South America Mesearch: Population & Transportation

Solution Preview

Advice Discussing South America

Before we get to the necessary comparison and contrast in terms of discussing the population & transportation/communication systems in the South American continent, it important to have a brief discussion of South America in general. If you are doing a paper on South America as a continent, it means that it will be very extensive because of the vast number of people, ethnic groups and geopolitical systems inhibiting the continent not to mention the kaleidoscope of cultures influenced by varied and some of the most extreme landscapes on the planet (i.e. the Altiplano in Bolivia, the Andes mountains, the Amazon, the Galapagos, etc.). When discussing South America, as an advice, before launching into your paper/presentation, first define the scope of the ideas that you will be including in it so that your audience or your professor reading your paper will know exactly what to expect. It's called bounding. Make this as part of your introduction and discuss why you are excluding or including your chosen concerns/subject matter. This will help narrow down the expectation on the information you will be presenting. Also, for each subject matter you include, try to see if you can add a visual aid (i.e. images) to add the dimension of visual communication. If you imbed it in your paper, the better. I will be giving you some images you can see in an additional folder. Now, on to the information you are asking help on.

OTA 105878/Xenia Jones
---------------------------------------

South America: Population & Ethnicity

The continent, with a total area of 17, 840,000 square km occupies 3.5% of the world's surface (885,618 square km of it is forest area). With a population density of 21.4 per km² and a growth rate of 1.6%, its population of over 382,000,000 people is only fifth after Asia, Africa, Europe & North America. Languages spoken include Spanish, Portuguese, French, Dutch, English and Native American languages like Quechua, Aymari & Guarani, among others. The languages spoken are a testament to the diversity of cultures & people and the Continent's rich history. South America occupies the southern landmass of what was known as 'The New World' during the age of Colonialization. South America is also known as Latin America due to the colonial heritage of the continent (Spanish-Portuguese during the height of the Age of Exploration & discovery as much of the present-day South American Countries were either under Spanish or Portuguese rule). The Colombia-Panama border delineates the dividing line between South America and North America, while Venezuela, Guyana, to the North East, the country of Brazil, and Argentina border the east on the Atlantic Ocean Coast all the way down to Cape Horne at the tip of the continent in the south where passage to Antarctica can be had. Chile, Peru & Ecuador occupies most of the Western side of the continent with islands (The Galapagos, Easter islands, etc.) scattered facing said nations on the Pacific Coast. The Chart below lists the countries of South America, their rank according to population mass with the number indicated, the total land area of each nation and of ...