We explain what South America is, the countries that make up this region and its capitals. Also, its economy and the climates it presents.
What is South America?
When we talk about South America, South America or South America, we refer to the region of this continent that from the equator line downwards and which constitutes a single subcontinental block distinct from North America, Central America and the Caribbean Islands.
South America is located between the Atlantic Ocean to the east, the Pacific Ocean to the west, the Caribbean Sea to the north and the Antarctic Ocean to the south. Its total area is 18.2 million square kilometers equivalent to 49% of all of America and 13% of the world's continental surface, also housing 6.5% of the total world population, in a group of twelve countries. The latter are organized into three large geographic-cultural regions: the South American Caribbean, the Southern Cone and the South American Andean region.
Culturally speaking, South America is predominantly Hispanic that is, the result of the colonization of the Spanish Empire of the American lands, with the exception of Brazil, former colony (and later kingdom) of Portugal, and British Guyana, French Guyana and Suriname, former colonies of the British Empire and of the Kingdom of France. Some geographical perspectives also include the islands of Trinidad and Tobago (former English colony) and Aruba, Curaçao and Bonaire (former colonies of the Netherlands).
Before the Spanish conquest of the continent, South America was the scene of various pre-Columbian cultures, among which the Charrúas, Tiahuanacos, Paracas, Nazcas, Mochicas, Tehuelches, Arahuacos and above all the Incas stood out, who founded one of the great American aboriginal empires, settled in the Andean region until his traumatic encounter with the conquerors in the 16th century.
Subsequently, the majority of the continent under Spanish rule was divided into three large viceroyalties: the Viceroyalty of New Granada, the Viceroyalty of Peru and the later Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata. During the 19th century, this territory was the scene of the bloody and long Wars of Independence, in which military heroes such as the Venezuelan Simón Bolívar or the Argentine José de San Martín, among many others, played a key role. The South American countries achieved their independence from Spain at different times in the 19th century, while Brazil did the same from Portugal in 1822.
Today South America It is a subcontinent characterized by its enormous cultural diversity geographical and ethnic, as well as by their unequal standards of living and economic production.
See also: Latin America
South American countries and their capitals
South America is made up of twelve countries, which are:
Country | Capital |
---|---|
Argentina | Buenos Aires |
Bolivia | Peace |
Brazil | Brasilia |
Chili | Santiago |
Colombia | Bogota |
Ecuador | Quito |
Guyana | Georgetown |
Paraguay | Assumption |
Peru | Lime |
Surinam | Paramaribo |
Uruguay | Montevideo |
Venezuela | Caracas |
Most populated cities in South America
The most populated cities in South America are:
- São Paolo (Brazil). With 22,672,582 inhabitants in 2010.
- Buenos Aires (Argentina). With 10,875,587 inhabitants in 2007.
- Rio de Janeiro (Brazil). With 10,838,752 inhabitants in 2010.
- Lima (Peru). With 9,283,771 inhabitants in 2005.
- Bogotá (Colombia). With 10,555,058 inhabitants in 2008.
- Santiago (Chile). With 6,428,590 inhabitants in 2010.
- Belo Horizonte (Brazil). With 4,035,194 inhabitants in 2008.
- Caracas (Venezuela). With 3,923,959 inhabitants in 2011.
South American economy
South America presents a gigantic economic diversity which in turn generates extremely different life models from each other and very disparate societies economically and socially.
On the one hand, there are agricultural giants such as Argentina, Brazil and, to a lesser extent, Paraguay, whose main export products are soybeans, oranges, sugar cane, coffee, yerba mate and lemon. On the other hand, livestock farming in Uruguay and Argentina is also an activity with considerable international dimensions.
Mining is another major economic activity in the subcontinent. The oil sector is distributed between Venezuela, Ecuador and Colombia the first being a world-scale crude oil producer with the largest oil reserves on the planet, while Bolivia subsists on the export of natural gas and, to a lesser extent, oil.
Finally, there is the case of Chile, the world's largest producer of copper, but also of lithium and iodine, or Peru, the world's second largest producer of silver. Brazil and Venezuela are also large mining producers.
Tourism, gastronomy and floriculture are secondary industries spread throughout South America, as well as industrialized manufacturing activities in the Southern Cone and especially in Brazil, the sixth largest economy in the world. South American countries have associated with each other through Mercosur a United Local Markets initiative, founded in 1991.
Climates of South America
Another very diverse aspect of the South American subcontinent is its climates, which are divided into three large strips:
- Tropical or subequatorial. With warm temperatures, humidity and an enormous record of annual rainfall, especially in the coastal regions of the Venezuelan and Colombian Caribbean, as well as the Brazilian north, and the Pacific coasts of Ecuador and northern Peru. This climate continues towards the south along the Amazon Rainforest, becoming increasingly temperate. Some of the wettest regions on the planet are in this strip, such as Chocó (Colombia, Ecuador and Peru).
- Temperate or intertropical. Present in the central regions of the Southern Cone (Argentina, Chile, Uruguay) and southern Brazil, it has a temperate climate that becomes Mediterranean towards the center of Chile. As you descend towards Argentine or Chilean Patagonia, the climate becomes temperate, cold, humid in the Andean mountain range and dry in the eastern area.
- Mountain climate. Typical of the Andes mountain range, decreasing in temperature as altitude increases, and presenting enormous thermal variations but a drastic decrease in precipitation, as in the Andean Altiplano (northern Argentina, Bolivia and northern Chile).
References
- “South America” Wikipedia entry, Free Encyclopedia.
- Annex: “Most populated cities in South America” in Wikipedia, Free Encyclopedia.
- Mercosur. Official page.
- Knowing is practical: South America.