Lesson video

Hello everyone and welcome back to our Geography lessons, I'm Miss.

Harrison, and we are going to continue our Geography learning today, focusing on the continent of South America.

Now you might notice that I am somewhere different today.

I am coming to you live from the Amazon Rainforest in the continent of South America.

That's one of the physical features that we were studying last lesson, and we explored in our physical features lesson.

Today we're going to be thinking about something a little bit different, and we're going to be looking at the human features of, that we can find in the continent of South America.

So let's get started.

We're going to think about what some of the most important human features we can find on the continent of South America.

So our lesson's going to look a little bit like this.

We're going to recap the seven continents of the world.

You guys were amazing at that last week so I'm going to see how much you can remember.

We're going to recap those countries within South America.

And then we're going to think about human geographical features.

So, whereas last week we were looking at physical geographical features, today we're going to look at the human side of Geography.

So we're going to think about the capital cities within the continent of South America and how the economies and resources are different in different countries within South America.

There's lots of different ways that the countries of South America make their money, and we're going to look at those today.

So for our lesson today, you will need a piece of paper, something to write on, a pencil or pen to write with, and of course your Geography brain ready for today.

If you don't have one of those things, super speedily, pause the video and go and grab one now.

Okay, we are ready to begin.

So my first challenge to you is can you remember all of the seven continents of the world? We did this last week, so if you've got your notes from last week, try and cover them up and see how much you can remember using your amazing Geography brain.

So look at the map of the world.

I want you to pause the video now and write down the seven continents of the world, off you go.

Okay, let's see if we manage to get all of those.

So we're starting off with North America.

Give yourself a tick for each one you've got right.

Africa, Asia, Australia, Antarctica, Europe and South America.

I wonder if you managed to get all seven of those, correct.

If you did give yourself a big pat on the back amazing work! If you didn't get all of them today, that's okay.

Write them down so you remember them before next time.

So today we're going to zoom in on the continent of South America.

Now I wonder if you could remember those different countries of South America, there are 12 countries and there's one French Territory in South America.

I want you to pause the video now and see if you can remember any of those different countries.

You can have a big tick for each one that you remember in just a moment.

So see how many you can remember.

Off you go! Okay, now's the big moment let's see how many you managed to remember.

So we have starting from the South of the continent.

We have Argentina, then we have Chile.

Next step we have Uruguay and Paraguay.

Then we have Bolivia, Peru, Brazil and Ecuador.

Followed by Columbia, we've got French Guyana well done if you remember that one, remember it's not a country in itself, but it's a territory of France.

Then we have all the way at the top we have, Suriname, followed by Venezuela and Guyana.

I wonder how many of those you managed to remember, if you managed to remember all of them, that is amazing! Well done.

Pause the video and write down any that you didn't quite remember today, if you need to.

Okay, so let's have a recap of our different features that we can look for when we are studying Geography.

So we can split these up into physical features and human geographical features.

Now we're thinking about how we can define those different human and physical features.

So physical feature is something that occurs naturally on the landscape of the earth.

So we looked at physical features last week, for example, mountains and lakes and beaches and rain forest.

So they're not things that are made by humans.

They occurred naturally on landscape of our planet.

Whereas human features that we're going to focus on today are things that relate to the behaviour of humans.

So for example, cities or villages where humans live, shops, factories and schools are all examples of human geographical features.

And that's what we're going to be focusing on today.

So we're going to think about which different human features we can find on the continent of South America.

Now we know this, South America is a very diverse continent with a population of over 430 million people.

So there are a lot of people that is way more than the population of the UK.

There are millions and millions of people that live there and each different South American country has lots of different human settlements.

So different villages, towns, and cities of different sizes.

And each country has its own capital city.

Now we're going to look at the capital cities of South America now.

First of all, let's start off with Argentina.

The capital city of Argentina is Buenos Aires and you can see some images taken of Buenos Aires here on your screen.

It's in the North East of Argentina, near the Coast.

It has a population of 2.

89 million people so lots of people live there and there are lots of wide busy roads, shops, restaurants, and offices.

So lots of different human features within the city of Buenos Aires.

Next up, we have Brazil and the capital is Brasilia and here are some images of what Brasilia looks like.

So again, you have lots of modern buildings, lots of roads and different human features like offices and schools.

Now Brasilia is located in Central or kind of towards the East of Brazil.

And it has a population of 2.

48 million people.

So similar to that of Buenos Aires, and you can see modern building such as the Cathedral Metropolitana, which is on the right hand side, which is the Cathedral or one of the Cathedrals in the city of Brasilia.

Next up we have Santiago de Chile.

So it is the capital city of Chile.

It's in Central Chile and it has a much bigger population actually than either Buenos Aires or Brasilia, because there were 6.

7 million people that live there, which is more than the population of the whole of Scotland.

