GEOG 1 World Regional Geography Professor Dr JeanPaul

GEOG 1 – World Regional Geography Professor: Dr. Jean-Paul Rodrigue Chapter 5: The South American Realm Hofstra University, Department of Global Studies & Geography

Regions of the Realm Caribbean North §Colombia §Venezuela §Guyana §Suriname §French Guiana Andean West §Peru §Ecuador §Bolivia Brazil Southern Cone §Argentina §Chile §Uruguay §Paraguay

Physiography: Explorer’s Continent ■ Ferdinand Magellan (1519 – 1522) • Argentine Patagonia. • Circumnavigation of the globe through the Strait of Magellan. • Tierra del Fuego (“land of fire”; campfires kept constant by the local population). ■ Alexander von Humboldt (1799 – 1804) • Discoveries in northern interior of the realm. • Significant in rise of the geographic discipline. • Unity of place: • The intricate physical and human connections in a place. • The “matching” of the coastline of South America and Africa.

Magellan’s Circumnavigation Voyage (1519 -1522)

Early Isothermal Map of the World (based on Humboldt)

Physiography: Myriad Climates and Habitats ■ Variety of environments • Latitudinal span: longest realm north to south: • The example of Chile (150 km in width, 4, 000 km in length). • Combine with substantial variation in relief. • Contains enormous range of climate and vegetation. • Natural diversity contributes to considerable cultural differences as well.

Amazonian Basin Andes Brazilian Highlands Pampas

States Ancient and Modern ■ Amerindians • • Migrated into the realm from North and Middle America. Founded societies in the many diverse environments. Adaptations overtime created distinct regional cultures. Some were established in high-altitude valleys of the Andes Mountains, called altiplanos. ■ The Inca • • • An altiplano society centered at Cuzco. Made up of expert builders, farmers, herders, manufacturers, and scholars. Unified by network of roads and bridges. Rigid class-structure and highly centralized. Easily taken over by small army of Spanish invaders.

States Ancient and Modern: The Iberian Invaders ■ 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.

States Ancient and Modern: The Iberian Invaders ■ Spanish conquest of the Incas • Amerindian serfdom on haciendas formed by land alienation. • Spanish viceroyalties expanded across the western realm. ■ Portuguese eastern conquest • • Treaty of Tordesillas split the New World. Portugal took the eastern part of the Tordesillas line (Brazil). Territory was expanded beyond to include the Amazon Basin. Paulistas (settlers of Sao Paulo) needed Amerindian slave labor for their plantations.

Spanish and Portuguese Empires (1581 -1640) Read this content

States Ancient and Modern: The Iberian Invaders ■ Land alienation • Takeover of land by foreign interests. • Implementation of the encomienda: • • • A replicate of the European feudal system. System that mandated the payment of tributes to the Crown. Forced the indigenous groups into the cash economy. Subsistence agriculture would not provide the means to pay the tax. The Crown rewarded its conquistadores with huge land grants. Most provide protection and the teachings of Christianity. • Formation of large haciendas (estates): • Encomienda system ensured the presence of a large labor force that essentially was a slave labor force. • Workers derived little benefit from their labors beyond the ability to pay the encomienda.

Land Tenure Systems Plantation Northern European origins Export oriented monocrops Imported capital and skills Seasonal labor Efficiency is key Single cash crop Profit motive Market vulnerability Hacienda Spanish institution Not efficient but social prestige Workers lived on the land Domestic market Diversified crops Year-round jobs Small plot of land Self-sufficient Explain the characteristics and differences of the hacienda and plantation systems.

States Ancient and Modern: Independence and Isolation ■ Isolation • Product of distance and physiographic barriers. • Limited contact between viceroyalties. • Iberian conquerors had no interest in developing the New World, only to extract riches. ■ Independence • Those Europeans that made the New World their home eventually rebelled. • In the Spanish colonies, took advantage of the isolation of some territories from central control. • Three Viceroyalties split into nine independent states: • Argentina (1816) and Chile (1818). • Rest of South America (1824; Simon Bolivar).

The Cultural Mosaic: The Population Map—Then and Now ■ Pre-Colombian population • Amerindian societies inhabited highlands (Andes), lowlands, riverbanks, and harsh environments. ■ Contemporary population • Amerindians eradicated by European warfare and disease. • Majority of European settlers stayed near the coasts. • Andes settlements legacy of Incas.

