HISTORY31 - South America: Part 1 - Pre-Columbian

This, and my next two articles, complete a series of histories of the major countries and continents in the Western Hemisphere.  This is Part 1 of the history of the continent of South America, covering geologic evolution through pre-Columbian civilizations.  Part 2 will cover European colonization.  Part 3 will cover the independence period through today.

 

Introduction

South America is the world’s fourth largest continent after Asia, Africa, and North America, with a land area of 6,890,000 square miles.  It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east by the Atlantic Ocean.  North America and Caribbean Sea lie to the northwest, with Antarctica to the south.  The continent was named in 1507 by cartographers Martin Waldseemuller and Mathias Ringmann after Amerigo Vespucci, who was the first European to suggest that the Americas were not the East Indies, but a new World, unknown to Europeans.

South America is a continent of incredible biodiversity, and home to the great Amazon River and rainforest, the world’s highest waterfall (Angel Falls), the longest mountain range (Andes), and the driest desert (Atacama). 

South America’s major natural resources are gold, silver, copper, iron ore, tin, and oil.

South America is home to many interesting and unique species of animals including the llama, anaconda, piranha, jaguar, vicuna, and tapir.

Today, South America includes 12 countries, shown on the map below, one French possession, French Guiana, one British Territory, the Falkland Islands, about 950 miles off the east coast of southern Argentina, and various islands - large and small - mostly belonging to countries on the continent.  Three of the more noteworthy islands are Tierra del Fuego, at the southernmost tip of South America, with control divided between Chile and Argentina; Easter Island, 2,500 miles to the west of the continent, belonging to Chile; and the Galapagos Islands, about 560 off the northwest coast of the continent, belonging to Ecuador.

South America includes 12 independent countries, two foreign possessions, and many small islands.

Geologic Evolution

The continent of South America was not always in its current position on the surface of the Earth, and the journey to get there took hundreds of millions of years.

Continents rest on massive slabs of rock called tectonic plates. The plates are always moving and interacting in a process called plate tectonics, providing the main geologic forces behind what we think of as continental drift.

Two hundred and fifty million years ago, South America was part of an enormous supercontinent called Pangaea.  (See the figure below.) By 200 million years ago, Pangaea had separated into two super continents, with South America a part of Gondwanaland.  Gondwanaland began breaking up, and over millions of years, separated into pieces that moved away from one another.  These pieces slowly assumed their shapes and positions as the continents we recognize today.

During these millions of years, when two or more continents were “touching,” there was considerable plant and animal migration across continents.

Around 110 million years ago, South America and Africa began to diverge, giving rise to the land mass of Antarctica and South America.  Around 35 million years ago, Antarctica and South America separated with the opening of the Drake Passage.  For the next approximately 30 million years, the biodiversity of South America was isolated from the rest of the world, leading to the evolution of species within the continent.

Timeline of continental "drift" due to tectonic plate activity.

Approximately three million years ago, South America became connected to North America with the formation of the Isthmus of Panama, rising from the ocean floor via volcanic activity to bridge the gap between the two continents.

The connection to North America resulted in the so-called “Great American Interchange,” in which land and freshwater animals migrated from North America via Central America to South America, and vice versa.  This included immigration into South America of North American mammals such as camelids (ancestors of today’s llamas, alpacas, vicunas, and guanacos), tapirs, deer, horses, cougars, saber-toothed tigers, cats, weasels, bears, and a variety of rodents.  The larger animals that migrated to North America included ground sloths; carnivorous birds; armadillos capybaras, giant semiaquatic rodents; and Mixotoxodons, huge three-toed animals resembling a short rhinoceros.  Many of these animals - on both continents - are extinct today.

Examples of migrant species in both Americas.  Olive green silhouettes denote North American species with South American ancestors; blue silhouettes denote South American  species of North American origin. 

 

Natural Landscape

South America can be divided into three physical regions:  mountains and highlands, river basins, and coastal plains. Mountains and coastal plains generally run in a north-south direction, while highlands and river basins generally run in an east-west direction.

South America's physical features include mountains and highlands, river basins, and coastal plains.

Mountains.  South America’s primary mountain system, the Andes, is the world’s longest, covering about 5,500 miles. Situated on the far western edge of the continent, the Andes stretch from the southern tip to the northernmost coast of South America. There are hundreds of peaks more than 15,000 feet tall, many of which are volcanic. The highest peak in the Andes, Aconcagua, stands at 22,841 feet and straddles the Argentina-Chile border.

