1. D: 11/15/12
A: Notes on South America
S: How is Brazil different from other
countries in South America?
H: Aztec codex due TOMORROW
w.o.d: campesino
Warm-Up: Answer the questions under
Diagram skills on pg 270. Write the
questions and answers.

2. Word of the Day
WORD DEIFINTION SENTENCE PICTURE
A tenant Campesinos
often do not
farmer or
farm enough
campesino farm food to feed
worker in their families
because they
Latin
are farming
America. cash crops.

3. South America

4. I. Brazil
A.The Northeast Region
1. The Portuguese colonized Brazil for
its farm land and imported 3 million
African slaves to work the
plantations
2. Today this is the largest poverty
area of Brazil with a life expectancy
of 49 years

5. I. Brazil
B. The Southeast Region
1. This is the economic heartland of Brazil where
agriculture is king growing sugar cane, rice,
cotton, cacao, and coffee. Grows ¼ of world’s
coffee
2. Many people migrate to Sao Paulo and Rio de
Janiero search for a better life but often end up
in favelas due to a lack of education
3. Rio de Janeiro is most known for Carnival a four
day festival prior to Lent and a Latin dance called
the samba

8. I. Brazil
C.The Brazilian Highlands
1. The interior area of hills is home
to the capital Brasilia
established in 1956 hoping to
get people to leave the
overcrowded Rio.

12. I. Brazil
D. The Amazon River Region
1. The Amazon Basin is home to the
Amazon River the world’s largest river by
volume and has hundreds of tributaries
2. About 200,000 Indians from 180 tribes
live in the Amazon River Basin still using
a broad network of trading but disease is
killing them so the government is moving
them to reservations

14. I. Brazil
E. Economy & Government
1. With many Brazilians living in poverty the
government worked to create a middle class
by building a steel mill, an oil refinery, giving
free plots of land and building hydroelectric
dams to stir the economy.
2. With the cost of oil rising Brazil began to make
gasohol from sugar cane. They no longer
need to import foreign oil.
3. Today the economy is broken up into thirds
between agriculture, manufacturing and
service industries.

15. II. The Northern Tropics
A. The Guianas
1. Made up of Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana
owned by France
2. Culturally these countries are much different than the
rest of the continent as Guyana was a former British
colony and Suriname was a colony of the Netherlands.
Most people are African or Asian
3. Many slaves were brought to work on the sugar
plantations and when it was abolished many Asians
moved to work the fields. Today many people in all
three countries are mulattos of mixed African some
other ancestry
4. All three of these countries make money from fishing,
growing sugar and rice and mining bauxite.

16. II. The Northern Tropics
B. Venezuela
1. Has a varied landscape from the highlands of
the north where the busy cities have their
ranchitos to the grasslands called the llanos in
the south used for grazing cattle
2. The climate is dependent on the land’s
elevation giving each region a different crop to
grow.
3. The number one export is oil and it holds 24%
of the oil reserves

18. II. The Northern Tropics
C. Colombia
1. The majority of the people live in the valleys of
the cordillera or parallel mountain ranges.
2. The number one legal export is coffee while
marijuana and cocaine bring in twice as much
money.
3. The country is under constant political strive as
the wealthy and poor fight for power and work
to control the government

20. III. The Andean Countries
A. Physical Characteristics
1. The snowcapped Andes run along the entire
west coast and have many volcanoes and
earthquakes.
2. The Strait of Magellan in the south connects the
Atlantic and Pacific Oceans
3. The high plateau called the Altiplano is home to
Lake Titicaca
4. The elevation requires vertical trading

21. III. The Andean Countries
B. Ecuador
1. Many people are descendants of the
Incans but the 10% of wealthy that
live there run the countries
economy and government
2. The export bananas, cacao, coffee
and oil found in the selva

22. III. The Andean Countries
C. Peru
1. Was the heart of the Incan empire and
45% of the people still live this way and
are still dependent on llamas and
subsistence farming.
2. Mestizos make up the rest of the
population and work in factories or on
farms growing cotton, sugar and rice.

24. III. The Andean Countries
D. Bolivia
1. The country is landlocked making
its economy struggle. Children
work rather than get an education
and its many products are potatoes,
wheat and barley

25. III. The Andean Countries
E. Chile
1. Is the most ethnically diverse in South
America with most people living in the
central valley.
2. Fruit, vegetables and grapes for wine are
grown for export as well as fishing
3. Most people live below the poverty line.