literature & Pop Culture.

• The Gaucho Martin Fierro poem celebrates the independent life of the Argentine Gauchos.

Countries

•Brazil

•Peru

•French Guiana

•Uruguay