Netherlands VWO 6 (eindexamenjaar) Geography

1. Regions: South America

Delimiting and characterising South America · Development processes in South America · Comparing South America with another development region · Current issues in the macro-region

• South America: Relief, Climate, Amazonia and Regions – South America is the fourth-largest continent, stretching from about 12° N to 56° S. Its relief has three bands: the young Andes in the west (formed where an ocean plate sinks under the continent), wide lowlands and plains in the centre (Amazon, Orinoco, Pampas), and old highlands in the east. North America has the same pattern. Climate changes with latitude and height: rainforest at the equator, savanna, the Atacama desert, the Pampas grassland and cold, dry Patagonia. The Amazon rainforest is used for cattle, soy, wood, mining and dams, but about a fifth is already cleared. Hazards include earthquakes and volcanoes in the Andes, tornadoes on the plains and tropical cyclones, mostly in the Caribbean and North America. Most people live in big coastal cities.
• Development Geography: Why Places Are Rich or Poor – Development means people living better lives: more income, better health, more schooling and more freedom. We measure it with indicators such as GNI per person, life expectancy and years at school, and with the Human Development Index (HDI, 0 to 1), which joins all three. Development is uneven: rich cores and poorer peripheries exist between world regions and inside one country. Where rich and poor areas touch, there are strong contrasts and flows of workers, goods, factories and money, with both good and bad effects. There is no single model of development: countries have grown through export factories, services, or mines and farming, each with risks.