Composition of the population of modern South America. Population and countries of South America

The population of South America is more than 350 million people.
Until the end of the 15th century, South America was inhabited by Indian tribes and peoples who spoke languages ​​such as Tipigua Rani, Quechua and Chibcha. They inhabited mainly the Central Andian Highlands (its high mountain valleys). But with the advent of Europeans (Spaniards, Portuguese), the indigenous population began to be exported to Peru and Venezuela as slaves to work on plantations and mines, and immigrants from Italy, Germany and other European countries began to settle in the countries of South America.
For the most part, the modern population is of Indian-European and Negro-European origin. In addition, large Indian peoples live in many countries of South America, for example, in Peru and Ecuador - the Quechua, and in Chile - the Araucanians.

Ethnic composition:

• Indians;
• Europeans;
• immigrants from Asian countries;
• black people.

On average, 10-30 people live per 1 km2, but the fewest people live in the Amazon rainforests and some mountainous areas of the Andes. As for densely populated areas, one such area is Pampa (it occupies the whole of Uruguay and northeast Argentina).
The official language is Spanish, but, for example, in Brazil it is Portuguese, and in Trinidad, Guyana and Tobago it is English.
Large cities: Sao Paulo, Buenos Aires, Rio de Janeiro, Lima, Bogota, Salvador.
The population of South America professes Catholicism, Protestantism, Christianity, Hinduism, and Islam.

Lifespan

On average, residents of South American countries live to 65-70 years. For example, in Chile this figure is 76, in Ecuador – 71, and in Suriname – 69 years.
Despite fairly high life expectancy rates, the continent is characterized by a fairly elevated mortality rate among young people and people of pre-retirement age.
The main causes of mortality in the population: cancer, cardiovascular, infectious diseases, as well as poisoning, injuries and accidents.

Traditions and customs of the peoples of South America

Rituals are the main traditions of the peoples of South America. For example, in Brazil, the marriage of young people must be consecrated in the church, and at the holiday itself there must be a “sorcerer” whose task is to help the young people protect themselves from the evil eye.
Venezuela is famous for its main traditions - festivals, which are accompanied by dances and songs. In addition, the calendar of Venezuelans is full of various holidays, which they celebrate cheerfully and noisily.
The traditions of the inhabitants of Bolivia - the Indians living here and descendants of mixed marriages - deserve close attention (their traditions are the personification of the true traditions of South America). They express their feelings through songs and dances (popular folk dances are auchi-auchi, kueka, tinki).
Bolivians practice folk art - weaving and knitting (this has not changed at all over the past 3000 years).
Another local custom is the use of coca leaves in everyday life - it is customary to chew them, infuse them, make tea from them and season some dishes with them (in European countries, coca leaves are considered a drug, and in Bolivia they are a tonic).
If you decide to go to South America, you will make the right choice - you will be able to plunge into the mysterious life of this continent.

The modern population of South America is anthropologically very diverse. It consists of representatives of various races - American (indigenous people - Indians), Caucasoid (descendants of immigrants from), Negroid (descendants of slaves taken out), as well as numerous mixed groups - mestizos, mulattoes, Sambos. Racial mixing in the countries of South America is proceeding at a rapid pace, and new racial types are gradually emerging. Before the advent of Europeans (late 15th century), it was inhabited by various Indian tribes and peoples who spoke the languages ​​of Quechua, Arawak, Chibcha, Tupigua Rani, etc. The population was distributed unevenly: the highland valleys of the Central Andean Highlands were most densely populated, and the lowlands of the basin were less densely populated.

With the arrival of European conquerors (and) there were fundamental changes in the ethnic structure of the continent. Thousands of Africans were imported as slaves to work in the viceroyalty's mines and sugarcane plantations along the coast and northeast. In the Central Andian Highlands, blacks for the most part disappeared into the local population; in the other two regions, their participation in ethnic processes and contribution to culture was great. A large population of mixed European-Negro and Negro-Indian origin has developed here.

After gaining independence, sharp changes in the ethnic composition occurred in, and due to the massive influx of immigrants from, and other European countries (they were attracted mainly for the development of national territories in the 2nd half of the 19th - early 20th centuries), as well as in and - due to immigration from (mainly from and). The majority of the modern population of South America is of mixed Indian-European origin, but in the northeast of the mainland the population is predominantly of Negro-European origin. In a number of countries in South America, large Indian peoples have survived: the Quechua in Peru, the Aymara in Bolivia, and the Araucanas in Chile. In addition, in the outlying regions of almost all states (for example, the north, in Brazil, the northwest, etc.) small Indian tribes and peoples speaking their own languages ​​have also been preserved.

