The population of South America
About 440 million people now live on the continent (the book gives 419 million for 2016; updated for population growth). People came here from Asia thousands of years ago; from the 16th century Spaniards and Portuguese, then other Europeans, Africans and Asians settled. Descendants of Europeans and Indians are called mestizos, of Europeans and Africans mulattoes, and of Indians and Africans zambos. People speak mostly Spanish, and Portuguese in Brazil. In the Andes the Incas had a powerful state; their roads, irrigation canals and temples still survive. The Indians were the first to grow maize, potatoes and peanuts; today these crops are grown across the world. After the European conquest the Indians were killed or enslaved and slaves were brought from Africa to work on plantations. Population is uneven: most live on ocean coasts and in the Andean highlands, and few in the inner plains and Amazon forests. Forest clearing is shrinking Amazonia; about 17 % of the Amazon forest has already been lost. National parks such as Jaú, Chaco, Manú, Paracas and Podocarpus have been created; protected land is now far more than the book’s 1 %, and Jaú is on the UNESCO list.
“People map”: on a population-density map find South America’s most crowded and emptiest areas and give a reason in one sentence.