Lesson 64:
People and Lifestyles of South America
Many of the larger cities of SouthAmerica are modern. They are cen-
ters for banking, industry, and trade. However, even in some large cities,
such as La Paz, Bolivia, there are no water pipes running to homes.
Life outside the large cities is not so modern. Most people live in small
villages and raise crops on very small farms.
Thisway of living is known as
subsistence
farming
.
Few modern highways exist in South
America. There are still many dirt roads.
There are not many lakes in South
America, either. It is more common for
people to travel on rivers.
There are two major languages
spoken in SouthAmerica. Portuguese is
spoken in Brazil, and Spanish is spoken
throughout the rest of South America. This is because the European
countries of Spain andPortugal divided up the continent when theywere
setting up colonies more than 500 years ago. Spanish
conquistadors
weremore interested in gold.They conquered and destroyed the people
of the great Inca empire located inEcuador, Bolivia, andPeru.
Of course, a number of Native American languages are still spoken
today.Many places among the SouthAmerican mountains and rain
forestsare too remoteand isolated.Becauseof this, theNativeAmericanpeoplewhohadalready set-
tled the area before the conquistadors arrived kept their native languages.
SouthAmerican Facts
Country
SquareMiles
Population
Official Language
Official Religion
Brazil
3,286,470
196,342,587 Portuguese
Catholic
Colombia
440,762
45,013,674 Spanish
Catholic
Argentina
1,057,518
40,481,998 Spanish
Catholic
Peru
496,223
29,180,899 Spanish
Catholic
Venezuela
352,143
26,414,815 Spanish
Catholic
Chile
292,258
16,454,143 Spanish
Catholic
Ecuador
105,037
14,354,469 Spanish
Catholic
Bolivia
424,162
9,601,257 Spanish
Catholic
Paraguay
157,046
6,831,306 Spanish
Catholic
Uruguay
68,039
3,477,778 Spanish
Catholic
Guyana
83,000
770,794 English
Hindu, Protestant
Suriname
63,039
475,996 Dutch, Hindu
Hindu, Islamic,
Catholic
FrenchGuiana
33,499
221,500 French
Catholic
COPYRIGHT
121
PENNSVALLEY
The
Native
American
tribes hunt forest
animals with blow
pipes, poison darts, and
bows and arrows.
Tierra
del Fuego
means land of fire. The
Native American tribes
wore no clothing, even
in snowstorms. They
built fires to keep
warm.
South America
(2008 estimates)
