3. Minerals resources
 South America is relatively rich in mineral
resources. However, they are highly localized:
few countries have a good balance of fuels
and raw materials within their boundaries,
and two countries, Uruguay and Paraguay,
are nearly devoid of mineral wealth.
Nevertheless, South American economies
have traditionally relied on a foundation of
mining, fishing and forestry, agriculture, and
non-exportable manufactures

5. Power resources
 The total annual generation of electricity in South America has
increased steadily since the mid-1980s, mainly through the
construction of large-scale hydroelectric projects. As the South
American economy has advanced, there has been a greater
demand for energy. In the early 21st century, energy shortages
in South America were common, especially in countries
dependent on oil and natural gas imports. Some governments
have implemented policies to stimulate the use of
nonconventional sources of energy, particularly solar and wind
power. In Brazil, ethanol derived from sugarcane is widely
used, and there are numerous sugarcane refineries
throughout the country. There is great disparity between
countries in terms of energy production, however. The
electrical energy per capita in Venezuela is more than twice
the regional average; in Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay it is

6. Industries
 In most South American countries the
industrial sector has made only a limited
contribution to the creation of new sources
of employment. This fact, which is
problematic especially in view of the rapid
growth of the labour force, can be
explained in part by the adoption of dated
production techniques requiring a high
ratio of capital to labour and in part by the
sector’s slow growth. In the 1990s about
one-fifth of the continent’s labour force
was occupied in the industrial sector.

7. population
 People
 Four main components have contributed to
the present-day population of South
America—American Indians (Amerindians),
who were the pre-Columbian inhabitants;
Iberians (Spanish and Portuguese who
conquered and dominated the continent until
the beginning of the 19th century); Africans,
imported as slaves by the colonizers; and,
finally, postindependence immigrants from
overseas, mostly Italy and Germany but also
Lebanon, South Asia, and Japan.

10. In an area the size of South America, an efficient
system of transportation is necessary for the
development of the hinterland, the expansion of
national markets, and the integration of the
different national economic systems. Unlike North
America, South America still does not have an
adequately integrated transportation network.
Significant efforts have been made to improve
both the connections within countries and the
linkages between them.

11. South America has an extensive and rapidly expanding network of roads. In
many countries, however, only a relatively small percentage of the roads are
paved, and in the most remote areas they may be barely wide enough for two
vehicles to pass easily. The remainder of the system consists of improved roads
or simply of dirt roads.
In developing national segments of international highways, particular attention
has been paid to road-integration projects. The Inter-American Development
Bank and the World Bank were heavily engaged in some of these projects, as,
for example, in the construction of the bridge links joining Paraguay and
Argentina, Argentina and Uruguay, and Paraguay and Brazil (all these links
were completed by the late 1970s). A road linking Venezuela and Brazil allows
north-south movement through the Amazon basin. Brazil continues to have the
largest network of roads belonging to the Pan-American Highway system,
which extends throughout the Americas.

12. In most South American countries railways have lost their
dominant position as the major mode of transportation and
have been replaced by the road networks that have
developed rapidly since the 1960s. Moreover, rail transport
is plagued by operational problems as well as by obsolete
equipment. Almost all lines are single-tracked, which
makes traffic slow and discourages passenger service.
Many countries have two or more track gauges, which
impedes the efficient integration of the rail system.
Until the 1980s, virtually all railways were owned by the
state. Since then, governments, as part of their overall
efforts to privatize their national economies, have divested
themselves of a large percentage of publicly owned
railroads. This has led to the elimination of a huge number
of passenger routes as well as the reduction of much of the
freight component.

13. There are two inland waterway systems of international
importance, the Paraguay-Uruguay basin (which includes
territory in four countries) and the Amazon basin (six
countries). Each has several thousand miles of navigable
waterways. Furthermore, there are three other minor
systems: the Magdalena in Colombia, the Orinoco in
Venezuela, and the São Francisco in Brazil. The remaining
rivers are unsuitable for navigation. There are drawbacks
to using some inland waterways, including dry seasons,
the direction of water flow, motionless current, and
difficult rapids. In general, the volume of traffic on the
waterways of South America is relatively small, and the
prospects for increasing it are limited.

14. Air transportation has developed rapidly since World
War II. The increase is particularly significant with
respect to passenger traffic but applies less to the
handling of bulky freight.
Each country has its own system of internal air
services, operated until the late 1980s chiefly by
government-owned or by heavily subsidized private
companies. While several governments still operate an
international carrier, privatization in the airline industry
has spread to internal carriers. All the South American
capitals and most of the large cities are linked by direct
air services to the major traffic centres of the United
States and Europe. Domestic traffic links have
expanded extensively since the late 1970s, when
“short take-off” jets were introduced into service

15. In South America, most banks and financial institutions
are large enterprises, with branches in many cities and
towns. In some countries a high proportion of these were
government-owned until the late 1980s, but by the early
21st century foreign-owned banks or joint-venture
enterprises of local and foreign capitalization were
common. Wholesale and particularly retail business
enterprises, on the other hand, are mostly individual
concerns and in many cases are family owned and
operated. Department stores or chain stores,
uncommon in most South American countries until the
early 1970s, have become an important part of the
merchandising environment, especially in the larger
cities. During the 1980s, modern managerial and
marketing structures took hold in many countries—
especially Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Colombia,
and Venezuela—often giving a competitive edge in the
marketplace to enterprises that adopted them.

16. São Paulo Brazil 10,886,518
Bogotá Colombia 6,840,116
Santiago Chile 6,500,000
Lima Peru 6,321,173
Rio de Janeiro Brazil 6,093,472
Buenos Aires Argentina 3,776,138
Caracas Venezuela 2,950,033
Salvador Brazil 2,892,625
Brasília Brazil 2,455,903
Fortaleza Brazil 2,431,415
Belo Horizonte Brazil 2,412,937
Guayaquil Ecuador 2,278,691
Medellín Colombia 2,214,494
Cali Colombia 2,119,908
Maracaibo Venezuela 2,109,201
Curitiba Brazil 1,797,408
Córdoba Argentina 1,613,211
Manaus Brazil 1,612,475
Quito Ecuador 1,607,734
Recife Brazil 1,533,580
Valencia Venezuela 1,501,023
Santa Cruz de la Sierra[1] Bolivia 1,453,549
Porto Alegre Brazil 1,420,667
Belém Brazil 1,408,847
Rosario Argentina 1,325,090
Montevideo Uruguay 1,303,182