Geography Of South America: Five Northern Countries (1977)

[Music] these are some of the faces of our nearest neighbors in south america do you know the names of the countries in which they live our nearest south american neighbors live in the northern countries of south america there are five northern countries two are quite large colombia and venezuela three are small the guianas british guiana dutch guiana properly called suranam and french guiana these are the only countries in south america that are completely or almost completely north of the equator they are in the turret zone the hottest zone in the world knowing this you might expect the northern countries to be mostly a region of steaming tropical jungles and rainforests you might be surprised to see mountain regions where the snow never melts there are many such differences or extremes in these lands near the equator there are extremes in cities from the newest most modern to some of the oldest settlements in the new world will also find great differences in the governments of the northern countries the three guyanas are the only countries of south america that are not independent they are possessions of foreign countries in british guiana for instance the people elect a legislative body which meets here in georgetown the people of british guiana are subjects of the british crown in a similar way suriname or dutch guyana is a possession of the netherlands and french guiana belongs to france quite different are the governments of colombia and venezuela these two were among the first of the south american republics to win independence from spain under the leadership of simone bolivar the great hero of south america bolivar was born in this spanish colonial house in caracas venezuela in 1783 in his home young bolivar learned about the revolution of the english colonies in north america are vowed that he would try to liberate his country the colony or vice royalty of new granada from spanish rule for many years bolivar and other patriots fought and worked to overthrow spanish rule in 1819 during a difficult war for independence bolivar became the president of the new republic of gran colombia out of this large region came the present-day countries of colombia and venezuela so these two republics share a common history that is quite different from that of the guianas within these five countries we'll also find even greater differences in kinds of land forms and climate these coastal areas for instance are low hot and humid in such lowlands we find people employed in growing sugar cane a tropical product this is a large sugar plantation in colombia from the sugar cane sugar is extracted in large refineries sugar is an important export of the northern countries rice is another lowland crop and a staple food another food is the large cooking banana it is called platino in spanish this is a banana plantation in colombia where the sweeter bananas that we know are grown for export in venezuela certain parts of the wetlands produce cacao the large pods growing on these trees contain cacao beans cacao beans are exported for the making of cocoa and chocolate cacao trees grow well in a rich porous soil and a wet tropical climate within the wet tropics are vast forests that supply many other products rubber trees furnish latex a source of natural rubber certain palm trees furnish nuts a source of cooking oils while other larger trees furnish woods such as mahogany and spanish cedar so lumber is another product of the dense tropical rainforests which receive very heavy rainfall other areas although generally low and tropical get seasonal rainfall these are known as the janos and our vast plains or grasslands on the wide janos the chief industry is cattle raising these are the yaneros the cowboys of bianos there are yaneros in both colombia and venezuela they lead a rugged and lonely life on the plains to find grass and water the aneros move their herds with the changing seasons cattle supply meat for people of the northern countries especially those of the big cities this woman is shopping for food in a busy open market in the city of bogota colombia here she may buy such staple foods as corn rice beans or potatoes during her shopping she may stop to have a cup of coffee colombia is the second largest producer and exporter of coffee in the world this is a coffee farm or finca on the slopes of the beautiful kauka valley in colombia here the owner of the coffee finca is supervising the harvest the coffee berries are picked as they ripen there may be several harvests of berries after picking and along processing the coffee beans are dried in the sun and then packed part of the story of coffee is the long journey to the seaports donkeys are still used to transport coffee through mountainous country although it is difficult to build roads through the mountains trucks are used in some places to haul the coffee much coffee is also shipped by riverboat this barge load of coffee is being pushed by a steamer on the great magdalena river which flows a thousand miles through colombia this riverboat is much like the great stern wheelers once used on the mississippi much coffee goes to baranquilla colombia located near the mouth of the magdalena river varankiya is both a river port and a seaport besides barranquilla other important ports are buena ventura cartagena maracaibo and georgetown from these cities various products of the northern countries are exported many of them to the united states the most valuable raw material exported is petroleum colombia and venezuela are the largest producers of oil in south america in venezuela the lake maracaibo region contains one of the largest deposits the welds are drilled under water and stretch for miles into the lake today new wells are being drilled every few days wells are drilled into the bottom of the lake to reach the oil bearing strata below the oil industry is bringing venezuela tremendous wealth the venezuelan government receives half the profit from oil concessions which are owned by american british and dutch companies both venezuela and colombia are using wealth from oil for public benefit for new schools and hospitals for new super highways some of them tremendous feats of engineering wealth from oil has also helped the development of various kinds of industry including a fast-growing steel industry in both colombia and venezuela the past del rio steel mills of colombia are in a region rich with iron ore coal and limestone the three ingredients of steel making this is the famous cerro bolivar an entire mountain of iron ore in the guiana highlands of venezuela most of this iron ore is shipped by freighter to the united states here is another huge strip mine this one is in suriname or dutch guiana and the mineral is bauxite from which aluminum is made most of this box site goes to the united states many of the airplanes so important for transportation in the northern countries are made in the united states of aluminum from suriname air transportation for passengers and freight is one of the modern developments that is helping to overcome the rugged terrain of the northern countries we saw some of that terrain from the highlands and mountains to valleys and lowlands in these places we saw some of the valuable products of the northern countries and the people who helped produce them people who are our nearest neighbors in south america