Transcript 8.1 Physical Geography – Caribbean South America

8.3 The Countries of the
Caribbean South America
Venezuela
1. Spanish Settlement and Colonial Rule
a. The Spanish came to Venezuela hoping to
find gold and pearls so they forced the native
Indians to search for these treasures.
b. When there was no gold or pearls they
turned to agriculture and grew indigo
which is a plant used to make a blue dye.

Why did many of the Indians die? Who did
the Spanish get to replace the Indians?
Indigo
2. Independence and Self Rule
a. Simon Bolivar helped lead the fight
against the Spanish rule in Venezuela.
 Bolivar is known as the “George
Washington” of South America.
 He helped win Venezuelan
independence from Spain in 1821
b. Describe the problems Venezuela faced
throughout the 1800s.
Venezuelan Problems
 Dictatorships
 Civil War
 Military leaders ran the
country
 Some leaders kept the
oil profits for
themselves.
3.
People and Culture
a. The majority of Venezuelans are of mixed
Indian and European descent.
 People of European descent live in the
large cities.
 People of African descent live along the
coast.
b. Most Venezuelans are Spanish speaking
Roman Catholics.
4. Venezuela Today
a. Agriculture and Ranching

Northern Venezuela has some small family
farms as well as large commercial farms.
Llaneros-or Venezuelan cowboys-herd
cattle on the many ranches of the Llanos
region.
b. Economy and Natural Resources
 In the 1960s Venezuela began earning
money from oil production.
 The Orinoco River basin and Lake
Maracaibo are rich in oil
 Venezuela is the only South American
member of Organization of Petroleum
Exporting Countries (OPEC)
 What does OPEC
try to do?-control
oil production so
the price of oil
doesn’t fall too low
c. Caracas is Venezuela’s capital.
5. Government
a. After years of being ruled by military
dictatorships, the people elected their first
president in 1959.
 In 2002 Venezuela's president, Hugo
Chavez, started to distribute the country’s
oil income equally among all the
Venezuelans.
 Millions of Venezuelans went on strike to
protest the president’s actions as well as a
failing economy.
What is a strike?
 Many Venezuelans
 A strike is when people refuse
opposedtotowork
President
until their demands are Chavez
met called for a
referendum or a recall
vote.
The Guiana's
1. The Guiana’s contain the countries of
Guyana, Suriname, and French Guiana.
Guyana
1. About 1/3 of the country’s population
lives in Georgetown, the capital.
a. Most of Guyana’s farmland is located
along the coast.
b. Guyana’s most important crops are rice
and sugar.
Guyana
 Where are about half
of Guyana’s people
from?
 Migrated from India
Suriname
 What cultures make up the
population of Suriname?
 South Asians, Africans,
Chinese, Indonesians,
and Creoles.
 The capital,
Paramaribo, is
home to half of
the country’s
population.
French Guiana
 1. French Guiana is a territory of France and
sends representatives to the government in
Paris.
 a. Most of the people live in the coastal
areas and about two-thirds are from
African descent.
 b. Many people were sent from France to
Devil’s Island prison in French Guiana.