The official language of the vast majority of South American countries is Spanish, and that of Brazil is Portuguese. Of the Indian languages, the second official language is only Quechua in Peru. It is very unique, where the majority of the population uses the Indian language Guarani, speaking Spanish to one degree or another. In Guyana, the official language is English, in the former Suriname it is Dutch, and in French Guiana it is French. The majority of the religious population of South America is. Among the Indians, remnants of pre-Christian beliefs play a significant role; among some blacks, remnants of African cults exist.

The ethnic composition of the population of South America is very diverse: descendants of immigrants from Europe, mestizos (descendants from marriages of whites and Indians), mulattoes (descendants from marriages of whites and blacks), Indians, Chinese, etc. The majority of the continent's population are mestizos and mulattoes. Quite a few representatives of the indigenous peoples, whose ancestors inhabited South America even before its conquest by the Spaniards and Portuguese, have also survived.

The countries with the most homogeneous ethnic composition are Argentina, Uruguay, and Chile. The largest share of the Indian population is in Bolivia (63%) and Guatemala. South America is one of the regions with rapid population growth (about 20%), which determines the “youth” of the inhabitants in most countries. The main areas of population concentration are the ocean coasts, the islands of the West Indies, and some mountainous areas. Vast areas of the Amazon, Orinoco, and Paraguay basins, on the contrary, are sparsely populated.

The Indians of South America put up desperate resistance to the Spanish and Portuguese conquerors, but were defeated and subjected to merciless destruction. The indigenous population has survived to this day only in the most inaccessible areas of the continent - in the Amazonian jungle (Bororo, Botocuda, Guahibo peoples, etc.), in the humid equatorial forests in the north of the Pacific coast (Choco, Embera) and in the mountain “bear corners” (Motilons , Arawaks, Yaghans), bringing in the 20th century. primitive traditions.

Most South American countries are former colonies of Spain. According to the Treaty of Tordesillas in 1494, the line dividing the spheres of Spanish and Portuguese influence in the New World was established at approximately 4° 30" west longitude: only the northeastern tip of South America went to Portugal, and all other lands went to Spain. Although later Brazil crossed this line, moving its borders far to the west from the first Portuguese settlements, it remained the only state in South America in which the main language is Portuguese.

Formed at the junction of the possessions of Spain and Portugal, the unoccupied territory between the swamps of the Orinoco River delta and the mouth of the Amazon attracted the attention of other European powers that embarked on the path of colonial conquest. Later, these lands were taken over by Great Britain, the Netherlands and France.

South American countries vary greatly in the ethnic composition of their populations. In the Andean countries, Indians and mestizos predominate. The most "Indian" of these countries is Bolivia, where the Quechua and Aymara peoples make up the majority of the population. In neighboring Peru and Ecuador, approximately every second resident is Quechua and there are a lot of mestizos. Mestizo people also make up the majority of the population in lowland Paraguay, where almost everyone speaks not only Spanish, but also the Indian language Guarani.

In Brazil and the Caribbean countries - Venezuela and Colombia, where thousands of African slaves were brought to work on plantations, there are many people with black skin. Almost every fourth resident of Brazil is a mulatto, and in its northeastern region - the “cradle” of the plantation economy, mulattoes and blacks make up 3/4 of the inhabitants. But there are countries where they are very rare, such as Peru; here, black slaves were not used at all for agricultural work.

In the countries of late colonization, the mass settlement of which began in the second half of the 19th century - Argentina and Uruguay - the descendants of European immigrants predominate; Indians, mestizos and mulattoes make up less than 10% of the population. Unlike the Andean countries, in the colonization of which mainly immigrants from Spain participated, the composition of immigrants from Europe was more varied here: many Italians, Germans, Slavs, including emigrants from Russia, came. They preferred to settle together, forming closed national colonies.

Suriname and Guyana are noticeably different in ethnic composition from the former Spanish and Portuguese colonies, where there are many people from Asia (mainly Indians who were used as labor on plantations). In South American countries you can also meet people with Arabic names. Migrants from the Middle East are not so numerous, but thanks to their activity (most of them are traders and entrepreneurs), they were able to achieve a high position in their new homeland and even became the first persons of the state. So, in the 90s. XX century Carlos Saul Menem became president of Argentina, and Jamil Mauad Witt became president of Ecuador; they are both sons of Arab immigrants. The Japanese, who ended up in South America during the period of later immigration, in the 30s and 40s, have been especially active in declaring themselves lately. XX century One of them, Alberto Fujimora, was elected president of Peru in 1990 and re-elected to a second term in 1995.

