Southern Cone
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The term Southern Cone (Spanish: Cono Sur, Portuguese: Cone Sul) refers to a geographic region composed of the southernmost areas of South America, below the Tropic of Capricorn. The region includes all of Argentina, Chile and Uruguay, and parts of Brazil and Paraguay.
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[edit] Language
The main languages spoken are Spanish, Portuguese (when southern Brazil is included) and the autochthonous Aymara, Guaraní, Mapudungun (or Mapuche), and Quechua. Furthermore English is spoken in the Falkland Islands, a disputed territory between the U.K. (inhabited by British subjects) and Argentina. Italian, French, and Welsh are spoken by descendants of immigrants in Argentina, and to a lesser extent the same is true for German, English and French, in Chile, and the aforementioned, less Korean plus Japanese and Italian. Generally speaking what goes for Argentina goes for Uruguay; where Rioplatense Spanish is the main language, although Portuñol, Portunhol in Portuguese, a pidgin language of Brazilian Portuguese and Spanish is spoken in the border with Brazil.
English and French are studied and understood by the upper middle classes and upper classes in the southern cone. Lebanese and Syrian immigrants speak Arabic in Buenos Aires, some descendants of Welsh settlers in Trelew-Rawson, Argentina preserved their Celtic language, and some Basque of French origin brought the ancient Basque language into Chile.
[edit] People, education, and standards of living
In contrast to most of Latin America, the populations of Argentina and Uruguay are composed in their majority by people of white European descent, with relatively small numbers of people who are of visibly mixed race; mestizos and mulattos. They also retain almost no indigenous Amerindian population, and in Uruguay's case the indigenous population is now extinct.
Meanwhile, although the majority of the population of Paraguay and Chile is composed of mestizos (mixed European & Amerindian) and white European descents, it is not uncommon for the admixture to lean more towards the European element (as opposed to a relatively equal amount of both) and in some cases it is the only discernable element. Both countries do also have an undetermined number of unmixed White Europeans, as well as a visible Amerindian minority.
The other distinguished and probably most significant characteristic of the southern cone is the high average of standards of living and life quality. The brazilian southern region’s HDI (human development index) can be compared to the richest countries of the Eastern Europe, like Poland, Croatia or Hungary. Uruguay, where illiteracy technically doesn't exist, reaches the same level of this social development even facing natural restrictions to industrial and economical growth. Argentina and Chile are considered developed countries when it comes to human development, since their high indexes of 0.863 and 0.859 respectively surpass many places in Europe and other industralized regions. High life expectancy, health and education access, significant participation on the world’s economy and profile of emergent economy make the southern cone the most prosperous macro-region of Latin America.
In terms of religion, the overwhelmingly majority are Roman Catholic, but there are Muslims, Eastern Orthodox, Buddhists and Daoists. Jewish communities thrive in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Despite some parts of the Southern cone's religious conservatism, it never curtailed the region's characteristics of social reform. Uruguay, where agnosticism and atheism is very usual, has a strong church and state separation policy and could be considered the most liberal country in Latin America. The more conservative Chile only recently passed a law to legalize divorce, contrasting to Brazil and Argentina, countries where gay union is already possible.
The population of these countries: Argentina (38.9 million), Chile (16.1 million) and Uruguay (3.3 million). Buenos Aires is the largest metropolitan area at 12.7 million and Santiago, Chile has 6.2 million. When southern Brazil is included, São Paulo is the largest city, with 19.8 million. Uruguay's capital and largest city, Montevideo, has 1.8 million, and it receives many visitors on ferry boats across the Rio de La Plata from Buenos Aires, 50 km (35 miles) away.
[edit] Geography
Although many theorists link development with the temperate region[citation needed] it is clear that the The climates are humid subtropical, mediterranean, highland tropical, maritime temperate, sub-Antarctic temperate, highland cold, desert and semi-arid temperate. Except for northern regions of Argentina (Thermal Equator in January), the whole country of Paraguay, the Argentina-Brazil border and the interior of the Atacama desert, the region rarely suffers from intense heat. In addition to that, the winter presents mostly cool temperatures, except for the Andes and Patagonia desert (almost unoccupied regions). Strong and constant wind and high humidity is what brings sensation of low temperatures in the winter. The Atacama is the driest place on Earth.
[edit] Botany
The most peculiar plant of the region is the Araucaria tree (pinus) which can be found in Argentina and Chile. The only native species of pinus found in the southern hemisphere had its origin in the Southern Cone. Araucaria angustifolia, once widespread in Southern Brazil, is now a critically endangered species. The steppe region, situated in central Argentina, Uruguay and southern Brazil is known as the Pampas, and the typical people of the region are a mixture of Spanish and some Amerindian blood, and are called Gauchos. Maritime tropical trees, tundra, mediterranean vegetation and desert plants are also natural occurrences. Besides Antarctica, Patagonia is the cleanest place on earth.
[edit] Politics
During the second half of 20th century, these countries were often ruled by juntas, military nationalistic dictatorships. Around the 1970s, these regimes collaborated in Plan Cóndor against leftist opposition, including urban guerrillas. However, by the 1990s, these countries restored democracies.
Currently, Argentine President Nestor Kirchner and Chilean President Michelle Bachelet have restored credible and reformist governments. Uruguay has a liberal and secular tradition and its social welfare policies are sometimes held as the "Switzerland Of Latin America". For information on countries' political histories, see Argentina, Chile and Uruguay.
[edit] Inclusion of Brazil
When only entire countries are included, in most of cases only Argentina, Uruguay and Chile are included in the Southern Cone. In some other definitions, when used for describing the countries under military dictatorship during the middle of 20th Century, Brazil is fully included, although most of the Brazilian lands are geographically outside the Southern Cone.
Nowadays, the southernmost states of Brazil are generally included because they share the same characteristics with Uruguay, Argentina and Chile: high standard of living, temperate climate (the states of Santa Catarina and Rio Grande do Sul receive snowfalls every year), high level of industrialization and strong european immigration. It should be pointed out that the state of São Paulo has a higher GDP and GDP per capita than Argentina, Uruguay, Chile and the other three Brazilian states more commonly included. Parts of the Brazilian states of Rio de Janeiro and Minas Gerais also share the same characteristics.
[edit] Inclusion of Paraguay
Due to the geographic position and the past military dictatorship, Paraguay is often included in the Southern Cone. But, due to its great poverty, non-industrialized trait and mostly tropical climate, in opposition to the other countries of the Southern Cone, it's sometimes excluded of the definition.
[edit] See also
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