Explain the distribution of the South American population from a pre-colonial and post colonial perspective.

The Cultural Mosaic: Amerindian Reawakening ■ Amerindian majorities gaining political strength ■ Changing religious practices • 90% of the population Roman Catholic. • Secularization of South Americans. • Amerindians loss of popular support for Catholic Church. ■ Liberation theology • Blend of Christianity and socialist thinking. • Read Christian teachings as a quest to liberate impoverished masses.

The Cultural Mosaic: African Descendants ■ Portuguese South America • Similar strategy to the one followed in the Caribbean. • Development of sugar plantation economy. • Imported workforce of African slaves. ■ Brazil’s slave legacy • South America’s largest black population. • About half of the population of 208 million. • Found in Brazil’s northeast: • Half the African workforce brought to the Americas. • Mainly along the tropical coast of Brazil. • Climate and proximity to Africa.

The Cultural Mosaic: Ethnic Landscapes ■ Differential ethnic layers • Amerindians, Europeans, Africans and Asians (Japanese in Peru and Brazil). ■ Changing ethnic patterns • Internal migrations. • Ethic mixing: some peoples have single ethnic origin while others have mixed ancestry. • Plural societies: peoples from various cultural backgrounds cluster but usually do not mix.

European Ethnicities in South America Iberian Italian German British Mixed

The Cultural Mosaic: Ethnic Landscapes ■ Resembles Middle America’s Rimland ■ Locations, soils, & tropical climates favor plantation crops, especially sugar. ■ Initially relied on African slave labor. Tropical-plantation

The Cultural Mosaic: Ethnic Landscapes ■ The most “Latin” part of South America ■ Includes the Pampas temperate grasslands ■ Economically most advanced ■ Transportation networks and quality of life are excellent. European-commercial

The Cultural Mosaic: Ethnic Landscapes ■ Correlates with the former Inca Empire ■ Dominantly indigenous populations ■ Feudal socioeconomic structure persists ■ Includes some of South America’s poorest areas ■ Subsistence agriculture must Amerind-subsistence contend with

The Cultural Mosaic: Ethnic Landscapes ■ Surrounds the Amerindiansubsistence region ■ A zone of mixture- culturally & agriculturally ■ Transitional -- economic connotations Mestizo-transitional

The Cultural Mosaic: Ethnic Landscapes ■ Characteristics are difficult to classify. ■ Sparsely populated ■ Isolation and lack of changenotable features ■ Development of Amazonia may prompt significant changes. Undifferentiated

Economic Geography: Agricultural Land Use and Deforestation ■ Land-use contrasts • Large-scale commercial (for-profit), exists alongside small-scale subsistence agriculture (for household use). • Commercial agriculture is a legacy of European land distribution systems. • Subsistence agriculture is historically associated with indigenous, African, and Asian land-use patterns.

Economic Geography: Agricultural Land Use and Deforestation ■ Close relationship between physiography and agricultural systems. ■ Rapid changes in land use • Introduction and expansion of new crops. • Intensifying agro-industrial operations. ■ Deforestation • • First, roads. Then, settlements and farms. Decline in soil fertility. Move and repeat. ■ Amazon forest fires

Economic Geography: The Geography of Cocaine ■ A global drug • All cocaine in the United States comes from South America (mainly Colombia, Peru, and Bolivia). • Cocaine employs thousands of workers and brings in billions of dollars. ■ Three Stages of Production • 1. Extraction of coca paste from the plant. • 2. Refining the coca paste into cocaine hydrochloride. • 3. Distribution to the marketplace. ■ Distribution • Miami used to be central to the distribution. • Recently, distribution has shifted and is now rerouted through Mexico, aided by NAFTA. • Contributed to the rapid organized crime spree in Mexico.

Economic Geography: Industrial Development ■ Rapid growth of manufacturing • Uneven development as concentration in and around major urban centers. • Some struggle to modernize and improve standard of living. • Development of the high-tech sector, such as aircraft manufacturing (Ambraer). ■ Brazil as one of the world’s emerging markets • Part of the BRICs: along with Russia, India, and China. • Due to its massive growth and rapid economic diversification. • A growing consumer base, but the middle class is rather weak.

