CLASS 6TH | SOUTH AMERICA: CLIMATE, NATURAL VEGETATION, WILDLIFE, MINERAL AND POWER RESOURCES | REVISION NOTES

POINTS TO REMEMBER

• The climate of South America is influenced by its location, presence of the Andes Mountains, prevailing winds, nearness to seas and oceans, and the impact of ocean currents.
• The vast continent of South America has a climate that varies from the equatorial climate in most of Brazil, to the desert climate of the Atacama and Patagonian Deserts.
• Some areas of Venezuela, Guyana, and Brazil also experience tropical climate. There is a small stretch of central Chile which experiences Mediterranean climate. Southern Chile has a maritime climate.
• Different climates have influenced the natural vegetation found in South America. Forests exist in areas that receive heavy rainfall throughout the year such as the equatorial forests of the Amazon Basin. Grasslands predominate in regions that record maximum rainfall during the summers such as the grasslands in Guyana and Brazil. Deserts exist in areas that receive hardly any rainfall such as the Atacama and Patagonian Deserts. Mountain vegetation grows in the Andes and Mediterranean vegetation is found in central Chile.
• The wildlife of South America includes several unusual species such as the anaconda, birds such as the egret, rhea, and condor, and animals such as the guanaco, vicuna, and llama.
• Hardwood trees like mahogany, rosewood, and rubber are found in the selvas. Brazil nuts, balsa, cinchona for quinine, gum, resins, and dyes are other products obtained from these forests. Yerba mate is an important tree that grows in the Eastern Highlands.
• Rivers like the Amazon, Orinoco, and Parana provide inland water transport. Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, and Venezuela have developed hydroelectric power projects.
• South America is rich in minerals ranging from crude oil, copper, diamond, gold to silver. This is what attracted the Europeans to settle in this continent.

IMPORTANT TERMS

Campos : the tropical grasslands in central Brazil.
Gran Chaco : lowland alluvial plain in interior south-central South America.
Armadillo : an animal found in South America with a hard shell made of pieces-Of bone.
Lguana : a large tropical lizard found in South America