The wildlife of the Andes is a collection of immensely unique and awe-inspiring animals and includes more than 600 species of mammals, 1700 birds and 600 reptiles.  Wildlife of the Andes includes the Andean condor, the llama, the alpaca, the guanaco, the vicuna, the viscacha, the Andean (spectacled) bear, the mountain tapir, the Andean flamingo, the Andean puma, the Andean fox, and the Andean hairy armadillo.

Llamas have been widely used as meat and pack animals by Andean cultures since the pre-Columbian era.  Their fine undercoat of hair is used widely today for rugs, wall hangings, and lead ropes.

High plateaus are also a feature of the Andes. The altiplano region of Peru and Bolivia, for example, has an elevation of about 12,300 feet. The Patagonia region of Argentina and Chile consists of lower-elevation plateaus and rugged glaciers.

Outside the Andes, South America has two principal highland areas: the Brazilian Highlands and the Guiana Highlands.  Located south of the Amazon River in Brazil, the Brazilian Highlands are made up of low mountains and plateaus that rise to an average elevation of 3,300 feet. The Guiana Highlands are located in northern South America between the Amazon and Orinoco Rivers.  The heavily forested plateau of the Guiana Highlands covers southern Venezuela, French Guiana, Guyana, northern Brazil, and a portion of southeastern Colombia.  The world’s highest uninterrupted waterfall, Angel Falls, with a height of 3,212 feet, is in southeastern Venezuela.

River Basins.  South America has three important river basins:  Amazon, Orinoco, and Paraguay/Paraná.

The Amazon River basin has an area of almost 2.7 million square miles, making it the largest watershed in the world. The basin, which covers most of northern South America, is fed by tributaries from the glaciers of the Andes. Every second, the Amazon River empties 7,381,000 cubic feet of freshwater into the Atlantic Ocean.

The Amazon River is the life force of the equally vast Amazon rain forest, which makes up about half of the rain forest of the entire planet. This tropical region has as many as 100 different tree species on a single acre, including the rubber tree, silk cotton tree, and Brazil nut tree. Other important plant species include palms, ferns, and ropelike vines known as lianas that network throughout the rain forest’s dense canopy.

The diversity of animal life in the Amazon rain forest is unsurpassed in the rest of the world. The rain forest is perfectly suited for arboreal, or tree-living, animals. More than two million species of insects are native to the region, including hundreds of spiders and butterflies. Primates are abundant - howler monkeys, spider monkeys, and capuchin monkeys - along with sloths, snakes, and iguanas. Thousands of native birds include brightly colored macaws, parrots, toucans, and parakeets.

The Orinoco River flows north of the Amazon, in a giant arc for more than 1,700 miles, originating in the Guiana Highlands of northern Brazil and discharging in the Atlantic Ocean in Venezuela.

A vast savanna or grassland region, known as the Llanos, is the primary region of the Orinoco River basin. The Llanos is made up of swamp grasses found in wet, low-lying areas. Crabgrass-like carpet grass is found in the higher and drier elevations.

Like most grasslands, the Llanos is the perfect habitat for many bird species, including the scarlet ibis, bellbird, and umbrellabird. Important river species include the piranha, electric eel, and the Orinoco crocodile, which can reach a length of more than 20 feet.

The Paraguay/Paraná River basin covers almost 1,081,000 square miles, which is much of southeastern Brazil and Bolivia, Paraguay, and northern Argentina. The Paraná River basin includes the Iguazu River, where Iguazu Falls, a massive series of waterfalls, extends for 1.7 miles.  The Paraná River empties into the Rio de la Plata estuary between Argentina and Uruguay.

Fabulous Iguazu Falls, on the border of Argentina and Brazil.

 

The Paraguay/Paraná River basin supplies water to the plains, or Pampas, of South America. The Pampas have rich, fertile soil and predictable rainfall patterns. They are the most important grazing and cropland areas on the continent.

Coastal Plains. South American coastal plains - low, flat land next to a seacoast - are found on the northeastern coast of Brazil, on the Atlantic Ocean, and the western Pacific coast of Peru and Chile. The coastal plains of northeastern Brazil are extremely dry. The Brazilian Highlands act as a wedge that pushes moist sea winds away from the coastal plains.

The western coastal plains are also extremely dry. They are trapped between the cold Peru Current to the west and the Andes Mountains to the east. The Peru Current brings cold water to the Pacific coast of Peru and Chile. This cold surface water results in thermal inversion: cold air at sea level and stable, warmer air higher up. Thermal inversion produces a thick layer of clouds at low altitudes, blanketing much of the Pacific coast of South America.  The clouds do not allow precipitation to form.

The Atacama Desert is part of the western coastal plain. The Atacama is considered the driest region in the world. The average rainfall is about 0.04 inches a year, and some parts of the Atacama have never had rain in recorded history.

