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2008
¤ OSU
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Two GEO-PHYSICAL
AND
GEO-CULTURAL
CONSIDERATIONS
~~ national and regional characteristics
~~
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Sessions: » 3. Geophysical
Development »
4. Regional Distinctions and Variations
Please also consult the »
online reference library collection
Download
Google Earth
3. Geophysical Development
Focus: Understanding the geophysical nature of Brazil is of fundamental
importance. Geography is the platform on which history occurs. Landscape
establishes some of the key opportunities for and challenges to a society and
culture. The physical origins of South America and Brazil go back to the
breakup of the super continent, Pangaea, and the subsequent division of western
and eastern Gondwana. The path of dispersal of western Gondwanaland determined
the climate, vegetation, hydrology, soil, minerals, and physical contours of
Brazil and South America. Of systemic continental importance are the
»
Pantanal
Wetlands-Paraná/Paraguay/Plata Rivers complex as basins draining the Andes
Mountains, the Guyana Highlands, and the Brazilian Highlands within tropical and
subtropical environments. Brazil is the largest tropical country in the
world, extending from above the equator to well below the Tropic of Capricorn. »
The São
Francisco River, the longest river
entirely within Brazil, flows through the coastal sierra or cordillera (
»
Serra do Mar,
Serra da
Mantiqueira,
Serra dos Orgãos,
etc.), which extends between the eastern margin of the Brazilian Highlands and
the Atlantic Ocean. The river descends through the
sierra from the central southeastern portion of the country and empties into the
ocean in the northeastern region. Throughout its history Brazil has had the
longest oceanic coast of any country in the southern Atlantic. Whoever has
controlled or attempted to control that basin, whether Portugal, Spain, France,
the Netherlands, Britain, or the US, has had some role in the country's
development. Moreover, extending both north and south of the equator, Brazil
can be approached over the Atlantic by the differing winds and currents on
either side of that line.
The »
Nature of the
Tropics (between the Tropic of Cancer at 23.5˚
north latitude and the Tropic of Capricorn at 23.5˚
south latitude) and the subtropics (areas along the margin of the
tropics): light, heat, precipitation, humidity, nutrients, competition of flora
and fauna. Tropical rainforests are a core manifestation and element of the
earth's ecology, and the context of all its flora. They occupy less than ten
percent of the earth's surface, but they contain more than half of all life
forms. The nutrients in soils are essential to maintain forest life.
Destruction of trees diminishes not only the size and environment for tropical
life but also sustained nourishing of life in the tropics. Heavy tropical
rainfall on denuded forest ground causes leaching, the draining or running off
of nutrients from the soil. (At the current rate of forest destruction, all
virgin rainforests will be gone by the middle of the twenty-first century.)
In pre-historic time, unlike Africa east of the Rift Valley, the fauna
of South America did not witness ecological balance established by competition
for size among carnivores. Bobcats and jaguars developed but not tigers or
lions. Further, there was no size competition among vegetarian mammals, as
exemplified by elephants in Africa. Primates did not develop to the ape
(bonobo, chimpanzee, gorilla) and hominid stages. Only in eastern Africa was
carnivore competition for food intense enough to advance hominid mental over
physical hunting skills. Thereby, successful primate carnivore competition
processed the increased protein intake as an enhancement to cerebral
analogical/memory capacity. The most successful primate in this process came to
be homo sapiens sapiens. In entering South America and reaching the continent's
furthest eastern margin along Atlantic Ocean, it climaxed its long odyssey out
of Africa.
Further Reading: ¦ » Amazonia : Resiliency and
Dynamism of the Land and Its People (Nigel J. H. Smith),
United Nations University Press, 1995;
Transparencies and Handouts: Maps of continent formation
Video: Tectonic Plates and Continent Formation
Internet: » Rotating
Globe with Physical Relief Features » Brazilian
Map Collection with
Geologic Maps
of Brazil 1
2 and
Map of Types of Gem Stones
in Brazil;
Brazil
Map Exercise 1
2 »
Outline of Brazil
in Lights from Space Satellite »
Gazetteer with location of cities by longitude and latitude, views by
satellite, and calculation of land and air distances between cities » Physical/Political
Map of South America with
Geology of South America and
South America
Map Excercise
» Continental Drift and
Continent Formation 1
2
3
4 5 6
7 (Pangaea Consists of Gondwanaland in the South; Laurasia in the North) »
Formation of the Andes 1
2 (and Himalayas) »
Formation of Amazon River »
Amazon
River 1
2 River Cam
(scroll down to camera filming Amazon fish) »
Amazonia 1
2 (interactive map), the transnational region of upper South America »
Dinosaurs that Occupied South America 1
2
» Nature of the
Tropics and the
Tropic of Capricorn » Seasons
and Sunlight: Tilted Rotation of Earth around Sun Causing Tropics with
Moon's Rotation
around Earth Provoking Tilt and
Annual Cycle of Sunlight on Hemispheres » Rain
in Amazon Compared to Other Parts of Brazil and
Compared to States in US
»
Weather Zones of Brazil in Relation to Other Regions of World
» The
Five Layers (or Tiers) of a Rainforest: 1) overstory (emerging), 2) canopy,
3) understory, 4) shrub, and 5) floor are the "forests" of a tropical forest,
supporting distinct colonies of fauna » Interactive montage of
Tropical Forest Dynamics and Interactions (click "virtual jungle * ") »
Jungle Canopy »
Images of Tropical
Deforestation 1
2 3 »
The Sounds of a
Tropical Rainforest: Birds, Monkeys, Insects, Waterfalls, etc. 1
2
3
4 (Monkeys) » Monitor
of Current Developments in Rainforests of Brazil, South America, and Other World
Regions
* "Jungle" is a non-scientific term for rain forests, derived
from British experience in India. In Portuguese, the word "JHOON glee" is
sometimes heard, often an ironic way of referring to an outsider's perception
of what is normally described in Brazil as "floresta," "selva," or "mata."
