Commercial Geography Part 26

The conditions which have made the northern part a desert have also given to the state its greatest resource--nitre.[63] The nitrate occurs in the northern desert region. The crude salt is crushed and partly refined at the mines, and carried by rail to the nearest port. The working of the nitrate beds is largely carried on by foreign companies.

Nearly all the product is used as a fertilizer in Germany, France, and Great Britain. Nitrate const.i.tutes about two-thirds of the exports.

Iodine and bromine are also obtained from the nitrates, and the Chilean product yields nearly all the world's supply.

Copper is extensively mined and, next to the nitrates, is the most valuable product. Great Britain is the customer for the greater part.

Coal occurs in the southern part of the state, and is mined for export to the various states of the Pacific coast. It is not a good coal for iron smelting, however, and about three times as much is imported as is exported. A considerable part of the imported coal comes from Australia, and with it structural steel is made from pig-iron that is also imported.

Chile is well equipped with railways, a part of which has been built and are operated by the state. The most important line traverses the valley between the Andes and the coast ranges, from Concepcion to Valparaiso.

In this region are most of the manufacturing enterprises.

The imports are chiefly coal, machinery, textile goods, and sugar. The British control about two-thirds of the foreign trade; the Germans and the French have most of the remainder. The United States supplies the Chileans with a part of the textiles, a considerable quant.i.ty of Oregon pine, and practically all the coal-oil used.

[Ill.u.s.tration: VALPARASIO]

_Valparaiso_ is the chief business centre of the Pacific coast of South America. Most of the forwarding business is carried on by British and German merchants. The transandine railway, now about completed, will make it one of the most important ports of the world. _Santiago_ is the capital. _Concepcion_ and _Talca_ are important centres of trade.

_Chillan_ is the princ.i.p.al cattle-market of the Pacific coast of South America. _Copiapo_ is the focal point of the mining interests. _Iquique_ is the port from which about all the nitrates are s.h.i.+pped. _Punta Arenas_, one of the "end towns" of the world, is an ocean post-office for vessels pa.s.sing through the Straits of Magellan. It is about as far south as Calgary, B.C., is north.

QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION

What will be the probable effect of an interoceanic ca.n.a.l on the commerce of these states?

From the Abstract of Statistics make a list of the exports from the United States to these countries.

From the statistics of trade in the Statesman's Year-Book compare the trade of the United States with that of other countries in these states.

How have race characteristics affected the commerce and development of these states?

What is meant by peonage?

What cities of the tropical part of these states are in the climate of the temperate zone?

FOR COLLATERAL READING AND REFERENCE

Carpenter's South America.

Vincent's Around and About South America.

Fiske's Discovery of America--Chapters IX-X.

Procure, if possible, specimens of the following: Cacao and its products, ivory nuts, cinchona bark, crude nitrate, Panama straw, iodine (in a sealed vial), llama wool, alpaca cloth, Peruvian cotton.

CHAPTER XXIV

SOUTH AMERICA--THE LOWLAND STATES

The eastern countries of South America are mainly lowland plains. The llanos of the Orinoco and the pampas of Plate (La Plata) River are grazing lands. The silvas of the Amazon are forest-covered. In tropical regions the coast-plain is usually very unhealthful; the seaports excepted, most of the cities and towns are therefore built on higher land beyond the coast-plain.

=Venezuela.=--The greater part of Venezuela is a region of llanos, or gra.s.sy plains, shut off from the harbors of the Caribbean Sea, by mountain-ranges. On account of their pleasant climate the mountain-valleys const.i.tute the chief region of habitation. The plains are flooded in the rainy season and sun-scorched during the period of drought; they are therefore unfit for human habitation.

Coffee is cultivated in the montane region; and cacao in the lower coast lands. Almost every part of the coast lowlands is fit for sugar cultivation, and in order to encourage this industry, the importation of sugar is forbidden. As is usual in similar cases, the domestic sugar is poor in quality and high in price. Among the forest products rubber, fustic, divi-divi,[64] and tonka beans, the last used as a perfume, are the only ones of value. The cattle of the llanos, the native long-horns, furnish a poor quality of hide, and poorer beef. A few thousand head are s.h.i.+pped yearly down the Orinoco to be sent to Cuba and Porto Rico.

The placer gold-mines of the Yuruari country, a region also claimed by Great Britain, have been very productive. Coal, iron ore, and asphaltum are abundant. Concessions for mining the two last-named have been granted to American companies. The pearl-fisheries around Margarita Island, also leased to a foreign company, have become productive under the new management.

The means of intercommunication are as primitive as those of Colombia.

Short railways extend from several seaports to the regions of production, and from these coffee and cacao are the only exports of importance. The Orinoco River is the natural outlet for the cattle-region, but the commerce of this region is small. The lagoon of Maracaibo is becoming the centre of a rapidly growing commercial region.

_Caracas_, the capital and largest city, receives the imports of textiles, domestic wares, flour, and petroleum from the United States and Great Britain. The railway to its port, _La Guaira_, is a remarkable work of engineering. _Puerto Cabello_, the most important port, receives the trade of _Valencia_. From _Maracaibo_, the port on the lagoon of the same name, is s.h.i.+pped the Venezuelan coffee. _Ciudad Bolivar_ is the river-port of the Orinoco and an important rubber-market.