Very few plants grow in this desert. Even bacteria, insects, and fungi are scarce. Larger animal species are also rare, and include the grey fox, a type of deer called the huemul, and the viscacha - the largest member of the chinchilla family. Ocean birds, such as penguins, cormorants, and pelicans, are found on the desert coast

Prehistoric Peoples

For many years, South America’s first human inhabitants were thought to be descendants of people who followed herds of large game animals from Siberia across a land bridge in the Bering Strait into Alaska between 45000 BC - 12000 BC, as glaciers melted at the end of the last ice age.  Subsequent generations of these nomadic Paleo-Indian hunter-gatherers gradually moved inland and spread southward to populate North America and South America, reaching Meso America by about 10,000 BC and continuing into South America.  The first sedentary village cultures, and farming, appeared in Meso America around 5000 BC.   Presumably, the first South American native cultures, and agriculture, were established somewhat later.

However, recent archaeological finds do not fit this story.  Human occupation of Monte Verde along the Pacific Coast in southern Chile has been dated to as early as 16500 BC.  Evidence of the coastal landscape’s ability to sustain life, supports a “coastal migration” model, where early humans might have migrated down the west coasts of the Americas, where the coast was deglaciated and became habitable before inland regions.

Based on archaeological evidence, human inhabitants first settled in the Amazon region by at least 9200 BC.  Multiple settlements flourished between 8000 BC and 4600 BC near the coast of present-day Ecuador. The first evidence of agriculture practices in South America dates back to 6500 BC, when potatoes, chilies, and beans began to be cultivated for food in the highlands of the Amazon basin.  South American cultures began domesticating llamas, vicunas, guanacos, and alpacas in the highlands of the Andes around 3500 BC.  By 2000 BC, many agrarian village communities had been settled throughout the Andes and surrounding regions.  Fishing became a widespread practice along the coast, which helped to establish fish as a primary source of food.  Irrigation systems were also developed at this time, which aided in the rise of an agrarian society. The food crops were quinoa, corn, lima beans, common beans, peanuts, cassava, sweet potatoes, potatoes, oca (underground edible plant stems), and squashes.  Cotton was also grown and was particularly important as the only major fiber crop. 

Painting of hands from the Cave of the Hands in Argentina, dated from 11000 BC to 7500 BC.

The rise of agriculture and subsequent appearance of permanent human settlements allowed for the multiple and overlapping beginning of South American civilizations (complex societies characterized by urban development, social stratification, a form of government, and symbolic systems of communication.)  

First Civilization

The earliest known South American civilization was at Norte Chico, on the north-central Peruvian coast, that flourished from 3500 BC to 1800 BC.  Norte Chico was a complex pre-ceramic society that included as many as 30 major population centers, both on the coast and as far as 750 miles inland.  The civilization flourished along three rivers, the river valleys, having large clusters of settlements, that successfully employed irrigation-based agriculture and depended on fish and shellfish from the coast.   

The most impressive achievement of the civilization was its monumental architecture, including large earthwork platform mounds and sunken circular plazas.  All the monumental architecture was built close to irrigation channels.

In the early 21^st century, Norte Chico was established as the oldest-known civilization in the Americas, predating the Olmec civilization in Mesoamerica by 2,000 years.

Archaeological remains at Norte Chico, the first civilization in the Americas, circa 3000 BC, showing a complex platform mound and circular plaza. 

Indigenous Civilizations at First European Contact

The following discussion is organized by geographical region of the continent of South America and includes representative civilizations.

Andes Region.  The Norte Chico civilization was succeeded in Peru by the Chavin civilization (900-200 BC), characterized by religious cults, the appearance of ceramics closely related to their ceremonial centers, the improvement of agricultural techniques, and the development of metallurgy and textiles.

The Chavin civilization was in turn succeeded by the Moche civilization (AD 100-700), a technologically advanced people, known for elaborate burial practices, ceramic pottery with representations of their daily lives, trade with faraway peoples such as the Maya in Mesoamerica, and human sacrifice.

Arising from the Peruvian highlands, in the early 1200’s, the Inca Empire dominated Peru and the entire Andes region, as the largest empire in the pre-Columbian Americas, from 1438 to the Spanish Conquest.  Using warfare and peaceful assimilation, the Incas joined Peru, western Ecuador, western and southcentral Bolivia, northwest Argentina, a large portion of what is today Chile, and the southwestern-most tip of Colombia.  The administrative and military center of the Empire was located in the city of Cusco, Peru.

At its largest, the Inca Empire included some 9 to 14 million people, connected by a 15,000-mile road system.  Cities were built with precise, unmatched stonework, constructed over many levels of mountain terrain. Terrace farming was a useful form of agriculture. There is evidence of excellent metalwork, finely-woven textiles, and successful skull surgery in the Inca civilization. The Inca used quipu, a system of knotted strings, to record information.