4. Regional Distinctions and Variations
Focus: The major regions of Brazil are the North, Northeast, Southeast, Center
West, and South. For reasons of historical settlement, one describes regions in
Brazil from North to South (as in the US one does so from East to West).
Economic production, demographic background, land characteristics, natural
resources, human settlement over time, diet, cultural activity, social
distinctions, etc. are the characteristics that determine Brazil's regions.
While the regions have distinguishing, salient geographic characteristics,
cultural and historical factors also determine their delimitation. The regions
are closely related to but not necessarily co-terminus with the major ecosystems
of the country, weather regions, and/or soil and geologic classifications. For
example, tropical rainforest extends over the North and Center-West regions
although equatorial canopy and rainfall are only in the former. While the
Amazon River flows only through the North, the São
Francisco flows from the Southeast region into the Northeast. Moreover, it
maintains a cultural identity over its length that is associated primarily with
the rural interior of the Northeast. Thereby such distinction resonates the
more because the river originates its course in the industrialized Southeast.
Responsibility for officially defining and delimiting the regions of the
country has, during the twentieth century, lain with the Brazilian Institute of
Geography and Statistics (IBGE). Regional nomenclature, components, and
boundaries have changed. Among numerous factors affecting changes in
perceptions of Brazil's regions have been the country's accelerated advance to
its western and northern frontiers, more precise mapping technologies, and
international economic, socio-political, and ecologic attention given the
country.
Significant transregional movements have occurred. Fleeing the poverty
of the Northeast, millions of its inhabitants have migrated to the Southeast.
In Rio de Janeiro there is a gathering each Saturday night of Northeasterners,
known as the »
Feira de São Cristóvão. They congregate to stroll in an all-night open
market with regional foods and products, and to drink, dance, and talk. So many
Northeasterners from the state of Paraíba settled into construction jobs in São
Paulo that anyone in that work has come to be known as a "paraíbano." Gaúcho
cattlemen, starved for land in their home state, Rio Grande do Sul, have
migrated to the far frontiers of the Center-West and North regions. In areas
far distant from their native state, they establish cultural centers that
preserve their cultural traditions in »
Centros de Tradições Gaúchas with
Encyclopedia of Guacho Culture
(click "enciclopédia"). Shops throughout the country that sell Afro-Brazilian
religious goods have have come to be vendors not just of Bahian goods but
representatives of its culture.
Maps: Regions and states
Transparencies: Scenes of people, vegetation, environment, and practices of
regions
Realia: Handicrafts and utensils from: Amazon, Ceará, Bahia, Minas Gerais, São
Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, and Rio Grande do Sul
Internet:
1) Description and maps: »
Set 1 » Ecosystems
Map of Brazil » Weather
Regions and
Climate Map » Behaving
Brazilian, orientation to Brazilian behavioral interaction
2) Pictorial: »
Northeast
Southeast
South
Center-West
»
Video Collection of Cities by State and Region »
Amazon
region photos »
Iguaçu Falls Videos 1
2
» Representative landscapes:
Selva (tropical forest),
Várzea
(tropical swamp forest flooding) and
Igapó (tropical river plain or bottomland flooding) and
Igarapé (tropical inlet flooding),
Victória Régia (tropical water lily),
Sertão (high dry savanna),
Caatinga (dry savanna vegetation),
Cerrado (plateau scrub land), Serra
do Mar (Atlantic coastal sierra), Mata
Atlântica
(coastal forest),
Pantanal (central wetlands) with
Video,
Ipê Amarelo
(yellow flowering tree, national symbol)
» Representative cultures: Amazon
Indian,
Seringueiro (rubber tapper),
Jangada (ocean raft),
Vaqueiro (cowboy of Northeast),
Gaúcho (pampas cowboy)
A forest in lavender shadow evokes a world before the world.
In a misted grove an
aqueous resonance...
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