=The Guianas.=--The surface conditions and climate of the Guianas resemble those of Venezuela. The native products are also much the same, but good business organization has made the countries bearing the general name highly productive. For the greater part, the coast-plain is the region of cultivation. Sugar is still the most important crop; but on account of the fierce compet.i.tion of beet-sugar, on many of the plantations cane-sugar cultivation is unprofitable and has been abandoned for that of rice, cacao, and tobacco. Great Britain, Holland, and France possess the country. The divisions are known respectively as British Guiana, Surinam, and Cayenne, and the trade of each accrues to the mother-country. British Guiana is noted quite as much for its gold-fields on the Venezuelan border (Cuyuni River) as for its vegetable products. _Georgetown_, better known by the name of the surrounding district, _Demerara_, is the focal point of business. _New Amsterdam_ is also a port of considerable trade. The gold-mining interests centre at _Bartica_.

[Ill.u.s.tration: A CACAO PLANTATION]

[Ill.u.s.tration: PREPARING THE BEANS FOR s.h.i.+PMENT]

[Ill.u.s.tration: CACAO-TREE]

[Ill.u.s.tration: MAKING CHOCOLATE]

Surinam, in addition to its export of vegetable products, contains rich gold-mines, and these contribute a considerable revenue. _Paramaribo_ is the port and centre of trade. Phosphates and gold are among the important exports of Cayenne, whose port bears the same name.

=Brazil.=--This state, nearly the size of the United States, comprises about half the area of South America. Much of it, including the greater part of the Amazon River basin, is unfit for the growth of food-stuffs.

There are three regions of production. The Amazon forests yield the greater part of the world's rubber supply. The middle coast region has various agricultural products, of which cotton and cane-sugar are the most important. From the southern region comes two-thirds of the world's coffee-crop. There are productive gold-mines in the state of Minas Geraes, but this region is best known for the "old mine" diamonds, the finest produced.

The Amazon rubber-crop includes not only the crude gum obtained in Brazil, but a considerable part, if not the most, of the crop from the surrounding states. The bifurcating Ca.s.siquiare, which flows both into Amazonian and Orinocan waters, drains a very large area of forest which yields the best rubber known. The yield of 1901 aggregated about one hundred and thirty million pounds, of which about one-half was sold in the United States, one-third in Liverpool, and the rest mainly in Antwerp and Le Havre. The price of rubber is fixed in New York and London.

The cotton and cane-sugar are grown in the middle coast region. The cotton industry bids fair to add materially to the prosperity of the state. A considerable part of the raw cotton is exported, but the reserve is sufficient to keep ten thousand looms busy. About three hundred and fifty million pounds of the raw sugar is purchased by the refineries of the United States, and much of the remainder by British dealers.

The seeds of a species of myrtle (_Bertholletia excelsa_) furnish the Brazil nuts of commerce, large quant.i.ties of which are s.h.i.+pped to Europe and the United States.[65] Manganese ore is also an important export, and Great Britain purchases nearly all of it.

The coffee-crop of the southern states is the largest in the world; and about eight hundred million pounds are landed yearly at the ports of the United States. The coffee-crop, more than any other factor, has made the great prosperity of the state; for while the rubber yield employs comparatively few men and yields but little public revenue, the coffee-crop has brought into Brazil an average of about fifty million dollars a year for three-quarters of a century.

Cattle products also afford a considerable profit in the vicinity of the coffee-region. The hides and tallow are s.h.i.+pped to the United States.

For want of refrigerating facilities, most of the beef is "jerked" (or sun-dried), and s.h.i.+pped in this form to Cuba.

The facilities for transportation, the rivers excepted, are poor. The Amazon is navigable for ocean steams.h.i.+ps nearly to the junction of the Ucayale. The Paraguay affords a navigable water-way to the mouth of Plate River. Rapids and falls obstruct most of the rivers at the junction of the Brazilian plateau and the low plains, but these streams afford several thousand miles of navigable waters both above and below the falls.

Nearly all the railways are plantation roads, extending from the various ports to regions of production a few miles inland. The most important railway development is that in the vicinity of Rio, where short local roads to the suburban settlements and the coffee-plantations converge at the harbor. About fourteen thousand miles of railway are completed and under actual construction. A considerable part of the mileage is owned and operated by the state, and it has become the policy of the latter to control its roads and to encourage immigration. One result of this policy is the increasing number of German and Italian colonies, that establish settlements in every district penetrated by a new road.

In 1900 the total foreign trade aggregated upward of two hundred and seventy-five million dollars. The imports consist of cotton and woollen manufactures, structural steel and machinery, preserved fish and meats, and coal-oil. Great Britain, Germany, the United States, and France have nearly all the trade. The United States sells to Brazil textiles and coal-oil to the amount of over eleven million dollars yearly, and buys of the country coffee and rubber to the amount of six times as much.

_Rio de Janeiro_, commonly called "Rio," is the capital and commercial centre. Its harbor is one of the best in South America. Formerly all the coffee was s.h.i.+pped from this port, but the greater part now goes from _Santos_. _Porto Alegre_, the port of the German colonies, has also a growing export trade.

_Bahia_, _Pernambuco_ (or _Recife_), _Maceio_, _Ceara_ are the markets for cotton, sugar, and tobacco, much of which is s.h.i.+pped to other Brazilian ports for home consumption. _Para_ and _Ceara_ monopolize nearly all the rubber trade. The position of _Manaos_, at the confluence of several rivers, makes it one of the most important markets of the Amazon basin, and most of the crude rubber is first collected there for s.h.i.+pment. _Cuyaba_ is the commercial centre of the mining region; its outlet is the Paraguay River, and Buenos Aires profits by its trade.