The Inca Empire was unique in that it lacked many of the features associated with civilizations in the Old World:  "one of the greatest imperial states in human history" without the use of the wheel, draft animals, knowledge of iron or steel, or even a system of writing.

The Inca’s revered gold, thinking it was the sweat of the sun.  They created incomparable works of art, gilded their temples, and produced fine jewelry of gold.

Ruins of Machu Picchu at 8,000 feet altitude in the Peruvian Andes - probably an estate for an Inca ruler.

Ecuador.  The Cañari inhabited the southern highlands of Ecuador for more than 3,000 years. Historically they were one of the most important tribes in the region and Cuenca was their capital or main city for hundreds of years.  They were an elaborate civilization with advanced architecture, fine skills in weaving, agriculture, pottery, and working with gold and silver.  After a long-fought and bitter struggle, the Cañari were conquered by the Inca, just before the arrival of Europeans. 

Columbia.  In Columbia, the Muisca were the most advanced civilization at the time of European contact.  Established about AD 800, by the end of the 14^th century, the Muisca were organized in a loose confederation of rulers with a total population between 300,000 and two million individuals.  They were known as “The Salt People” because they mined and traded salt.  They had an agricultural economy, cultivating crops using irrigation and drainage on elevated terraces and mounds.  The Muisca were the only pre-Columbian civilization in South America to have used coins.  Like the Inca, the Muisca were also known for their fine gold-working.

Northern Coast.  The Northern Arawak people lived along the northern coast of South America in present-day Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname, French Guiana, and also settled on many of the islands of the West Indies to the north.  The Northern Arawak were agriculturists who lived in villages, some with as many as 3,000 inhabitants, and practiced slash-and-burn cultivation of cassava, tobacco, and corn.  They recognized social rank and gave great deference to theocratic chiefs. Religious beliefs centered on a hierarchy of nature spirits and ancestors, paralleling somewhat the hierarchies of chiefs.  Women did most of the work among the Arawak and were responsible for the farming, cooking, and care of children.  Despite their complex social organization, the Northern Arawak were gentle people, not given to warfare.

Shortly before the arrival of Europeans, the Northern Arawak had come under increasing military pressure from the Carib people, who had moved into the Orinoco River delta in the Guianas, and followed the Arawaks into the Lesser Antilles and replaced them.  The Carib lived in small autonomous settlements, growing cassava and other crops and hunting with blowgun or bow and arrow.

Amazon Region.  The Southern Arawak inhabited northern and western areas of the Amazon basin, where they shared the means of livelihood and social organization of other tribes of the tropical forest. They were sedentary farmers who hunted and fished, lived in small autonomous settlements, with little hierarchical organization. The Arawak were found as far west as the foothills of the Andes. These Arawak, however, remained isolated from influences of the Andean civilizations.

Anthropologists have found elaborate pottery, ringed villages, raised fields, large mounds, and evidence for regional trade networks that are all indicators of complex cultures. There is also evidence that they modified the soil using various techniques such as adding charcoal to transform it into black earth, which even today is famed for its agricultural productivity.  Pottery and other cultural traits show these people belonged to the Arawakan language family, the largest language group in the pre-Columbian Americas.

Numerous geoglyphs have been discovered on Amazon deforested land, dating between AD 0-1250.

Carib groups also extended south to the Amazon River.  Some were warlike and were alleged to have practiced cannibalism, but most were less aggressive than their northern relatives.  

Other Carib-speaking tribes, apparently much like the northern coast Carib, were found to the west on the wooded slopes of the Andes along the Venezuelan-Colombian border.  To the southeast, other Carib speakers lived at the headwaters of the Xingu River in central Brazil.

For a long time, scholars believed that the pre-Columbian Amazon basin was occupied by small numbers of hunter-gather tribes.  However, recent archaeological finds have suggested that the region was densely populated with highly developed and populous cultures, and that the Amazon forests, rather than being a pristine wilderness, have been shaped by man for at least 11,000 years, through practices such as soil management with charcoal, and forest management with slash and burn techniques.

Southcentral/Southeast/Extreme Southwest.  By the time of first European contact, the indigenous groups in these regions of the South American continent had not progressed beyond the hunter-gatherer stage of development.

The map below shows the distribution of indigenous civilizations (and individual tribes) across South America at the time of first European contact, when Christopher Columbus entered the Gulf of Paria in Venezuela and planted the Spanish flag in South America on August 1, 1498. 

Indigenous civilizations and individual tribes in South America at the time of first European contact in 1498.

See Part 2 of my history of South America:  European colonization.