Economic Geography: Economic Integration ■ Overcoming the isolation of internal relations • Cooperation spurred by mutually beneficial trade. • Cross-border infrastructure projects and investments. ■ Several avenues of economic supranationalism • Mercosur: realm’s dominant free-trade organization. • Andean Community: customs union of Andean states. • Union of South American Nations: envisioned as like the EU; however, mired in disagreements. • Free Trade Area of the Americas: hemisphere-wide but opposed by groups resisting Northern dominance. • Influence of a nationalistic and socialist past remains: Venezuela.

Economic Geography: The Commodity Boom ■ Economic growth from global demand for raw materials • Aka commodities. • Involve a wide array of goods including agricultural goods, forest products and minerals. ■ Risks of commodity dependence • • Volatile commodity prices. Distorts national economy. Prone to mismanagement and environmental degradation. Some raw materials finite.

World Coffee Production 65% of supply from three countries (Brazil, Columbia and Vietnam)

Retail Price of Coffee, 1980 -2018 ICO Composite (Cents per pound) 250 1) Demand constant and steadily increasing (2. 5% PY). 2) Supply concentration (weather risk). 3) Hoarding when prices start to increase. 200 150 100 50 Ja n 18 Ja n 16 Ja n 14 Ja n 12 Ja n 10 Ja n 08 Ja n 06 Ja n 04 Ja n 02 Ja n 00 98 Ja n- Ja n 96 Ja n 94 Ja n 92 Ja n 90 Ja n 88 86 Ja n- Ja n 84 Ja n 80 Ja n 82 0

Urbanization: Rural-Urban Migration ■ Rural-to-urban migration • Out of the countryside and into cities. • Both pull and push factors. ■ Pushed factors • Slow rural land reforms. • Little prospect of advancement. ■ Pull factors • Urban opportunities and upward social mobility. Social services and lure of city life. ■ Realities • Migrants forced into slums. • Unemployment persistently high.

Urbanization: Rural-Urban Migration ■ 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. Explain what are shantytowns and the processes that have led to their creation and evolution.

Urbanization: Regional Patterns ■ Cartogram • Size of country’s area and of city’s symbol proportioned to its population size. ■ Urban transformation • Most urbanized: Southern Cone. • Least urbanized: Andes. ■ Major metropolises • Megacities of São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, and Buenos Aires all exceed 10 million people.

Anchored by the CBD. Commercial spine and elite residential sector extensions of the CBD. Concentric zones: income and housing quality decrease with distance from the CBD: • Zone of maturity (old historical town). • Zone of in situ accretion: A mix of middle- and low-income housing, generally thought of as a transitional area (moving either up or down). • Zone of peripheral squatter settlements. • Informal sector: workers and transactions beyond government regulation. • Barrios and favelas. • Zone of disamenity.

Rocinha Favela, Rio de Janeiro

Future Prospects ■ The Need for Stability • Political turmoil and economic stagnation. • Increasing democracy, connections, and globalization. ■ Problems of Inequality and Violence • • Enormous inequality and disparity. Internal divisions and resurgence of Amerindian identity. Harmful effects on civil society and social cohesion. Need for economic opportunities for the poor, inclusive development, and better government.

Future Prospects ■ Venezuela (The “Socialist Utopia”) • • One of the world’s largest oil reserves. The wealthiest nation of South America on a per capita basis in the 1990 s. Bolivarian Revolution; Chavez (1999 -2013) & Maduro (2013 -). Socialist policies (Chavismo), such as nationalization, social welfare programs and price controls. • Economic collapse: • Decline in industrial output. • Hyperinflation (100, 000% in 2018). • Massive outward migration of Venezuelans (Bolivarian diaspora): • 5% of the population (1. 5 million) left the country between 1998 and 2013. • By 2019, 13% (4 million) have left the country (some estimates place it at 20%).

Future Prospects ■ The Shadow of the United States • Anti-Americanism based on past U. S. behavior. • Many governments policy and ideology based on reactions to the US. • Dependency theory: poverty of some countries in terms of unequal relations with other, rich countries. ■ China Calling • Need for raw materials and markets for Chinese exports. • Strictly economic objectives without historical baggage. Does South America today need or gain from political and/or economic relationships with the United States or