South America Abbreviations

SA is the abbreviation for South America. There are 12 countries in South America. Among them, the 10 largest countries are Brazil (Population: 212,162,779), Colombia (Population: 50,819,848), Argentina (Population: 45,076,726), Peru (Population: 32,880,354), Venezuela (Population: 28,258,792), Chile (Population: 19,109,651), Ecuador (Population: 17,579,107), Bolivia (Population: 11,626,432), Paraguay (Population: 7,107,327), and Uruguay (Population: 3,470,497).

South America Overview

South America, continent comprising the southern part of the double continent of America; 17.8 million km², 425.2 million inhabitants (2019).The boundary to North America is made along the border between Colombia and Panama, but it also appears that the border is drawn along the Panama Canal. South America also includes some island groups, such as the Galápagos Islands (Ecuador) and the Juan Fernández Islands (Chile) in the Pacific, as well as Fernando de Noronha (Brazil) and the Falkland Islands (United Kingdom) in the Atlantic. South America is divided politically into twelve independent states, to which are also the two possessions of French Guiana and the Falkland Islands.

Short facts

• Area: 17.8 million km²
• Extension (mainland): 5,300 km (east-west), 7,200 km (north-south)
• Population: 425.2 million inhabitants (2019)
• Population growth: 1.0% per year
• Highest mountain: Aconcagua (6,962m), Ojos del Salado (6,908m), Bonete (6,872m), Tupungato (6,800m), Pissis (6,779 m asl)
• Longest rivers: Amazon River (including Río Apurímac, 7,025 km), Paraná (4,880 km), Jurua (3,283 km), Purus (3,250 km), Madeira (3,200 km)
• Top lakes: Titicaca (8 300 km² ), poopó lake (2 600 km² ), Buenos Aires Lake (2 240 km² ), Chiquita Lake (1 850 km² ), Argentino (1 415 km ² )

Countries and territories

Prehistory

The first people in South America, immigrated via Central America, can be traced through the discovery of small settlements and spearheads, among other things. of the type that characterizes the clovis culture. Coal-14 dates show that immigration unequivocally took place about 12000 – about 8000 BC. Famous paleoindian finds from this period include El Jobo in Venezuela, El Inga in Ecuador, Tagua-Tagua in Chile, Fell’s caves in the Land of Fire and the Lagoa Santa Caves in Brazil. Findings of what some researchers have interpreted as primitive tools, however, may indicate that people have reached South America much earlier, according to controversial results from eg. Pedra Furada in Brazil and Monte Verde in Chile may have been around 35,000 years ago.

During the period 8000–5000 BC the people went from big game hunting to general hunting and gathering; systematic collection of plants is covered i.a. at the Guitarrero Cave in Callejón de Huaylas in central Andes (Peru), El Abra Cave in Colombia and according to new finds in Brazil at the Caverna da Pedra Pintada, perhaps 9,000 BC Along the coasts of Peru, Chile, Ecuador, Brazil and Venezuela, maritime cultures have emerged, which have left behind many kitchen encounters. From about 3000 BC ceramics were manufactured at Real Alto and Valdivia in Ecuador. Agriculture, including extensive cultivation of corn, beans, pumpkins, sweet potatoes, cassava, chili peppers and cotton, was very widespread around 2000 BC. Now considerable ceremonial centers also began to be erected on the coasts. at Huaca Prieta in northern Peru, and in the central Andes.

The Chavín culture (c. 900 – c. 200 BC) in northern Peru was characterized by an art style with stylized animal motifs. About 100 BC appeared a number of regional cultures, among which Moche and the NASA culture are best known. These were succeeded around 600 – about 900 AD. by Tiahuanaco and Huari.

From its vast capital Chan Chan, the Chimu Empire dominated n. Peru’s coastal country from about 1000 until the inca empire’s emergence during the 1430s. The Inca empire was based on the efficiency of its standing army, its irrigation system and its well-functioning communications, and on a well-organized work and tax system (see Inca ). However, this dynamic superpower, South America’s largest kingdom to date, was shattered by civil war when the Spaniards arrived in 1532.

History

The island of Hispaniola in the Caribbean was the center of the Spanish colonization of the American double continent until the 15th century. There people, animals and plants were brought from the Old World. The indigenous population, the Indians, quickly collapsed and were replaced as labor by African slaves.

