THE NEW MAP OF SOUTH AMERICA 



391 



twice as many miles and several times as 

 many capable of accommodating ocean- 

 going steamers, which ascend 2,300 miles 

 to Iquitos, in the territory in dispute be- 

 tween Peru and Ecuador. Vessels of 

 1 4- feet draft can ascend nearly 500 miles 

 beyond this point. 



It is as if one could go in a ship of 

 fourteen-feet draft from New York to 

 Salt Lake City by way of Chicago and 

 Cheyenne. Such a navigable river makes 

 the projected Lakes-to-the-Gulf "Four- 

 teen- feet-through-the- Valley " waterway 

 seem insignificant in comparison. 



In 1899 the United States gunboat 

 Wilmington went up the Amazon to 

 Iquitos. If the Mississippi were as long 

 and deep, such a warship might sail with- 

 out encountering a single bar from the 

 Gulf of Mexico to Hudson Bay. 



The anchors shown on the map beside 

 the various rivers of the continent indi- 

 cate the head of steam navigation on each 

 major stream, illustrating that South 

 America possesses the finest system of 

 natural inland waterways in the world. 



AS MANY CONFLICTING BOUNDARIES AS 

 EUROPE HAD 



In the number of its conflicting bound- 

 ary claims, political South America sug- 

 gests the overlapping territorial disputes 

 in Europe during the Peace Conference. 



Colombia and Venezuela have rival 

 claims to some 40,000 square miles ; 

 Colombia and Peru both claim an even 

 larger area ; Bolivia and Paraguay con- 

 tend for a vast extent of territory in the 

 Chaco region ; Chile and Peru have a 

 Silesia of their own in the valuable nitrate 

 lands, which have been rocks of contention 

 for many years, and Argentina and Chile 

 both claim a number of islands above 

 Cape Horn. All these disputed areas are 

 adequately shown in colors on the map. 

 Argentina also disputes Great Britain's 

 possession of the Falkland Islands, which 

 her maps designate as the Malvina 

 Archipelago. 



Europe is a land of monarchies, Asia 

 is a land of empires and colonies, North 

 America is the home of self-governing 

 colonies and republics, Australia is en- 

 tirely a self-governing colonial confedera- 

 tion, Africa has only two independent 

 countries; but South America is pre- 



eminently the home of self-governing re- 

 publics — ten of them, ranging in size 

 from Brazil, which is larger than the 

 United States, exclusive of Alaska, to 

 Uruguay, which is not quite equal in area 

 to Nebraska. There are only three 

 colonial possessions of modest territorial 

 extent on the continent, the Guianas — 

 British, Dutch, and French. 



THREE INVALUABLE INSET MAPS 



The three inset maps will prove of 

 fascinating interest to the lay reader as 

 well as to the student. The great Andean 

 ranges, with their snow-capped peaks and 

 the vast valleys of the three principal 

 river basins are strikingly presented in 

 the Physical Map. The Mean Annual 

 Temperature Map will enable one to fix 

 definitely in his mind the comparative 

 climates in the two continents of the 

 Western Hemisphere, remembering that 

 the sudden sweep northward of the 

 temperate lines on the western coast of 

 South America is due jointly to the high 

 elevation of the Andean system and the 

 chilling waters of the Humboldt Current, 

 which flows northward from the Antarc- 

 tic, exercising an influence exactly oppo- 

 site to that of our own Gulf Stream. 



South America's wealth in natural re- 

 sources is clearly presented in the Prod- 

 ucts Map, which shows the vast extent of 

 the rubber forests of the Amazon basin, 

 the regions from which Argentina, Para- 

 guay, Uruguay, Colombia, and Venezuela 

 draw their valuable exports of cattle, 

 hides, mutton, and wool, the nitrate lands 

 of Chile and Peru, the rich coffee, sugar, 

 and cocoa plantations of Brazil, the 

 Guianas, Venezuela, and Colombia, and 

 the silver, copper, gold, iron, and tin de- 

 posits of the several republics. 



In this Map of South America mem- 

 bers of the National Geographic Society 

 possess a cartographic product which in 

 its wealth of accurate information and 

 clarity of presentation is of unique ex- 

 cellence. It is believed that it will prove 

 an important factor in promoting the 

 commercial and friendly political rela- 

 tions with our neighbor republics of the 

 Southern Hemisphere. 



The United States has always com- 

 manded a large share of South America's 

 foreign trade. In a recent year Argentina 



