Southern Cone . Southernmost area of the Americas , encompassing Argentina, Chile and Uruguay, occupying a total area of 3712 453.7 km ² , is the southernmost area of the American continent, as a large peninsula, defines the southern subcontinent of South America .
Summary
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- 1 Description
- 2 Geography
- 3 Natural Riches
- 4 Climate
- 5 Demographics
- 6 Main towns
- 7 Quality of life
- 8 Sources
Description
In the narrowest sense, it usually only covers Argentina , Chile and Uruguay , occupying a total area of 3 712 453.7 km ² , a territory that limits to the north with the states of Bolivia , Brazil , Paraguay and Peru , to the east with the Atlantic Ocean , to the south with the confluence of the Pacific and Atlantic oceans, this being the closest continental area to Antarctica, with a distance of 960 km between them, and to the west with the Pacific Ocean .
Occasionally, the state of São Paulo is included in the Southern Cone by bringing together several characteristics in common: proximity, high industrialization, its urbanization rate, and high GDP.
Geography
The Andes mountain range , which in the Southern Cone acquires the highest altitudes in the Western Hemisphere and the Southern Hemisphere (more specifically: the highest elevations on the planet outside of Asia); By contrast, also in the Southern Cone there are the largest continental depressions in the Southern or Southern Hemisphere and in all of America below sea level (Great Bajo de San Julián). Geographic Zones of the Southern Cone
- The Andes Mountains: The extensive and fertile plains of the Pampasia and the Chaco, contrasted by the so-called Arid Diagonal that extends from the Atacama desert to certain semi-desert regions of the Eastern Patagonian coast.
The Patagonian plateau, especially the Fuegian archipelago and its continuation on the marine platform, the Malvinas Islands.
- La Pampa Argentina: The Argentine Sea, one of the most extensive epicontinental platforms, and therefore underwater, on planet Earth.
The Patagonian Ice Fields accompanied by large active glaciers.
- Campo de Hielo Sur – Chile: Large and important lake systems of glacial origin (produced after the retreat of the last Wurmiense glaciation about 11,000 years ago) such as those found in southern Chile and in the Andean-Patagonian region of Argentina and Chile, or large salty lakes of tectonic origin as in Mar Chiquita in the center of continental American Argentina.
Natural wealths
The subsoil of the Southern Cone is also valuable for its mining, highlighting the borax, copper, tin, lithium, gold, silver, lead and saltpeter mines in the Chilean Great North and in the Argentine Northwest as well as in the vicinity of the entire region Andean and pre-Andean where there are also large deposits of uranium; there are important natural gas reserves in the north of Salta and in the province of Neuquén. Oil is distributed in interesting quantities in Argentine Patagonia. The seas that surround the Southern Cone are very rich in fishing and related resources, as well as its coasts present relevant tourist attractions worldwide.
Weather
From south to north, the climate goes from cold snowy to tropical, with a mountain climate in the Andes, that is, the Southern Cone is benefited by a great climatic variety, which implies an extraordinary variety of biomes and landscapes. The climate is desert in the northwest of the Southern Cone (for example, the Atacama desert, the driest on Earth), Mediterranean with a dry summer season in the center, and cold oceanic rainy / snowy in the south. Eastern Patagonia has a cold arid climate.
The extreme south of the region has an isothermal tundra type climate, cold with even temperatures throughout the year. In central Argentina and Uruguay, as well as in the south and southeast of Brazil, the climate is subtropical and temperate. The northern part of the region, except the altiplano or Puna and northern Chile, has a tropical climate.
The Andes mountain range presents low rainfall, almost null for years, north of the Tropic of Capricorn, which gradually and enormously increases south of parallel 39 ° S, from where it exceeds 2,000 mm / year, either in the form of rain , sleet or snow and from the Serra de la Mantiqueira Region in the Southeastern Region of Brazil, it has a tropical altitude climate. However, the seasons marked in central Argentina, central Chile and Uruguay, resemble the European climate or those of certain areas of the United States. In addition, the Mediterranean climate is present in the Sierras de Córdoba, Cuyo and central Chile, which resembles these areas to California or Spain.
Demography
The Southern Cone has a population of approximately 90 million inhabitants, of which 45% live in Argentina, 30.5% in the Southern Region of Brazil, 20% in Chile and 4.5% in Uruguay. Considering only Argentina, Chile and Uruguay, the Southern Cone would have about 60 million inhabitants. While the three southern states of Brazil (Paraná, Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina) have 28.5 million inhabitants together.
The Southern Cone countries present, on average, lower birth rates than the Latin American average, and a higher life expectancy.
The origins of the physiotypic or ethnic composition of the population of the region vary according to the sector of the states that are part of the Southern Cone, being characterized, in general terms, by a majority presence of a population of European origin2 with different degrees of miscegenation. Since the mid-nineteenth century, the region has been and continues to be the destination of a large immigration, mainly from Germany, Armenia, China, Korea, Croatia, Spain, France, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Lebanon, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, United Kingdom, Russia, Syria, Switzerland, the Palestinian Territories and Ukraine, among others. There are also other collectives of Ashkenazi Jews, Gypsies, Sikhs and Mennonites. Furthermore, the region is characterized by the presence of minorities belonging to indigenous peoples,
Main towns
These are, ordered by number of population, the urban agglomerates with more than one million inhabitants of the Southern Cone in its most restricted sense, that is, covering only the territories of Argentina, Chile and Uruguay:
Buenos Aires – Argentina: 13,074,000 Rooms Santiago – Chile: 5,952,000 Rooms Montevideo – Uruguay: 1,635,000 Rooms Córdoba – Argentina: 1,493,000 Rooms Rosario – Argentina: 1,231.00 Rooms Concepción – Chile: 1,013,856 Rooms
Quality of life
One of the characteristics that stand out most of the Southern Cone is the average standards and quality of life that it exhibits in relation to other areas of Latin America.
The Southern Cone presents high human development indices (HDI) in the case of Uruguay and it should be noted that Argentina and Chile with a Very High human development index (HDI) are developed countries compared to a large part of the countries of the Southern Hemisphere that They are emerging countries. It is characterized by low levels of illiteracy and a high life expectancy in comparison to other areas of Latin America.