Incas in Peru was conquered in the 1530s, and Lima on the coast of Peru became the seat of a Spanish viceroy, as well as current Mexico City in North America. The conquest (conquistan) was easier in these core areas with disciplined inhabitants than in the periphery with uninhabited tribes (e.g. in southern Chile). When Buenos Aires was built in 1580 (for the second time) the conquest was over.

Mainly due to epidemics from the Old World, the number of Indians in South America was drastically reduced. In accordance with colonial policy, they would at the same time be Christianized, protected and work for the whites, mainly with the extraction of silver (with Potosí in present-day Bolivia as the main resort). About 1/2 million Spaniards and 1/3 million African slaves are estimated to have arrived in Spain from 1500-1650.

The breed mix was fast and extensive. In the colonial colonial society, the white top layers, the racially interlaced layers, the Indians and the African slaves constituted the lowest layers. In the countryside, large estates co-existed ( haciendas ) and land-owned Indian villages ( comunidades).

During the 18th century, a population recovery took place. Administrative, economic and cultural reforms also took place. The great power and wealth of the Church is cut. Economic growth and the emergence of a wealthy and formed domestic elite threatened the long-term dominance of the colonial powers. Until 1810, however, all revolts were fought.

The political liberation of Spanish America in 1810–25 was directly related to the Napoleonic Wars and the policies of Britain and the United States. With Venezuela as a base, Simón Bolívar also liberated Colombia and Ecuador, while José de San Martín from Argentina liberated Chile. Together they achieved the liberation of Peru and Bolivia. Despite the unanimous efforts of Bolívar, the republics of Spanish America were all built on the basis of smaller administrative units than the Viceroy.

In Brazil, the few Portuguese remained until the 1700’s on the coast, where they mainly cultivated sugar with the help of African slaves. A Dutch colonization attempt could be stopped in 1654. Gold rush inland after 1700 increased with even immigration and colonization. The expulsion of the Jesuits in 1759 began a period of reform. On the run from Napoleon, Portugal’s royal family settled in Brazil in 1808. This helped to preserve the unity of the country with the king’s son and grandson as emperor in 1822–89.

Also, through its relatively peaceful development, Brazil deviated from the Spanish-American countries, where until the middle of the 19th century constant feud and power shifts took place. These reflected, in part, a contradiction between liberals and conservatives in the church question, and partly the power hunger of the leaders (caudillos).

From the 1850s, political stabilization occurred in interplay with economic expansion and immigration, mainly to southern South America. As the leading states in South America emerged Brazil (Federal Republic of 1891), Argentina and Chile (after the victory over Peru and Bolivia in the war of 1879-83). However, because they specialized in the export of a single staple product (monoculture), the countries, large as well as small, became very dependent on the world market fluctuations.

A growing middle class came to power in the 1910s through elections in Uruguay, Argentina and Chile. Around 1900, the United States aggressively intervened in Central America and the Caribbean, at the same time as the pan-Americanism under US leadership was launched.

The depression of 1929 led to a shift in power almost everywhere. Nationalism and militarism increased, as did industrialization. With the exception of Juan Perón’s Argentina, Latin America collaborated with the United States after Pearl Harbor (1941), especially Brazil under its dynamic leader Getúlio Vargas. In conjunction with increased population growth, “underdevelopment problems” became increasingly evident from the 1950s. President John F. Kennedy’s Assistance and Development Program for Latin America 1961 (Progress Alliance) land reforms yielded little results.

Economic growth was considerable in 1965–80. In the 1980s, however, it came to a halt, and foreign debt became enormous. The military coups in the 1970s were followed in most areas by political democratization in the 1980s, despite the economic problems. During the 1990s, economic development, with more liberal economic policies, started again.

Due to its high degree of urbanization, GDP level and literacy level, today’s South America on average rises significantly above Africa and some poor areas in Asia. However, the distribution of income is very skewed, and poverty is widespread both in cities and in rural areas. At the same time, the differences between the countries of South America are large.

List of South America Acronyms

The most commonly used abbreviations about South America are SA which stands for South America. In the following table, you can see all acronyms related to South America, including abbreviations for associations, airlines, funds, non-profit organizations, and etc.

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