As far as the Inca were concerned, theirs was the greatest of all the world's civilizations. They ma

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As far as the Inca were concerned, theirs was the
greatest of all the world's civilizations. They
may have been right. Their empire was the largest
of the pre-industrial world their golden
capital, Cuzco, the richest city in the Americas.
Beginning in the 1300s, the Inca moved down fr
om their Andean homeland to conquer the
neighboring lands and peoples along the Pacific
coast of South America. By the time the Spanish
arrived in the early 1500s, the Inca Empire was
at the height of its power. It stretched some
2,500 milesthe approximate distance from
Washington, DC, to Los Angeles, Californiaand
incorporated more than 12 million people speaking
20 different languages.
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Peru Chile Parts of Ecuador Bolivia

Argentina
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The Incan Empire was located on the western side
of South America. Although the Empire was huge,
it can be easily divided into three geographical
regions - mountains, jungle, and desert.
Andes Mountains North to south were the Andes M
ountains - home of the Inca civilization. The
mountains dominated Incan society. The mountain
peaks were worshiped as gods. The Andes created a
natural barrier between the coastal desert on one
side and the jungle on the other. The snow-capped
mountains were full of deep gorges. The Inca
built bridges across the gorges so they could
reach all parts of their empire quickly and
easily. These mountain gorges were natural
barriers. If an enemy approached, the Incas could
simply burn the bridges. Amazon Jungle On one s
ide of the Andes was the Amazon jungle. The Incas
must have entered the jungle occasionally, as
they did know about the many valuable things that
could be found in the Amazon, like wood and fruit
and natural medicines. But they never established
settlements there. They had no desire to live in
the jungle. The Incas expanded north and south
instead. Coastal Desert Between the mountains a
nd the Pacific Ocean is a coastal desert 2000
miles long and between 30-100 miles wide. The
desert provided a wonderful natural barrier. Some
scientists think it is the driest place in the
world. It is not completely barren. There are
fertile strips where small rivers and streams run
from the Andes mountaintops to the sea.
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The Andes are the longest mountain range in the
world, stretching 7,250 kilometers (4,200 miles)
down the southern half of the world.  The Andes
run north to the warm equator, and stretch south
towards Cape Horn and Patagonia, a windy, cold,
semi-desert where the winter temperatures stay
below freezing.  The southern tip of the Andes is
not far from Antarctica, home of the south pole!
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• The Amazon rainforest is the biggest forest in
  the world and is also the last big space covered
  with tropical plants and animals. The Amazon
  forest territory is a tropical rainforest that is
  located in the north side of the South American
  continent and is shared by 9 countries Brazil,
  Bolivia, Ecuador, Peru, Colombia, Venezuela,
  Suriname, French Guiana and Guiana. A rainforest
  is a place with lots of rain, animals, and trees.
  The Amazon is so big that if you got all the
  rainforest in the rest of the world and put them
  all together it would not be as big as the
  Amazon. The Amazon Rainforest is named after the
  Amazon river which is the second longest river in
  the world.
• Because the Amazon is a rainforest, life is very
  hot and wet. Many thousands of different types of
  animals and plants are found in the Amazon, as
  well as 2.5 million different insect species!
  Because the Amazon is so big, there are still
  some animals and plants that haven't even been
  discovered yet.
• Unfortunately, the Amazon Rainforest is very
  quickly shrinking to make way for farmland and
  cattle. Burning the rainforest is illegal, but
  difficult for the police to stop because the
  vastness of the Amazonian region and for the
  money into the black market that exports woods to
  Europe and Japan. The burning of the forest means
  that many animals and plants are becoming
  extinct.

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ATACAMA DESERT Sparsely populated and running hi
gh into the Andes of Chile, this somewhat small
desert (or plateau) is a cold place and rainfall
is very rare. It's approximately 100 miles wide
and 625 miles long. The landscape is totally
barren and covered with small borax lakes, lava
flow remnants and saline deposits.
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Physical map of South America- Land Elevation
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Major Landforms
AMAZON BASIN In short, the Amazon Basin
(Amazonia) is covered by the largest tropical
rain forest in the world, and running through its
heart is the Amazon River, and its more than
1,000 tributaries, seven of them more than 1,000
miles in length. Measurable rain falls on an
average of 200 days a year, and total rainfall
often approaches 100 inches per year.
ANDES This toothy-edged, massive mountain system
extends from the tip of South America all the way
to Panama. It's the source of most major rivers
on the continent and is 4,500 miles
ATACAMA DESERTSparsely populated and running
high into the Andes of Chile, this somewhat small
desert (or plateau) is a cold place and rainfall
is very rare. It's approximately 100 miles wide
and 625 miles long. The landscape is totally
barren and covered with small borax lakes, lava
flow remnants and saline deposits.
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• Take the information you just learned and using
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• Complete the graphic organizer