Brazil is the largest South American country by area and one of the most ethnically diverse countries in South America, although 95% of its inhabitants call themselves simply Brazilians (most of them are Catholics).

The first Portuguese colonists who arrived in Brazil in the 16th century experienced a labor shortage on the sugar cane plantations. Since attempts to enslave the local Indians were unsuccessful, slaves had to be brought from Africa. It is estimated that from the mid-16th century. Before the abolition of slavery in 1888, 4 million slaves were imported into Brazil.

Based on their origin, they are divided into three groups: the first includes the Muslim Hausa, Mande and Fulani tribes from western Sudan; the second - Yoruba, Fon, Fanti and Ashanti from the coastal regions of western Nigeria, Benin and Ghana; in the third - the Bantu-speaking tribes of Angola and Mozambique. In Brazil, slaves were assimilated, while retaining certain elements of indigenous African cultures.

The Portuguese, who discovered and colonized Brazil, were a relatively small nation, which in the 16th century. numbered only 1 million people. In Portugal, African slave labor was used even before the discovery of America. Therefore, the Portuguese were quite tolerant of black people and mixed marriages.

Constant contact between Africans, Indians and whites contributed to the creation of a mixed Brazilian culture. It is based on the Portuguese language and culture, which incorporates many elements of African and Indian cultures.

In the 19th-20th centuries. Immigrants from other European countries poured into Brazil, but the share of Portuguese among the immigrants remained quite high.

In the northeast of the country, blacks and mulattoes predominate, descendants of slaves brought from Africa to work on plantations. It is believed that it is thanks to African influence that the Brazilian dialect of Portuguese is much softer and more melodious than the Portuguese spoken in the metropolis. In the Amazon there are many caboclo mestizos and quite numerous Indian tribes still exist. European immigrants who arrived from various countries of the Old World live in the southeast and south. The southern regions are especially closely connected with Europe, where, for example, during the uprising of the farrapus (port, “ragamuffins”) - poor farm laborers and gaucho shepherds - in the late 30s - early 40s. XIX century The rebels were commanded by the famous Italian revolutionary Giuseppe Garibaldi.

It is curious that representatives of different nations who came to Brazil tried to settle in an area that would remind them of their homeland, and adhered to their customs in the new land. For example, in the southern states - the area of ​​​​late European immigration - Italians settled on the hillsides, where they are still engaged in viticulture. In the settlements of the Slavs - Poles, Czechs, Ukrainians and Russians - large areas are plowed under wheat fields. The Germans grow vegetables and raise pigs. The city of New Hamburg (New Hamburg), in the vicinity of which the largest German colonies were concentrated, became the main center of the leather and footwear industry. The latest wave of emigration was the resettlement of the Japanese, who cultivate rice in the floodplain lands and coastal lowlands of the state of Rio Grandido Sul.

Even at the beginning of the colonial period, the number of indigenous people in Brazil, the Indians, declined sharply. Only a few of them survived the Jesuit missions; others who survived the battles with the Portuguese, in order not to fall into slavery, fled to the forest wilds in the west of the country; Some Indians died from European infectious diseases, some were assimilated. Some Indian tribes live isolated in remote and inaccessible areas, but the number of such communities is decreasing as the western regions of the country are developed. Contact with Europeans had detrimental effects on the indigenous population, bringing disease and destroying the environment.

Another country on the South American continent is Argentina. The land where Argentina is now located was inhabited in ancient times by Indian tribes: Pampa, Puelche, Tehuelche, Ataka-Ma, Choneca. When at the beginning of the 16th century. The first Europeans set foot on this territory; it had already been conquered by the Incas and was part of their vast empire, spread across the vast expanses of not only modern Argentina, but also Bolivia, Chile, Ecuador, and Colombia. The Indian tribes that lived in Argentina lived sedentary lives and were engaged in hunting, fishing and farming. From the moment when Pedro de Mendoza, who climbed up La Plata, founded the city of Buenos Aires in 1536, the Spanish colonization of the country began. Initially, only Spaniards and blacks - slaves from Africa - were allowed to enter it. In the middle of the 19th century, when the ban was lifted, a powerful flow of emigrants from Europe poured here. Most of the arrivals were Italians, but Germans, Poles, Ukrainians and Russians also moved. The Argentine nation was made up of heterogeneous elements, but it was united by the Spanish language, which was somewhat influenced by the language of the Quechua Indians.