Wow, lots of people live in Santiago.

It's near the Andes Mountains and it has lots of human features like offices or different types of housing where people live.

So you can see those on your screen.

Now, moving on, we have the country of Uruguay and the capital of Uruguay is Montevideo, and it's near the Coast of Uruguay.

It has a population of 1.

38 million, so a bit less than Santiago.

It has lots of beautiful buildings, like the ones that you can see there and lots of different transport links.

So loads of different human features within the city.

Next step we have Paraguay and the capital of Paraguay is Asuncion, which is next to the Rio Paraguay, so the Paraguay river.

So it's next to the river, you can see a picture of the water there, and it has a smaller population than the capital cities we've seen so far with only 525,000 people that live there.

So just over half a million people live in Asuncion.

Next step we have Bolivia and the capital of Bolivia is La Paz.

And La Paz is a really cool capital city because it's in the Andes Mountains and it's the highest capital city in the world.

It has an elevation of 3,640 metres above sea level.

And it has a population of around 790,000 people.

So less than a million people live there, however, as you can see from the pictures, because they're so high up within the mountains, the city looks very, very compact.

But it's a really varied city, a really diverse city and very colourful city with lots of different buildings, lots of different types of buildings like churches or offices or shops or restaurants, and lots of different types of buses that run throughout the city.

And you can also see a cable car in the image as well.

So lots of different types of transport in Bolivia as well.

So next step we have just above Bolivia, we have the country of Peru and the capital of Peru is Lima, which is also on the Coast so similar to Montevideo, which is near the Coast of Uruguay.

Lima is also located on the Coast.

And it has a population of 268,000 people.

So less people live in Lima than live in La Paz.

But again, it's got loads of different human features and it's quite an important area for fishing in Peru because lots of fish can be found off the Coast of Lima in the East, sorry, the West Coast of South America.

Okay, moving further North, we have our next country, which is Ecuador.

And the capital of Ecuador is Quito.

And Quito is in the North of Ecuador and has a population of 1.

61 million people.

So a larger population than that, of Lima in Peru.

And you can see all of those buildings surrounded by smaller mountains but you've got different types of architecture in the centre in kind of the old town and lots of different human geographical features like shops and restaurants and schools can be found in that capital.

Next step, we're moving even further North and we have Suriname and the capital of suiting up is Paramaribo.

And it is located on the North Coast of Suriname where the river meets the sea.

It's a smaller city.

Some of the architecture is a little bit less modern than some of the other capital cities that we have looked at.

And it has a population of 240,000 people.

So nearly a quarter of a million people that live there.

So it's a slightly smaller place, than some of the others that we've looked at, but again, you can see a variety of different types of buildings, different types of housing and churches, or places of worship, and where people, where people live and go about their daily business in the capital city.

Then we're moving further over to the West and we're moving to Columbia.

And the capital of Columbia is Bogota, which is more or less in the Centre of the country.

And it's surrounded by huge Hills.

It has a population of 7.

4 million people.

So a lot of people live in Bogota.

That's the highest population of the capital cities that we've seen so far.

And you can see lots of the buildings kind of compacted in the centre of the city with the hills surrounding it.

Then we have going further West, we've got a, sorry, further East, we have Georgetown, which is the capital of Guyana and it's on the North Coast.

So another one, that's a Coastal city and it has a population of around 74,000 people.

So that's the smallest population of all of the capital cities that we've looked at within the South American countries.

But again, you can see all of those different types of buildings and different human features like churches or places of worship.

You've got things like schools and housing and different shops and businesses within the capital of Guyana.

And then finally we have Venezuela, which is right at the top of the continent of South America, that is North.

And we have the capital city, which is Caracas, which located in the Northern mountain valley in Venezuela.

So right at the North of the country.

And it has a population of 2.

9 million people.

So lots of people live there.

Again in quite a densely populated area.

So lots of that buildings are very compacted, as you can see in the picture loads of different human features, just like the ones that we've seen in the other capital cities of South America, like different roads and transport links, as well as different types of housing and different types of buildings.

So that was a lot of information for you to take in.

I want you now to reflect on the capital city of your country.

So you might live in England, you might live in Northern Ireland, you might live in Scotland, you might even Wales.

I want you to have a think about the capital city of your country and how do you think it's similar or different to some of the capital cities that we've seen in South America.

And I want you to have a go at writing this down.

So if I was going to write a sentence, so I live in London, which is the capital city of England.

And if I have a think back to those capital cities, we've looked at London is similar to some of the big cities like Santiago in Chile, or like Buenos Aires or Bogota in that it has a very, very large population.

There are lots of people that live in London, similarly to those cities.

However, it's different to some of the capital cities in South America like Georgetown in Guyana, because it's not near the coast, London isn't near the coast of England.

It's got a river running through it, but it's not near the Coastline.

