The term Southern Cone (Spanish: Cono Sur, Portuguese: Cone Sul) refers to a geographic region composed of the southernmost areas of South America. Typically, it includes Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Paraguay and southernmost Brazil (Rio Grande do Sul, Santa Catarina, Paraná and Sao Paulo). Rarely, Bolivia is included, though it forms a geographic part of the region. Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay are always included.
Language
The main languages spoken are Spanish and Portuguese, 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 descendents of immigrants in Argentina, and to a lesser extent the same is true for German and Korean in Chile, and the aforementioned, less Korean plus Japanese and Italian in Brazil. Generally speaking what goes for Argentina goes for Uruguay; where Portuñol, a pidgin language of Brazilian Portuguese and Argentine/Uruguayan Spanish is spoken by a large amount of the populace.
People, Education and Standards of Living
In contrast to most of Latin America, the populations of Argentina, Uruguay and southeastern Brazil are composed in their majority by people of European origin, with relatively small numbers of mixed race people. 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 Chile and Paraguay is composed of mestizos (mixed European and Amerindian), 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 Europeans, and a small minority of Amerindians.
The other distinguished and probably most significant characteristic of the Southern Cone is the high average of standards of living and life quality. Although Brazil is known for its considerable inequality of opportunities, the southern region’s HDI (human development index) can be compared to countries like Croatia, Bulgaria and Latvia. 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 HDI, since their indexes surpasses many places in Europe and other first world 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.
Historical Traits, Climate, Peculiarities
Although many theorists link development with the temperate region it is clear that the European objective in colonizing this region was to promote new perspective of life in opposition to most Latin American regions as well as Africa and Asia, where colonization meant enriching the colony. People who occupied the region were running from wars, starving in their own country or searching for personal prosperity in all periods since the discovery.
The climates are humid subtropical, mediteranean, 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 and regions like Porto Alegre, 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 an high humidity is what brings sensation of low temperatures in the winter. The Atacama is the driest place on Earth.
The most peculiar plant of the region is the Araucaria tree (pinus) which can be found in Argentina, Chile, and Brazil. The only native species of pinus found in the southern hemisphere had its origin in the Southern Cone. The steppe region, situated in Argentina and Brazil is known as the Pampas, and the typical people of the region are a mixture of Portuguese, Spanish and some Amerindian blood, and are called Gauchos. Maritime tropical trees, tundra, mediteranean vegetation and desert plants are also natural occurrences. Besides Antarctica, Patagonia is the cleanest place on earth.
See also
The content of this page is retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_Cone under GFDL
