Original South Americans

Currently, in the Amazonian indigenous reserves there are around 170 thousand ‘known’ Indians and we also know there are at least 53 groups of isolated Indians beyond contact with ‘our civilisation’. They are the survivors of native ethnicities in the Amazon. There is evidence that the first inhabitants of the Amazon have been living there since around 10 thousand years before christ. 500 years ago, it was estimated there were more than 6 million indigenes, mostly in the Amazon. There are now around 300 thousand in all of Brazil, in other words, about 5% of the descendent population from when the Amerindans and the Portuguese first came into contact.

                There are similar comparative studies revealing shocking estimates in anthropological, historical and geographic sciences from all around the heart of this astounding continent. Most revealing on European colonisation techniques are the disparities between how the Portuguese and Spanish tried to make new territorial strongholds in South America. While the Dutch, French and the English should not be completely ignored their effect on this continent was negligible in comparison. It is through reading, analysing and extrapolating from Iberian historical documents we are capable of estimating the destructive force of the peninsula’s tirades in both the central and southern Americas.

                With IBAMA and other national institutions representing indigenous power, including within national governments representing their peoples internationally there is a contemporary shift in who is making the plans for South America’s future with Ivo Morales leading the charge. Astoundingly, it is only now in the second decade of this millennium that there are multilingual leaders representing not only indigenous peoples but additionally their nations and on a more open and fair basis for international development. With so many fallen heroes, successful freedom fighters and now, with executives and presidents in power, there is greater hope that those historical injustices can be laid to rest while the rural and urban people of South America can move forward with improved confidence in their representative political systems. With respect and tolerance it most definitely is possible to share the wonders of this blessed land.

Ecological Science in the Amazon

The Amazon is the largest forest in the world, covering around 60% of Brazilian territory. It represents two thirds of the world’s tropical rainforest, around three and a half million squared kilometres of which is exclusively Brazilian. Amazon state alone is sufficiently extensive to equal all of territorial Europe, by size!The rainforest ecosystems extend to the west in Bolívia, Colômbia, Equador, Peru and to the north in Guyana, Guyana Francês, Surinam, Venezuela and some Caribbean islands while in Brazil, there are seven states each with their own part of the Amazon tropical rainforest.

                Within a large store room in the Department of Entomology at INPA (Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas de Amazônia) there is a vast classified collection. It is there where it is possible to get an idea of the complexity and the incredible diversity of Amazonian ecosystems. There are 30 million insect species on the planet. A third of those are in the Amazon indicating just how fantastic this forest’s biodiversity is and the importance of it in relation to the planet.

                Researchers have already identified the genus and species nomenclature of around 30 thousand plants while estimating there are probably between 5 and 30 million different vegetation species. There are flowers, like the famed vitória-regia with 1.8 metres diameter. There are leaves larger than a regular door, like the Poligonácea coccolaba, which can be measured at an average of 2.5 metres in length and a metre in width. In an Amazon forest hectare it is possible to make an inventory of over 400 vegetation species.

Festivals

Amazonian festival

Flags of South American nations

These are mostly long established independent nations while some of these are dependent territories

Jornal do Brasil - Ciência e Tecnologia - Desmatamento da Amazônia aumenta incidência de malária, diz estudo

Jornal do Brasil - Ciência e Tecnologia - Desmatamento da Amazônia aumenta incidência de malária, diz estudo

Finding the best in South America

Finding the best in South America

Finding the best in South America

Finding the best in South America

An open free for all in straightforward concise communications. This site shall evolve and as it does so we can show what is best in South America with clear, sophisticated and developing communications. Many of us value nearly every word we read and others undervalue most of the words we hear. I'd like you to value the power of your keyboards and as honestly as you can, begin asking your neighbours about what they like most and what they want most from their part of South America.

Although it isn't the most diminutive or the most expansive continent it most certainly is a continent of superlatives. If you are able to share your personal experiences clearly and concisely, then you may be able to allow others to understand where you are coming from in addition to guiding and influencing for the better of everyone who'll be reading and writing on this site. Please, take your time as there most certainly is no rush to represent, in the best light possible this ethnically diverse, linguistically refined and often unbelievable continent of extremes.

While the Aztecs, the Mayans and the less famous ancient civilisations of the Americas may take the limelight the civilised peoples of South America often take the biscuit when it comes down to cordiality, politeness, tolerance and respect for everyone. Seldom have I known so many patient and openly expressive people and while standing in a bureaucratic line for something is often portrayed as a deathwish by more impatient or rude peoples most South Americans seem to enjoy the communality of waiting to cross a busy city street or meeting an officious, unhelpful government employee, or even the sports ticket sales booth and waiting to watch an internet projected fluidstream just seems less troublesome in the land of the really civilised Americans. Knowing that it was the ancient South Americans who first cultivated potatoes, maize, sweetcorn and a massive array of culinary delights have been and are still being created is also enticing enough. South America is a leading exporter of agricultural products, so you should never go hungry here.

If you're looking for large civilised city living, then there is no short supply of it in this continent where the majority are sophisticated urbanites. If you're greatest wish is to search for the longest mountain range, then it is also here, along with volcanoes and their associated natural hotwater spas, geothermal heating and the best of modern newly designed and built ski resorts. The Andes hold no limit of incredible discoveries. If you want to find yourself in the driest and highest of deserts, then the Atacama is ever so much more accessible than the Gobi and while the regular images of tropical rainforest are endearing, we've already recognised and defined over a hundred rainforest ecosystems exclusively in this continent. And it is in the Amazon where we have recorded over 40 indigenous languages, each attributed to the most humble of civilised and knowledgeable peoples, many of whom are so disconnected from this modern world that they have still refrained from revealing their languages and sustainable cultures to the outside world.

When you consider how much time and money many of us spend lazing around on crowded, polluted and often unbearable urban beaches, then again this land is a land of enormously expansive, attractive and easily navigable coastlines where you don't have to go far to be received by communities that have adapted from fishing for a living to include tourists as just another natural part of everyday living. And this is where and when you'll find it easiest to accept that South Americans are probably the friendliest and most keen to please of all the peoples around this globe. There aren't many things that are difficult or problematic here. This really is where almost everything is possible. After all, where else would we be able to admire the ancient city of Machu Picchu and try to conceive of how it was planned, designed, constructed and lived in by the ancestors of South American civilisation, the Incas. When the first outsider 'discovered' it in 1911, Hiram Bingham said and wrote so little of interest, that he almost never quoted. We do know that it is on a tiny peak of a mountain at over 2,400 metres altitude and that it was built from locally geologically sourced rock so that is would blend in with the surrounding towering mountain peaks. It is a hidden gem from which when you look around you will find every street, every perspective and every lookout has been made to give you a feeling of awe so overpowering that you may feel forever at one with nature again. Each gap or lowering in the walls around you show you another distant mountain peak. There can be no more enchanting South American castle than the Inca city which is appealing to everyone with even the slightest interest in history, geography, architecture, urban design, anthropology and most clearly of all, ecological science. Machu Picchu seems to be South America's constant reminder that we, humanity, are secondary to the planet and that each of us is little more than an animal in the greater scheme of things.

If you haven't already got a taste for what I'm looking for then just wait for more as I'll be guiding this site with less personal input and far greater admiration as we progress. Now, if you feel inspired just get on with it, show us what's best.