So one thing that's similar is that it has a high population, like Buenos Aires, or like Santiago or like Bogota, but it is also different because it's not by the Coast.

So I want you to write down the capital city that is the capital of your country and think about what is similar and what is different to those capital cities in South America.

Pause the video now and have a go.

So now we are going to think about the economic activity in different parts of South America.

So what I mean by economic activity is producing and selling products or services that a country can make money, okay? So each country produces different things that they can sell and trade in order to make money.

The more products or services that a country has, and it could sell these to other countries to make money.

So let's look at some different economic activities in the different countries of South America.

So one economic activity that happens in lots of different countries within South America is agriculture.

So that means farming.

And that can either be farming animals for meat, for example, you can see that lots of beef is produced in Argentina.

So within Argentina, there are lots of cows which are farmed for that meat and for beef and Argentina is the third largest exporter of beef in the world.

So lots of beef that people buy and sell all over the world comes from the cows in Argentina.

Now another type of agriculture is growing different crops, and these can be to make different food products.

For example, things like coffee and bananas are grown in Peru sorry, are grown in Columbia and then potatoes, there are lots of potatoes and different types of vegetables that can be grown in Peru as well.

So agriculture and farming is a really huge source of income for lots of different countries within South America.

The next type of economic activity, and which is very different is oil.

Now, oil is a very valuable resource, which not many countries in the world have access to.

Now, Venezuela, which is on the North part of South America has oil reserves within its territory.

And these are usually off the Coast and of the countries are off the Coast of Venezuela.

And so that oil can be extracted from the ground, which is often under the sea and the country can sell it to use in manufacturing or as things like petrol to power vehicles.

So oil is a very important resource and which is very good for countries.

They're very lucky if they have it, that they can extract it from the ground and sell it to create an income for their country.

Then the next industry we're going to have a look at is forestry and fishing.

And these are two different industries, but they use natural resources like wood, for example, from trees, from the Amazon Rainforest or different forests on the country, on the continent.

And they chop down those trees to sell or to make wooden products.

So lots of the things that we have that we use day to day are made from wood.

And some of that wood is imported from South America.

And fishing is another big industry, particularly along the Pacific Coast, which is the West Coast of South America.

So places like Peru and Chile have big fishing industries, where they fish in the sea to get different seafood and different types of fish for people to eat around the world.

And then we have the industry of mining.

Now mining means when you go underground, to dig up something that's precious.

So precious materials that can be found within the ground of the earth.

For example, you can see an image on the screen of a silver mine in Potosi in Bolivia, and it has the world, the world's largest deposit of silver in this area of Bolivia and it's been mined for hundreds of years.

So people go underground to dig up the precious metals, like the silver.

And the final economic activity that I'm going to show you is tourism and tourism is when people go and visit other places, and spend their money there because they want to see something in that place.

So lots of South American countries earn money by people coming to visit places of interest.

For example, you can see on the left hand side, Machu Picchu in Peru, which is one of the most beautiful places, I think in the world.

And I visited Machu Picchu as a tourist, and I tracked through the mountains to get there.

And it was one of the best things I've ever done.

So lots of these amazing landscapes, are really well known around the world and people travel to the continent of South America just to see them.

And while they're there, they spend money on food and accommodation.

And that's a really big part of the income of lots of different countries within South America as well.

So now we thought about some of the different ways that countries within South America make their money.

I want you to have a think closer to home to the UK.

How do you think the economic activity of the UK is different from that of South America? So think of those different industries and those different things that we learned about how different countries within South America make their money.

How do you think the economic activity here is similar or different? For example, if I think about tourism, tourism is also a big part of the income of the UK.

For example, where I live in London, lots of tourists come to visit the city of London to see landmarks like Buckingham Palace, like Big Ben, or the London Eye or Tower Bridge.

And so tourism also brings lots of, lots of money into our economy in the UK, just like it does in lots of South American countries.

Whereas something that's different is that there might be less fishing industry here in the UK than there is in South America.

Because simply because they have more coastline, but who knows? I want you to write down how you think the economic activity of the UK is different or similar, to that of South America.

So have a think, write it down.

Okay, awesome work everybody, well done for your hard work this lesson.

That leads us to the end of our lesson.

Now the only thing left for you to do is to complete your end of lesson quiz after you've finished the video.

Now, if you have really enjoyed your lesson today, and you're really proud of the work that you've produced, you might want to share that work with the Oak National team.

So if you would like to share your work, you can ask a parent or carer to take a photo of that work and to share it on social media, tagging @OakNational and with the #LearnwithOak that way some of your teachers might be able to see the wonderful work that you are producing at home.

I hope you've enjoyed your lesson today.

I have loved teaching you some more about South America and in our next lesson, we are going to zoom in on one particular South American country and look at those different human and physical geographical features.

I'll see you next time, bye!.