The Andean Countries

South America

Reading Focus

• How have the physical characteristics of the Andean countries affected the people who live there?

• How are the economies of Ecuador and Peru similar and different?

• How do climatic conditions affect the people of Bolivia and Chile?

Andes Mountains

• The longest unbroken mountain change in the world.

• It covers Ecuador, Peru, Chile and Bolivia.

• Its rocky walls divide the Andean nation into three distinct environments.

Question 1: What are the three distinct environments divide by the Andes?

Answer: coastal plain, highlands and forest.

Physical Characteristics-Coastal Plains

• Narrow plain stretching along the entire Pacific coast from Colombia to the Southern end of Chile.

• Atacama Desert, the driest and one of the most lifeless place on earth, located in the coastal plain of Northern Chile.– Desolate wasteland due the Peru Current.– Preserved ancient relics such as colored textiles woven, mud

brick dwelling and mummies– Mineral rich area

Physical Characteristics-Highlands

• The high plateaus ranges between the cordilleras.

Names of the plateau regions by countries

• Altiplano (high plain) in Peru and Bolivia • Paramos in Ecuador

Question 2: What is the timber line?

Answer: The boundary above which continuous forest vegetation can grow.

Physical Characteristics-Tropical Forest

• Located inland down eastward of the Andes.

• Known as the basin in Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia.

• Home of jaguars, monkeys, hummingbird and toucans.

People and Environment

People are drawn to the Andes because

of the area’s natural resources.

• Gold• Copper• Silver • Tin

Economic Activities

Question 3: What is the “Vertical Trade” ?

Answer: People from village of different elevation trade their crop in a up and

down pattern.

Trade Crops by Elevation

Tropical foods (banana and sugar cane)

grown in tierra caliente.

Traded for

Potatoes and cabbages grown in the tierra

fria.

Physical Effects

Question 4: What were the unusual physical characteristics of the Andean Indians who lived in the mountains for centuries?

Answer: Larger lungs and hearts

Ecuador

• Name is derived from the Equator.

• The native language is Quechua from the Incas.

• Practices subsistence farming.

• More than half of the population are mestizos.

Question 5: In 1960s, Ecuadorians discovered __________ in the selva lowlands.

Answer: Oil

Peru

• Heart of the Inca Empire

• Speak Quecha or Aymara

• Live by subsistence farming or herding llamas and alpaca.

Question 6: Who was the Peruvian of Japanese ancestry elected as Peru’s president ?

Answer: Alberto Fujimori

Bolivia

• Lake Titicaca, the world’s highest navigable lake.

• Most of the people are Indian who practice subsistence farming.

Question 7: What does the word Chile mean?

Answer: “end of the land”

Question 8: What is the capital of Chile?

Answer: Santiago

Chile

• Approx 15 million people reside in Chile are mestizo and the other quarter of the population is of European descent.

• Region is a fertile river basin between the Andes and coastal ranges