South America

South America

    The south American continent has the Atlantic ocean on its East and the pacific ocean on its west. The Entire Eastern coastline is a continental shelf while the Andes mountain range stretches across the entire Western coast. The longest river in South America is the Amazon. It originates in the Andes and flows almost 6500 kms to the Atlantic ocean. 

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    During its journey to the sea the Amazon flows largerly through the rain forests of Brazil which cover an area of more than 6 million square km. Located in the Andes mountains at an altitude of over 3800 meters from sea level is the Lake Titicaca which is the highest lake of the world. South America is made up of many nations including Brazil, Argentina, Bolivia, Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Uruguay, etc. The first people of South America were called Amerindians. In the earlier days great civilisations like the Incas, Nazcas and Ghimus rose and flourished. In the 16th century the Portuguese invaded the Incas and established their colony. Portugal and Spain ruled most of South America till the 1820’s. They used the local Amerindians as slave labour to work on the plantations, the yield of which was exported to Europe. As a result of the colonisation, Portuguese and Spanish languages are still widely spoken by the people. 

    The people of South America are either of mixed and local ancestry or of European origin. The population of South America is by and large poor and largely uneducated. Development is low in this continent because most South American contries have borrowed large amounts of money from other contries and the burden of repaying these debts is so high that development is hampered. The biggest cash crop of South America is Coffee. There are large plantations of it all over the continent and a large part of the farming population depends upon it. The coffee berries are hand-picked and once their outer parts are removed the inner beans are dried and packed. South American coffee is exported to all parts of the world. Industries are not very well developed in South America. 

    

    Most industries are involved in processing of farm products while others include textile, meat processing, fishing industries. People are also employed in mining and forestry. The continent has large and unexploited deposits of oil, tin and silver espacially in Bolivia. In the southern most part of South America are the Falkland islands which are under British control. The people in these islands are called Kelpers and they are mostly fishermen. These islands generally have cold climate because of their proximity to the South Pole.