Unlike some other countries in South America, the population of Argentina is dominated by a Caucasian element - descendants of Spanish colonists and emigrants from European countries, mainly from Italy. The indigenous people of Argentina and other areas of the eastern coast did not create a developed civilization like the Incas; they maintained communal tribal relations and led a nomadic lifestyle. The first Spanish settlers entered this territory in three ways: by sea through Buenos Aires and by land - from Chile, overcoming the Andes, and from Peru, through the territory of modern Bolivia.

The ruling classes and the educated part of society preserved Spanish traditions and way of life; owning huge estates and mines, they were distinguished by a high level of culture and sophistication. From the unions of the Spaniards with Indian women, mestizos were born, who made up a significant part of the population. The famous gauchos - riders and cattle breeders who lived in Pampa and played approximately the same role in the history of Argentina as cowboys in the USA - had such a mixed - Spanish-Indian - origin.

The transformation of Argentina from a country of mestizos to a country with a predominantly white population occurred in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The beginning of this process is associated with the names of positivist thinkers Domingo Faustino Sarmiento, Juan Bautista Alberdi and Bartolome Miter. The concept they developed for the country's development provided for an increase in the proportion of the population with European roots (through increased immigration from Europe) and the gradual assimilation of mestizo gauchos. Argentine sociologist José Ingenieros provides the following data: in 1852 the population of Argentina was approximately 800 thousand people, including 552 thousand mestizos, 100 thousand Indians, 15 thousand blacks, 110 thousand mulattoes and 22 thousand whites. By 1914, the total number had increased to 7,885,237 people, including 4 million whites, 3 million mestizos, 300 thousand mulattoes and 40 thousand Indians. In 1932 the population of Argentina was estimated at 11,846,655 people, of whom only about 1 million were non-white. In 1947, when the country's population was close to 16 million people, about 89% were whites of European descent, 9% were mixed race and 2% were Indians.

The most powerful wave of immigration into the country occurred during the years in power of President Julio Roca (1880-1886 and 1898-1904). In the first year of his presidential rule, 27 thousand immigrants arrived in Argentina; their influx reached its maximum in 1889 (219 thousand people). Despite financial crises and political unrest, the flow of European immigrants, attracted by reports of the country's prosperity, increased until the outbreak of the First World War. From 1900 to 1914, almost 4 million people arrived in the country, of which about 4/5 were Italians and Spaniards. Italians alone accounted for up to 45% of the total number of immigrants, although many of them later returned to their homeland.

There are fewer indigenous people left in Argentina than in other South American countries. During the three-century history of the formation of the Argentine state, the Indians, who repeatedly rebelled against their enslavers, were forced out and destroyed. Now semi-nomadic Indian tribes with a total number of no more than 50 thousand people live only in the northeast of the country. More than 200 thousand mestizo people engaged in cattle breeding in mountainous regions also speak Quechua along with Spanish.

South America is a part of the world with an area of ​​about 18 million km2. South America was discovered during Spanish naval expeditions.

For a long time, the states of South America were colonially dependent on European powers. After the fall of the metropolises, the reconstruction period began in South America.

Population of South America

The population of South America can be ethnically divided into three categories: whites, mestizos and Indians. Mestizo people predominate in countries such as Paraguay, Venezuela, Ecuador and Colombia. The people of Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and Chile are of European descent.

In countries such as Bolivia and Peru, descendants of the aborigines live - ethnic Indians. At the beginning of the 19th century, the states of South America were covered by a wave of migrants from Europe.

Today, every fifth resident of South America is a direct descendant of the Spaniards or Italians. The absolute majority of the continent's population professes Christianity (Catholicism, Protestant movements).

In remote regions, ancient national beliefs have also been preserved. The socioeconomic population of South Americans depends on the country in which they live. So the most developed country on the continent is Argentina.

In countries such as Venezuela, Bolivia and Paraguay, there is social inequality - wealthy people (15% of the total population) own 60% of public wealth. About 50% of the population of these states lives below the poverty line.

The high level of urbanization in South American countries does not correspond to the actual number of jobs. This leads to an increase in crime in some states. A striking example of false urbanization in South America is the urbanization of Brazil.

Mainland countries

South America consists of fifteen countries that are located directly on the continent, as well as in the adjacent territories.

South American countries: Guatemala, Brazil, Bolivia, Uruguay, Trinidad and Tobago, Costa Rica Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay, Chile, Brazil, Ecuador, Argentina, Antarctica and Venezuela.

South American countries are classified as developing countries. Each country has rich natural resources, scientific and human potential.

The main economic partners of South American countries are the USA, China, Great Britain and Germany. The largest cities in South America are: Rio de Janeiro (6 million), Sao Paulo (11 million), Buenos Aires (3 million), Lima (7 million), Caracas (3 million).