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.